Florida has many faces.....

My heart skipped a few beats when I got my first glimpse of the gulf....I've seen it many times by car, on foot, etc...but never, never on a bike ride from CA to Florida. Made me realize we are almost to the Atlantic!

Getting back into the groove went quite well. The first couple of stop n go lights I almost forgot to take my foot out of the toe clips - nearly falling, but I did it. Things started to feel more familiar at the 1.1 mile mark (yes one and 1/10 mile mark) when Katie suggested we stop at the coffee shop.....luckily we decided it was just a little early to stop for a break! By mile marker 5 we had missed a turn and found ourselves turning around and backtracking...oh ya, this is feeling familiar. Mile 20, our first SAG stop found us bringing up the tale of all 23 bikers...so happy nothing changed while I was gone!

I have this little stream on video....but for whatever reason it wouldn't upload. At any rate, the water clear, lots of greenery, and felt like WI. We wanted to dip our feet in....but were sure of snakes or gators.

I'm fairly certain that this is the house Van might buy for me...with the Rolls Royce too! We were shooting into the sun so you can see it real well - very different, on the bay, lovely landscaping.

In my previous trips to Florida, I felt there was the inter state, the gulf coast, the Atlantic Ocean and Disney World....anything other than that wasn't worth seeing. Today, on our 70 mile journey, I saw some other faces of Florida and I loved it. The picture above is the Blackwater Heritage State Trail and we were on it for about 8-10 miles. Beautiful tree lined, black topped trail. The birds were busy singing as katie and Kirby ride by.

After the trail, there was a little section that resembled the Everglade area...but not as swampy.

Definitely into red soil...this was a "dead end" off the paved country road we were riding on. Note all the trees...much like WI. We continue to see some cattle and horses - but not like Texas.

We were at about the 68 mile mark and we would have made it in by about 3:00....however, in the small town of Crestview Katie found a Starbucks and we CANNOT pass a Starbucks....so here we are relaxing at Starbucks.

After arriving at the hotel, I soaked in the hot tub. For supper we had Steel Head Trout, which is much like salmon, but I thought even better. Looks just like salmon.

The video below is me riding on the bike trail....be sure your volume is up so you hear the birds.