Day 29: Pensacola to DeFunaik Springs, FL

Distance: 78 mi (125 km)
Cumulative Distance: 2,554 mi (4,110 m)
Average Speed: 17.3 mph (27.8 kph)
Climb: 2,844 ft (867 m)
Cumulative Climb: 125,941 ft (38,387 m)
Flats: 0
Cumulative Flats: 16

Und hier mal etwas Info uber unseren Tagesablauf.

Nach gepacktem Auto und Fruhstuck radeln wir los. Die Strecke wird in 4 Teilstrecken zerlegt und jeder muss ¼ mit dem Auto fahren. Der dritte Fahrer sucht einen Picnic Platz ( im Schatten, bitte).


Der letzte Fahrer des Tages fahrt zum Motel, organisiert die Zimmer, entlad das Auto und….. wichtig, wichtig, stellt das Bier auf Eis.

Wenn die Radler ankommen, gibt es zuerst ein Bier. Jiiipppi.

Ca. 6.00 PM haben wir Wein mit leckerem Kaese und danach gibt es zum Abendessen und dann fallen wir ins Bett.

Life is GOOD.

I will start with last night. While Dave, Gaby, & Keith remained behind to do laundry, I took advantage of our being in Pensacola to visit my cousin Judy who I had not seen for probably 10 years or more. She arrived at the hotel to pick me up in a baby blue 2002 T-Bird in mint condition - very impressive!

We went out to dinner together and spent the evening discussing grandchildren, families, and the old days in Maine (and like everyone else our age, our medical problems). It was a relaxing and fun evening and we both vowed not to wait so long for another get together. For those of you who know Judy, she is a little older, but as spunky as ever! She also still remembers every bad thing I ever did to her when we were growing up! I arrived back at the hotel after dinner and Dave, Keith, & Gaby were just completing their evening cocktail hour before heading out to close down yet another restaurant.

This morning we awoke to another beautiful sunny day with light NE winds. We had probably our easiest ride of the trip. The scenery was pleasant, but not inspiring enough for many photos. Once again we elected to go off-route for a portion of the ride. We found a road with an excellent riding surface and chose to stay on it versus touring the country on rougher roads - a side benefit was that our modified route was also about five miles shorter. Dave selected a spectacular picnic spot with a covered table and bathrooms - Dave can now be credited with the best and second best picnic spots of the trip.

We arrived early at our motel and enjoyed a post-ride beer and relaxing afternoon.

Since there is little to comment on as far as today’s ride is concerned, I would like to take advantage of the opportunity to recognize the hard work and contributions of Dave, Keith, and George to the success of this ride. Gaby & I have had the benefit of pretty much sitting back and enjoying the fruits of their labor. Keith has handled all of our hotel reservations and lined up restaurant suggestions for us virtually every night. His creativity in finding spots slightly off-route has saved us a number of stays in ½ star motels!

Dave has worked tirelessly on our blog entries. We take turns writing them, but the time consuming work is in loading pictures onto the blog and publishing it. In addition to his work on the blog, Dave has supervised the work of George, and he has also been chief mechanic in charge of keeping our bikes working - no small task in view of all the problems which have been created by the road conditions.

George has been navigator and chief statistician for the ride. This has been very hard on him and he has frequently gotten frustrated by our off - route excursions. On occasion he has just thrown up his hands and refused to work anymore until Dave can coax him back. For those of you who are wondering who George is, and how he got into our group, George is a naval aviation name for electronic guidance devices on airplanes (autopilots) and it is the name Dave gave to our on-road electronic navigation system (his Garmin GPS) which has been invaluable on the trip.

So thank you Dave and Keith from me and Gaby!