THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS

Marianna- Quincy, FL 4/23 54.5

Marianna- Quincy, FL 4/23 Friday 54 miles

Lynn from Traverse City, MI is with us for a few days in training as a WT chef. She has made two spectacular meals and even had time to do a little riding.

Nice "recovery ride" today. I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. Florida panhandle has surprising number of hills but actually they make things more interesting than unrelenting flats. Live oak canopied roads. Rode into Eastern standard time zone and lunched at Miss Helen's Cafe on the square in charming Quincy. Some of these little Florida towns which are not touristy or on the coast remind me of Mt. Dora, FL and don't "feel" Florida at all.

Mike (Michele) from Oregon wins hands down the award for positive thinker and cheerleader of the group. If there is an Optimists Club in her home town, she must be the president. Always ready to help everyone with their bikes and pitch in on chores. On top of all that she is the queen mother of the go fast girls and her name... well her father always wanted a boy but ended up with 4 girls nicknamed Mike, Bob, Chuck and Pat. (Mike is in yellow shirt on left in 1st photo and on the left in the second photo)

90 ON 90

Thurs. 4/22 Crestview to Marianna, FL

93 miles

Not much to say about today. From hotel rode 3 miles to get to US 90 and then rode 90 miles east- 90 on 90. Long day, a bit warm but pretty great,.

I’ll catch up on some favorite quotes, old and new

*Dentally challenged man at a gas station today, “Y’all need to get motors on them things”

** Jolene when she and Judy met us at the St. Francisville ferry, “Do you have to wear those hats all day?”

***Susan B. Anthony in 1896, “I think the bicycle has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”

****Patti talking about what it was like being home last week, “I sat in the driveway in a white plastic lawn chair and no one came out to serve me dinner.”

*****Ernest Hemingway, “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”

And that's it for today!

TEAM SWEEP BACK ON THE ROAD

Pensacola - Crestview, Fl 69 miles

Rode for awhile today on a bike path, some country roads and Scenic US 90 along Pensacola Bay and then headed north east , away from the water. Slowly edging back into reality with our first Starbucks of what seems like decades. Finished off in fine fashion with Linda’s steelhead trout, quinoa salad and mashed potatoes to fuel us for our 93 (yikes!) mile ride tomorrow!!

SEVEN DOWN ONE TO GO!

Tuesday 4/20 Dauphin Island, AL - Pensacola, FL 60 miles

Bad beach day, Great Biking day. Overcast, cool, no wind, no rain . Started our day taking a ferry from Dauphin Island across Mobile Bay. From there rode along the gulf almost all day, through Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, passed the famous FloraBama! Barney and Sheri came through with final and fantastic map - you gave us all something to look forward to the entire trip- thank you my creative friends. Have I said this- probably. For so long the journey seemed endless (not in a bad way) actually I think we were all too nervous to even think about Florida. And now every day seems to speed by to the end.

Team Sweep reunites today as Patti flies back to finish trip- so happy to see her. And another state , another margarita. Here is Roberta in her commemorative margarita shirt.

REST DAY DAUPHIN ISLAND, AL

Mon. 4/19

We arrived on this resort island yesterday amid cars, traffic and hordes of people on the beach. Today the crowds are gone and it is peaceful and calm. Walked to a public golf course for breakfast and strolled back along the beach. Great massages early afternoon, more lounging and a scenic bike ride around the island. A perfect relaxing day.

Rita from Minnesota, a veteran of many RAGBRAIs, another go fast girl and an encyclopedic blogger! That's Rita in the orange and on her bike.

SIX DOWN TWO TO GO

Pascagoula,MS - Dauphin Island, AL 42 miles

And yet another fine riding day- well you’ve heard it before- shouldn’t talk about weather so that we won’t be jinxed but whoa have we been lucky. Passed into Alabama after our short stay in Miss.- with a Barney/Sheri hand designed sign to ease our passage.Its hard to believe that only a few weeks ago we were in the dry , brown desert and today we were wading in the Gulf of Mexico- and most unbelievably - we went from the desert to the gulf on our bikes! Dauphin island is an island just outside of Mobile Bay with a long causeway bridge connecting it to the mainland. Had a fresh grouper sandwich for lunch and celebrated Carol’s birthday tonight with Linda’s magic- Italian sausage and squash lasagna and Caesar salad. We are all living the high life tonight and rest day tomorrow in vacation condos on the Gulf.

Jo Ann from Oregon, a steady rider with safety in mind (see photo) is also our literary resource, being a retired librarian and wins the award for the most unique eyeglass chain!

WE MISS YOU SPARKLE

Sat 4/17 Wiggens- Pascagoula, MS 67 miles

Rode this morning on another lovely day- not a breath of wind- as Katie said this was a ‘why we ride day' as opposed to a ‘what was I thinking' day. We missed Patti ,Team Sweep is just not the same. As we lunched at a gas station/ strange food store, our new friend in the picture described what remained of our route to Pascagoula this way ”Ain’t nothin’ between here and yonder". It totally amazes me that places I would think twice about even stopping for gas at home are now places where I order something to eat- I'm sure that won't last when I return home but the deep fried crabburger on a stale bun with old lettuce, a pink tomato and some other unidentifiable ingredients tasted just dandy! Last 5 miles of the ride we road a long wide bridge over the Singing River and then a longer and higher bridge over the port of Pascagoula with a huge Northrup Grumman ship building facility.

Happy to hear that I am not the only one unfamiliar with BTDT. It was on the Louisiana map as we were leaving the state. BEEN THERE DONE THAT! Stay tuned for another map tomorrow! Oh and the horses ... someones understated front gate- Texas has nothing over Mississippi!