Day 11: To Pensacola, Fl: Off-Route
Thursday February 11, 2010, 30 miles (48 km) - Total so far: 497 miles (800 km)
This morning we woke up, nice and warm, and remained that way for quite a bit. We weren't really in any rush to get out on the road. Plus, John and Lesa wanted to take us out for breakfast. And any bike tourer knows, you don't pass up a meal. We went to this nice place called Another Broken Egg Cafe. I liked the name. Haha. The food was delicious, and we had more great conversation over coffee as well. When we got back to the house, we got all our gear together to start our final leg into Pensacola where we'll be meeting with some more riders and making our big departure for the West Coast. John also decided to ride out with us for part of the trip.
So we rode out about 25 miles and stopped for coffee at a McDonalds, right before crossing bridge #3. While we were at McDonalds, I talked to Sara, our host for the next couple days. She's also the one who got the group together to make this voyage. She ended up being able to pick us up and take us and all our gear to her house. This made our planned 60 mile day much shorter. We were perfectly okay taking the ride as it was getting a bit chilly riding.
So we are going to be sleeping at Sara's mom's house. Then heading back to Sara's tomorrow to hang out during the "storm." We'll be in Pensacola until Monday, when we'll be leaving as a group of 6. We also met Ryan who's already biked 1400 miles, from virginia to pensacola. He arrived a cpl days ago and will also be part of the group to start.