90 on the 90 in 90!!!

Today was a 95 mile journey. We called it 90 on the 90 in 90 because after winding through town for five miles, we got on US 90 for 90 miles and the temp was 90! The sweep team has encountered a new challenge; that being map reading. Again, by mile 3 we had missed a turn; however we didn't back track we looked at the cue sheet and figured out a way to get there. At the 80 mile SAG stop we used some of our precious water and poured over our heads to cool down a bit. I did that fairly often today....when I had water to spare.

Swamp land!!! And you know what comes with swamp land.....

This fairly small gator was seen in Alligator Creek. We also saw huge turtles sunning on logs in the creek. The picture was taken from a bridge as we biked over it. The gator sat there for a while and then swam off.

This was a different creek and this gator was about 8-10 feet long. He was first seen on land, but by the time I got my camera he was swimming in the water. Rumor has it that gators are seen crossing the highways from one swampy area to another. So just as we quit watching for stray dogs, we start watching for stray gators. I know you say "Go Home" to the dogs....what do you say to the gators?

Every town has to be famous for something....I just thought this was a cute sign. What is worm fiddlin?

We are seeing some fields of wild flowers/weeds. This field had mainly purple flowers, a few yellow and some red. Very pretty. We also saw a wonderful pond full of lily pads; however I wasn't allowed to stop too often for pictures due to the long mileage. Katie said if she couldn't stop at Starbucks, I couldn't take many pictures!

This picture was taken just before the gator spottings. As I got off my bike to take the picture, and started walking down the slope (near standing water), someone biked by and yelled "watch out for the gators!" If I had seen the gators first, I'm sure I wouldn't have bothered with a close up of this picture.....just in case the gators were nearby.

An interesting tree with ferns growing on it and moss hanging from it. Always something interesting to see. We had excellent paved shoulders today and moderate traffic. Florida does have hills I might add! None being too steep....but there were lots of them - mostly uphill not as many downhill. Always a bummer when that happens.

So today was our last 90 plus day. Yes!!!! Tomorrow is only 50 plus miles...but we enter into Eastern time zone so we lose an hour.

Amy and Baby Tennessee share a few comments about today's ride in the video below. Enjoy!