And on the 7th day... we got a flat tire!
We left the Comfort Inn in Pensacola, FL at 7:30 with bagels and yogurt for the road. The weather was overcast and very humid, but overall it felt a little bit cooler than previous days. About 15 miles into our ride my dad got the first flat tire of the trip. We stopped on the side of the road, and found a fat nail stuck in his rear tire (the harder of the 2 tires to change because of the chain). We knew this day would come, but also realized it was a pivotal moment. While we might look like professional bikers, in reality we know NOTHING about bikes – how the parts and wires work, or how to fix or adjust anything. Until a month ago we both thought that tires had spokes because it made the bike look cool. Both Shafiq (from Danny's Cycle Shop) and John (from Higher Ground Bike Shop) showed us how to change tires, but we never actually took a wheel off ourselves, or removed the tire and inner tube, or replaced a tire and inner tube. We used all the small bits of information we had learned and somehow were able to do it. The trickiest part was putting the wheel back on the bike. We couldn't get the tire back in – we knew the rear chain was going to be tricky, but something else was wrong. After about 10 minutes we realized we never released the rear brake pads. After about 30 minutes of pure 'handy work,' we were on our way (sure, we were a little dirty and greasy from the chain...but it looked pretty hardcore). We stopped at a gas station to refill our water bottles and eat our bagels a little while later. On our way out of the gas station we saw 2 bikers on a tandem bike pull up. They were well dressed with those cool colorful biking shirts, while we were wearing greasy workout shirts. We chatted with them for a few minutes and learned that they had come from California and were using the same maps as us (only going the opposite way). We wished them luck, but they hardly needed it (from what they told us, we are headed for some very hot/ dry weather). They were headed for flat ground and we were headed for hills. We continued on our way, on a fairly busy roads, but at least they had nice shoulders for us to ride on. We felt like we were living large (relatively cool weather, gentle headwinds, and not a lot of sun), but little did we know, the best was yet to come! We emerged from the city onto a flat road along the beach which lead to our
1st border crossing... we, the Sloyer men for the first time had planted our feet on Alabama soil!! After a quick milkshake at the Happy Harbor ice cream shop (on he border of Fl and AL/ -" Flora – Bama" see picture below) we continued on the beach until we hit a nice bike trail. There were barely any cars on the road, there was plenty of shade, the temperature had dropped around 5- 10 degrees, and it was completely flat (win!). 20 miles later, we arrived at the Mobil Bay ferry dock. We waited for the ferry for 20 minutes and enjoyed drinks from the vending machine and spoke to some people from Arkansas. We couldn't figure out why the “s” is silent, but were afraid to ask the people since they might not know either. On the ferry ride, we passed some oil rigs (pictures below) and some of AL's state bird, the Northern Flicker. We arrived on Dauphin Island 35 minutes later and biked the short 1.5 miles to the Dauphin House Inn. We took quick showers and headed out to pick up dinner. We had to ride our bikes (the nearest place to eat was 2 miles away) but we got to ride without our panniers which was nice (this was the 1st time we had done this because we bought the bikes on the 1st day of the trip). Today tried a new beer - Landshark Lager and last night we watched the first X -Men movie which we both thought was great. We are not sure where we will end up tomorrow. Not a lot of lodging opportunities on the map for the next 200 miles, but we will figure something out.
Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Check out a video clip of some of coastal Alabama roads we biked on today:
Check out our route at the link below: Pensacola, FL to Dauphin Island, AL
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