Day 7 - Pensacola - Bayou La Barte

What a day! We are out of Florida, It was a pretty state that brought us extreme heat on the first day, rain on the 3rd day and pleasant weather the other days. It was filled with rolling terrian with lots of trees and roadkill. Am i sad to see Florida behind me...heck no! That means we are one step closer to our goal!

I slept great last night, used a different air mattress and it worked great. Woke up, showered and had a bowl of ceral. We rode out of Pensacola around 7am. We made our way south and then west and it didn't take us long to see the winds were going to be strong today. We rode right down to the gulf shore and rode parrall to the gulf. It was really pretty.

After riding into the wind for 20 miles down the coast we finally crossed over into Alabama. We missed the actual sign entering the state. They were having a athletic event right on the border there and the sign was hidden behind folks and vehicles. We stopped at the snext avalible sign for a photo shoot...

The rest of the ride was really pretty as well. We rode down to Mobile Bay and took a ferry across the bay to Dauphin Island. It was about a 4.5 mile ferry ride. The water was choppy but the ferry was pretty steady. It was pretty fun, we rode our bikes off when we arrived at Dauphin Island.

Bill Estle and Shane on the ferry

Dauphin Island was a neat place. Once we were off the ferry and on the island we met another cross country cyclist named Chris. Chris is riding for his friend that has MS. We is riding solo and unsupported. So he carries everything with him all the time. We talked for a few minutes and Shannon snapped a picture and he boarded the ferry to cross to were we had just came from.

We were only on Dauphin Island for a few miles, but while we were there we met the some locals.

After we saved Shane from this huge shark (and why is there a shark on Dauphin Island?), we rode off the island and across a very long bridge.

The rest of the day was riding through Alabama and it was pretty flat and the winds decreased as the afternoon went on. All and all it wasn't an bad afternoon on the bike. 

For me the day was very long, with all the wind this morning it was really exhausting and took it out of me. Tomorrow i need to focus on holding back my efforts for the right obstacles so i have more in the tank at the end of the day when i always seem to need it.

I have already showered and eaten another great RV dinner and am looking forward to talking to my wife and kids in a few minutes on the computer. Then I need to get everything out for tomorrow morning. We are told by our on staff meteorologist that the winds will be from the northeast in the morning, so that will definitely help us out! Tomorrow we press on here in Alabama and actually cross into Mississippi tomorrow too.

Thank you for everyones support and prayers!