{"id":23943,"date":"2018-05-12T17:27:06","date_gmt":"2018-05-12T21:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=23943"},"modified":"2018-05-13T07:40:18","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T11:40:18","slug":"day-27-friday-may-11-dauphin-island-alabama-to-pensacola-florida-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=23943","title":{"rendered":"Day 27. Friday, May 11 – Dauphin Island, Alabama to Pensacola, Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

Awake early and no place to go before our 8:00 ferry, we did a leisurely pedal though town. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0Hard to believe this quiet\/sleepy little town\"\"<\/a> is the birthplace of Mardi Gras. \u00a0Of course it moved to Mobile and then to New Orleans, before the rowdy began. \u00a0Once reaching the ferry, we had time to spare so did a quick visit of Fort Gaines.\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 The ride out of the inlet was busy\"\"<\/a> and beautiful.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0On the ferry over Mobile Bay,\"\"<\/a> we met Ray, from Oregon,\"\"<\/a> biking from California to Florida; check out his bike bags. \u00a0We could not believe how many oil rigs stood in the middle of our channel;\"\"<\/a> these iron dinosaurs were everywhere.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0We landed in Fort Morgan,\"\"<\/a> ready to put in some miles, so photos were limited to a drive-by. \u00a0The sand dunes were breathtakingly white,\"\"<\/a> like freshly fallen snow; it did not look real. \u00a0Vacation homes were collected along the waters edge\"\"<\/a> on both sides of us; \"\"<\/a>fishing havens on the Bay, beach havens on the Gulf. \u00a0We did not go far before the lure of breakfast\"\"<\/a> pulled us in to a great funky place<\/a>. \u00a0Could not pass up on the amazing breakfast buffet,\"\"<\/a> but did refrain from a Bloody Mary. \u00a0This is the way to do a tour, pedal four miles, take a ferry ride, pedal four more miles and have breakfast. \u00a0It was a fun place, \"\"<\/a>but it was almost ten in the morning and we’d barely gone ten miles. \u00a0We really needed to put the pedal to the metal or we would not get anywhere, today. \u00a0As the island got wider, the water views and homes disappeared behind trees, churches\"\"<\/a> and mailboxes were the only tell of people.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0The long, straight treelined road offered shade, though.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0After 13 miles we got a quick glance of Bon Secour Bay,\"\"<\/a> before the trees again encased the road. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0The sun was searing, but there was no humidity, so the shade was cool and comfortable. \u00a0At 11:00, the turned towards the water almost overwhelmed us,\"\"<\/a> a two mile stretch of colorful businesses;\"\"<\/a> everything looking new or freshly painted. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0We thought we would miss the shade, but there was a cool breeze coming off the water and the beach…\"\"<\/a>…well, just Gorgeous and no<\/em> complaints. \u00a0It was a fabulous ride up the coast with beautiful white sand,\"\"<\/a> incredible State Parks,\"\"<\/a> condos,\"\"<\/a> homes.\"\"<\/a>It was a lot to take in,\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 but our dedicated bike lane made the ride easy.\"\"<\/a>Reaching Alabama Point and Perdido Pass,\"\"<\/a> I was astounded with the color of the water,\"\"<\/a> just breathtaking. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0We stopped at Flora-Bama\"\"<\/a> for a quick look\/see and listen to a couple tunes. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0We had always known this to be a bar,\"\"<\/a> but it is SO much more,\"\"<\/a> including the true border between Florida and Alabama.<\/p>\n

Back on the road, the sites continued to impress, \"\"<\/a>with house now appearing on the dune across Big Lagoon.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 After 46 miles of coastal pedal we turned inland over Perdido Bay \"\"<\/a>and directly into the pool. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0So excited to catch up with Dave and Lynn, we missed all the picture taking. \u00a0Lots of laughs, wine and amazing dinner \"\"<\/a>and more catching up tomorrow. \u00a0It was time to turn in after our 51 mile day.<\/p>\n\n\t\t