StAugustine
By
Monday, September 12, 2005
September 14, 2005
On the final day, I woke up early with excitement. Waking up early is something I do not enjoy. I'm not a morning person, but I realized that today was going to mean the successful completion of a journey. A journey that I didn't know if I would succeed at making. One I almost gave up on just a few hilly weeks ago.
Much of the coastal land south of Fernadina Beach is a savanna.
We crossed a number of long bridges and waterways.
Often these areas were populated with a variety of birds I don't get to see in the midwest. On a bicycle tour, one often comes across places where the sun is just not right to get a good photo. Today was no exception. It was early and this scene over the wetlands is facing east early in the morning. Being a wetland, one can't always find the right place to stand to take to optimal photo; nor can one afford the time to wait for the sun to move to a different place in the sky, there are miles to be ridden.
Zooming in, we see a number of storks.
We crossed over the St John's River on a Ferry Boat. Before taking off, team Zed (aka Magnificant Seven) posed for one more team photo. Most of the photos we have only include 6 of us as the other has taken on the job of photographer. Mike as always, is far ahead of us.
Sara has taken on herself to stop and photograph every fire station we pass along the way. She has collected at least 75 photos of fire stations. Outside of her final stop, we see these birds. They are shy and won't let us approach for a better photo.
One doesn't appear in ones own photos. I was able to ask Mick to stop and take this movie of me riding. First Brad comes by and then after a few seconds, you will see me with ABB ride leader Mike Munk and staff member Karen Bauer close behind- a rare event. 
Finally, the journey is nearly complete as I cross over the St Augustine City Limits.
I stop at the motel and check in, have lunch, and then get back on the bike for a ride to the St Augustine Airport. I pick up a rental car. I will use the rental car to visit St Augustine on Thursday morning and then head out to the Jacksonville Airport for my return trip home. I record my final mileage - 1735.9 total miles, nearly 100 bonus miles over the 1642 promised by the ABB brochure.
A few of us had a celebration dinner and actually stood around the motel parking lot and talked until after 10PM - quite late compared to most of our days. Mike and Barbara Munk and a few other staff people returned from their dinner and hung out with us for a while. Going on the inaugural ride with a bicycle touring company has good and not-so-good benefits. Its a challenge to be a pioneer and gives everyone a chance to help improve the ride for future riders. This ride in this form will unlikely happen again. Despite the ups and downs, it was a great experience, one I will treasure. I'm glad to be going home. I do wonder how I can keep up this level of fitness.
