Departure: Gulf Shores, AL Finish: Fort Walton Beach, FL
Distance: 75.7 miles
Elevation gain: 1,080 feet
Winds: ESE at 20 to 25 mph. Gale warnings for the Gulf!
Weather: High Clouds all day. Hazy. 67 degrees at departure. 72 degrees at arrival.
On bike duration: 5 hrs, 15 minutes.
Average speed: 14.4 mph
Total Accumulated Miles: 2,521.8
We entered Florida 10 miles into our ride today. We have come a LONG way from the isolated deserts of far west Texas, and the piney woods of Louisiana. The scenery has changed dramatically. Today, we bowed our necks into a 20 mph quartering headwind. We crossed over the long Pensacola Bay Bridge (with a dedicated bike lane); then followed a two-lane road on a very narrow barrier island to the east.
The road is bordered on both sides by white sand dunes with the Gulf on our right side and the Big Lagoon on our left. It is a protected bird sanctuary called the Gulf Island National Seashore.
The wind was really significant, but not as demoralizing as the same kind of wind was between El Paso and Fabens. I’m stronger now. In the Fabens area, they don’t publish “gale warnings”. We could tell it was windy. On the Gulf Coast, we saw numerous red flags on the beaches, signifying a serious warning for small boats.
At the end of the day we rolled up to “TRU by Hilton”. I had never heard of TRU before. It’s a very nice, comfortable hotel, but it left me wondering if every other previously established Hilton was “unTRU” (?!)
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