10/21/18

We were supposed to meet at the Ferry to watch the sun come up and then go have breakfast at the cafe.  The cafe was suppose to open early (7:00 a.m.) so we could have breakfast before getting on the ferry, for a 4 mile ride to Florida. The only one of these things happened. The sun came up and we were there to watch it.

The ferry couldn’t run because the winds were to high. The wind blew all night and in the morning the winds were still in excess of 21 miles an hour. The cafe did not open early as we were told. So Plan B was put into operation.

All our bikes were loaded on the vans and we were driven for about 2 hours around to our new starting point. During the ride over, and just before reaching our starting point, we stopped at McDonald’s for a quick breakfast.

We were dropped off at what should have been our first rest stop to begin our ride. The wind was basically a cross wind which was bad enough but a head wind would have been worse and the temperature was in the 60s. We were fortunate to be able to find a “Welcome to Florida” sign.

During our ride Ed got a flat. It was not hard to find the leak since he easily spotted the 3” long nail sticking in his tire. This was our only trouble we had since we don’t classify high wind trouble, just an addition to the adventure.

We arrived at our destination, Northbridge Church. One of the members of the church rode the Southern Tier last year. Not only are they giving us a place to sleep and relax, they are providing most of the meals since the church is about 6 miles for the city.

Tomorrow we get to do our first service project. Our route leaders will also be taking an exploratory drive on the next 4 days road to check the roads for hurricane damage. We hope to ride but it may not be safe. Time will tell.