This morning’s southeast wind brought with it an increase in humidity; 74° seemed a little warm. We pedaled through the cute streets of downtown Stuart, over the St. Lucie River and then the Indian River Lagoon.   It was a long (40 minutes) and difficult six and a half mile warm up (albeit pretty)over two high bridges and into the wind.

But once on our northerly course, we cruised along nicely.  The homes we saw today were scaled down slightly and their piece of land was but a slice of previous neighborhoods.  Their backyard was the Atlantic Ocean and the front yard view was across A1A and the wide Lagoon.What is even more remarkable is many of the condos and even the grand homes are not the owners only residence, as evidenced by all the hurricane shuttered windows.  There was a stretch of new development, very reminiscent of beaches back home.

In between the grand homes and condos were miles and miles of marsh, parks, preserves and yet undeveloped land.  Even when there was development, we had the roads mostly to ourselves.At Ft Pierce, we had to navigate around an inlet to the ocean.  Small cottages, not yet torn down for “bigger and better”, held tightly to their little slice of paradise on the inlet.  This causeway and it’s white strip of beach, reminds us of Southern California.  Our roundabout around the inlet took three bridges to navigate, but the views from the top are always impressive.

 Back on the barrier islands new developments were boasting lots (not on the water) “from the $800’s,  two homes already constructed.

Shortly after noon and less than two miles from our hotel, we had to take a break.  We had taken less than a total of 30 minutes rest in the four++ hours since we’d left and we needed a rest.  We had to wind our way through pretty neighborhoods with huge and modest houses side by side.

This street looked a lot like our neighborhood, except for much more colorful houses.Finally found the perfect spot for rest and lunch……apparently, someone was hungry!

Our motel, The Sea Turtle Inn, was a very pleasant surprise, as we had not been able to find much in the way of pictures.  Plus, we were within walking distance of all the fancy shops, spas and bistros.

For dinner, we managed to find a little Italian cafe for a delicious dinner including wonderful garlic rolls.  Not sure our wind assisted 48 miles deserved this, but it sure was good.

A stroll to the ocean after dinner was a different sight than earlier today. Hoping this squall blows itself out by the morning.

Shortly after getting back to the room. the rain began.

Thunder rumbled on the way to breakfast, but by the time we rode away from our hotel, 30 minutes later, the thunder had been replaced by a light shower.

Our ride on the quiet A1A continued with miles of parks and small clusters of a variety of homes of all sizeswhat you see above is less than half of the house, squeezed between the highway and Atlantic, many with docks on the river.

Only one bridge, over the Sebastian Inlet, once again affording views of the Atlantic; though our earlier shower did not last long, the dark clouds continued to threaten.  Shortly thereafter, the sky turned ugly, almost tornado; but the worst of it was our southwest tailwind we had been enjoying was swirling and slowing us down.  An hour later, it started to sprinkle again and then quickly turned to into a downpour.  Thankfully, we had just tucked into a park cabana for pictures of the ocean.Under cover, we debated whether to forge on.  By the time we dug out our raincoats, covered up and started to ride, the rain tempered and the sun came out.  A mile later we stopped in a surf cafe for a real breakfast; earlier this morning was coffee and muffin, but this was a 4-egg Greek omelet, yum.

As we were enjoying our rest and refreshment, in walks Dan, a friend that lives in Melbourne.  In spite of the in the water direction our tracker took us today, he found us.  It was a great visit, but we still had 20 miles to our hotel.  By the time we left breakfast, the wind had switched directly out of the west.  Any deviation of direction either hurt or hindered, we were feeling the strain.  This last stretch boasted beautiful condos, more parks this great treehouse and the very long stretch of Patrick Air Force Base.  We concurred that the Air Force must have the best base locations of all the services; this is in the base’s backyard.

We did not realize how close we were to Cape Canaveral, until we checked in to our hotel and the famous Virginia astronauts were everywhere.

 A few hours later, Dan met us at our hoteldrove us back to his beautiful home for dinner, perfectly cooked steak (note to Justin) on a spinach, arugula salad with goat cheese, plus our first Key Lime Pie since arriving in Florida…….Fabulous ending to our tough 56 mile day.

Don’t google the distance between the two, until you read on.

The northwest wind was howling, 61° with a windchill in the 50’s was cold; it was going to be a long day.

In our short stretch on A1A, we saw the biggest Ron Jon Surf Shop and more commercialization than we had seen in the previous four days, collectively.

Our turn west to cross to Highway 1 was met with an strong blast of wind.  The seven mile causeway with two high bridges in just under an hour was brutal into the wind, but cooler than our Seven Mile Bridge crossing near Marathon Key.  On the way over, we saw this amazing location of the Cape Canaveral Hospital.

Short of Highway One, our course had us turn right on a beautiful neighborhood street that wound us up and down along the Indian River. Here is yet another example of a “winter home” closed up for the season.

Slightly protected from a direct onslaught of the wind, we were enjoying the homes and views and feeling a little relief.  That is until one of the bike’s gears froze and we came to a screeching halt.  There was no fixing it, but Jerry did manage to engage one gear, so it could be ridden to a bike store.  We could go forward for 10 miles or backtrack to the town we just left for the repair.  The dilemma was solved by Christy who stop to assist anyway she could; she recommended the turnaround.  Five miles later, we were at the Village Cycle Shoppe where Dr. Jason diagnosed our good news/bad news situation.  The bike is definitely fixable, but the part has to come from California from a distributor that does not open until Monday.  Our option was to wait or …..wait!  So we found a hotel, but now we had lots of bike bags and no bicycles to travel with; Michael to the rescue.  He had stopped by the shop and volunteered to load all our gear (and us) and take us back over the bridge to our hotel for the next few days.

Once again Dan tracked us down, though now we are beginning to think he is stalking us.  He was on his way over to Cocoa Beach for lunch and thought to swing by and take us with him.  It was a fun outdoor bar/restaurant with gorgeous views of the beach; a good break from the sulking that had already begun.

We will make the best of this bump in the road, as concluded over Margaritas, and just hope we really can get the bikes fixed at the beginning of the week.  With nothing to post until we ride, we hope to catch you when we begin again.

As always, thanks for all the great comments that we have enjoyed so far.

Sitting still for any length of time does not suit either one of us, but sitting still for three days, not knowing what we are doing or when we can do it, has been a bit……..excruciating.

We sat by the pool,watched the birds, walked the very darling townof Cocoa Village and enjoyed the  park, situated on the Indian River.The area is host to many outdoor summer concerts. It also boasts two memorials for local Medal of Honor recipients, Emory Lawrence Bennett and  Staff Sergeant Melvin Morris; their accomplishments are below in the day’s gallery and should be a MUST READ for all.  Remember….

We even managed to squeeze in The Best Massage we have ever had on tour.  So good, that we will put Cocoa on our list of places to explore further, in the future.

Of course, the days were not without eating and drinking.  You would think we had ridden a 100 miles each day, by the amount of food we consumed.

But good news from the bike shop today, we “should” be ready by tomorrow mid-day.  So if our tracker shows movement, we are on our way; if it does not, best not to try to contact us as we will be…….not happy!

We are truly blessed!

If our biggest problem is being stuck in a hotel room waiting for a bike part and whining about it…..we are one of the lucky ones!  We reflect on where we were exactly a year ago and how far we have come.  Then we consider what people face in their day to day lives that are monumental, to the little inconvenience we experienced.  We have our health and the ability and resources to do these tours; sorry to all that we complained to.

Our ducky doctor, Jason, at Village Cycle was amazing.  He started working on the bikes as soon as the part arrived this morning, added a few important tweaks and had our duckies purring. While we waited, we browsed an amazing old fashioned hardware store, S.F. Travis Company, est. 1885; like stepping back in time.

All loaded up, we pushed away at 11:30 this morning, usually about the time we are winding up our daily ride.  We missed three cool days of biking, but were ecstatic to be back on the road and moving forward.

Our ride started on the shaded waterfront road filled with beautiful homes, that we had backtracked on Saturday.  The views and shade lasted less than eight miles and then we were out on Route 1.

The day had gotten hot as we rode the highway with no shade to protect us.  We had planned on a stop at about twenty miles, but did not want fast food.  In historic Titusville, we found the perfect lunch stop.  Little did we know, that this darling cafe would have such amazing food.  Worth a stop if you are ever anywhere close.

Our long stretch of road was peppered with small areas of civilization and miles of trees and sparse farms.  It was not long before our feet were baking in the heat radiating from the pavement.  We stopped as often as we could find a bit of shade to try to cool ourselves in the searing heat.

Fifty two miles complete, we pulled into our hotel exactly at 5:00; it had been a hot ride and we were happy to tuck inside air conditioning.

Dinner was going to be a half mile away in either direction, but Cheryl at the hotel recommended Alberto’s Pizzeria.  This third generation restaurant, Sicilian immigrants opened their first restaurant in Pennsylvania and since moved to Florida, is Amazing.  Today was a wonderful gastronomic experience.

A block from our hotel, we rejoined our course on Riverside Drive.  A wonderful scenic ride on this cool, 72°, low humidity morning.  There was a slight north (in our face) breeze, but for the moment we were enjoying the coolness it provided.  The homes along the Indian River were very eclectic, but like yesterday, this little piece of real estate did not last.  Route 1, however, was not that busy, it offered either a bike lane or unused street parking, as well as, places we were glad we had not bookeda flea market, nice views and beautiful homes.  Most impressive, though, were the amazing, huge Live Oak trees, meticulously trimmed with branches covering an entire yard.

A flat tire spoiled our fun; normally a quick fix, but not today.  Apparently our tire pump decided we’d had way too many flats and quit on us.  Half a block away was a gas station to get the tire filled enough to ride to the nearest bike shop that was only 1/2 a mile away; could not have worked out better.  A good fill and a new pump and we were on our way. Two blocks later, Mark flagged us down; a fellow touring biker from Daytona.  We traded stories on rides and he suggested an alternate to the route we were on.  It took us an hour to go one mile, but it was fun to share experiences.  We biked the beautiful Daytona promenade,past a very impressive Indian Cycle Shop (motorcycles are Big in this area) and even more impressive condo on the Halifax River.  It was only 11:30, but the next leg of our course offered no refreshment, so we stopped for a delicious lunch.  Having learned from yesterday’s over abundance of food, we decided to split our meal, a Mahi BLT…..fabulous.  After a couple more ridiculously large homes facing the water, we turned on Mark’s recommended course through several State Parks.  The scenery was gorgeous and the shade from the tunnel of trees, welcome.  Though the humidity had remained low, the temps were still in the 90’s, it was hot.  Ten miles of the amazing state parks and we were back on A1A.  As expected the beaches and water was breathtaking.  It was another few miles of  quiet road through another park, before homes and condos began to appear. Forty eight miles later, we arrived at our hotel.  We really wanted to take a dip in the ocean directly across from our hotel, but they were reinforcing the berm that kept the sea from encroaching on the highway, so we settled for the pool.  Refreshed and showered, we enjoyed happy hour with cool breeze and view of the sea.  A few hours later, in our same seats, we enjoyed an amazing dinner, oh, and some wine.Another good day!

There is not much to Flagler Beach,   other than the awesome beach.

 It has to be the most unpretentious, laid-back resort areas we have ever seen.  A lot of rental homes, a few condos, no high-rises and the occasional local restaurant/bar/pub.  Fisherman and surfers were the only people on the beach this morning, both waiting for “the big one”.

An hour into the ride, we had a broken spoke; of course, we could still ride, but we began to wonder if we had been alligator bit.  That and the northwest wind (that was supposed to be southwest) was wearing on us.  The headwind was about the same speed we were traveling, so while it did not slow us down, it did drain our legs with every pedal push.

We passed a long stretch of beach that the sea had reclaimed for her own, homes still hung on to precious real estate and surprisingly there were areas where very expensive homes were building on top of the sand dune.Yes, the views are amazing, but it made no sense to us, given that right down the road, homes had been washed away by the sea.  Beautiful views abound crossing the Mantanzas Inlet.

Short of St. Augustine, we stopped at a bike shop for the spoke repair and a quick cup of soup two doors down. Forty five minutes later, when we pushed away, the wind had switched to the predicted SW breeze; we traveled no faster, just easier for our last few miles.

We rode through St. Augustine Beach, overthe Bridge of Lions and into the oldest continuous city in the country; founded in 1565.  Our original plan was to take a day off in St. Augustine to see the sights, but with our long hiatus in Cocoa, we settled on the afternoon.  With not a lot of time and our legs beaten up by the wind, we opted for a trolley tour; actually a great way to get a lot inin a short amount of time.  Though we retained little of the history, this is Castillo de San Marcos National Monument,

we took a lot of pictures (waaaay too many pictures),a few are identified below.

Gates to the cityOriginally the Pounce de Leon Hotel, now Flagler College.  Flagler’s personal church.  The Original Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum and one of the two most valuable pieces in the entire worldwide Ripley collection.  Built as the Alcazar Hotel and now City Hall.  Most importantly the company that developed the chocolate kiss.

Though we entered the gates for the Fountain of Youth, we felt no younger upon leaving; in fact, we felt thirsty.  One stop later, we were in front of a local watering hole, so jumped off for a cold one and a bite to eat.

Dinner was with a view of the Matanzas River (sans the meaning of Matanzas – slaughter) and delicious, Shrimp and Grits and Chicken Piccata.  A bit of romance on our walk back to our room.

It was a hot day today and though less than 37 miles, it was tough.  Two days off would have been perfect, but four days rest set us back, so we are breaking our legs in again……but we are riding, so just as happy as this newly married couple.