Awake early and no place to go before our 8:00 ferry, we did a leisurely pedal though town.  Hard to believe this quiet/sleepy little town is the birthplace of Mardi Gras.  Of course it moved to Mobile and then to New Orleans, before the rowdy began.  Once reaching the ferry, we had time to spare so did a quick visit of Fort Gaines.  The ride out of the inlet was busy and beautiful.  On the ferry over Mobile Bay, we met Ray, from Oregon, biking from California to Florida; check out his bike bags.  We could not believe how many oil rigs stood in the middle of our channel; these iron dinosaurs were everywhere.  We landed in Fort Morgan, ready to put in some miles, so photos were limited to a drive-by.  The sand dunes were breathtakingly white, like freshly fallen snow; it did not look real.  Vacation homes were collected along the waters edge on both sides of us; fishing havens on the Bay, beach havens on the Gulf.  We did not go far before the lure of breakfast pulled us in to a great funky place.  Could not pass up on the amazing breakfast buffet, but did refrain from a Bloody Mary.  This is the way to do a tour, pedal four miles, take a ferry ride, pedal four more miles and have breakfast.  It was a fun place, but it was almost ten in the morning and we’d barely gone ten miles.  We really needed to put the pedal to the metal or we would not get anywhere, today.  As the island got wider, the water views and homes disappeared behind trees, churches and mailboxes were the only tell of people.  The long, straight treelined road offered shade, though.  After 13 miles we got a quick glance of Bon Secour Bay, before the trees again encased the road.  The sun was searing, but there was no humidity, so the shade was cool and comfortable.  At 11:00, the turned towards the water almost overwhelmed us, a two mile stretch of colorful businesses; everything looking new or freshly painted.  We thought we would miss the shade, but there was a cool breeze coming off the water and the beach……well, just Gorgeous and no complaints.  It was a fabulous ride up the coast with beautiful white sand, incredible State Parks, condos, homes.It was a lot to take in,  but our dedicated bike lane made the ride easy.Reaching Alabama Point and Perdido Pass, I was astounded with the color of the water, just breathtaking.  We stopped at Flora-Bama for a quick look/see and listen to a couple tunes.  We had always known this to be a bar, but it is SO much more, including the true border between Florida and Alabama.

Back on the road, the sites continued to impress, with house now appearing on the dune across Big Lagoon.   After 46 miles of coastal pedal we turned inland over Perdido Bay and directly into the pool.  So excited to catch up with Dave and Lynn, we missed all the picture taking.  Lots of laughs, wine and amazing dinner and more catching up tomorrow.  It was time to turn in after our 51 mile day.