Terry and Royce's Grand Adventures

DeFuniak Springs FL Rest Day DeFuniak Lake We picked DeFuniak Springs for our day off for no other reason than it was the next stop after the very busy holiday area of Pensacola. DeFuniak Springs one claim to fame is that it has one of only two perfectly round lakes in the world. The other perfectly round lake is in Switzerland. It is a nice lake located in the heart of the town  and is appropriately called DeFuniak Lake. It has a circular drive with nice historic home surrounding it. Today was a good day to clean the bikes up and clean the car out. I discovered some food I did not know we still had. That is a good thing. I had brought certain foods to prepare when we camped.We have a lot of camping food still. Our camping days have been non existent since leaving New Mexico. We will be staying in motels for the rest of the ride. Perhaps we will find some camping opportunities on our return home.  Another low is moving through the area now with afternoon thunderstorm be...

Pensacola FL to DeFuniak Springs FL May 22, 2015 84 miles It was good to be leaving Pensacola before the Memorial Day Weekend crowd showed up. The route for today went through the Blackwater River State Forest. I rode several miles on a nice paved trail. It was very peaceful, but not overly scenic. Still, anytime on a trail and away from traffic is nice. After I left the trail I rode on very quiet country backroads. Again not overly scenic but quiet. I think one important note about Florida is that it is NOT perfectly flat as is usually advertised. No you do not look across the landscape as see mountains. However, there roads have plenty of pitches and ups and downs on them. For instance today's ride had 2250 feet of elevation gain. That is not a lot in 84 miles, but it certainly is not flat. The ride from Holt into DeFuniak Springs was on Hwy 90, which did have a nice wide shoulder. A lot of people had set up little roadside yard sale type stands along Hwy 90. I do not know i...

Daphne AL to Pensacola FL May 21, 2015 89 miles A city that likes bicyclists What another stateline crossing? Yep. Hello Florida!! Our destination state. It was a wonderfully warm day. Riding through all the small communities below Daphne was great. I saw a small group of local riders out for a ride. This gave me greater hope of better roads for bicycle riding. All and all they were great roads. Magnolia Springs was a beautiful trendy town and had a great feeling about it. Royce had parked along the beach in a State Park. We had a great lunch and a beautiful ride along the beach. We were surprised that the beaches were not very busy. It is the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend and we expected to see a lot more people. We had fun at the stateline. It felt strange and unreal to be standing in Florida. We took a brief moment to affirm with each other how amazing it is to make it to Florida from California by bicycle. Was this real? Is it really going to end soon? I actually fe...

Vancleave MS to Daphne AL May 20, 2015 66 miles No special welcome sign here We were refreshed and felt accomplished after yesterdays no rain ride. Another stateline crossing and a relatively short ride day (at least in miles). The unknown variables that riding in city traffic can bring, could take longer to cover than the miles indicate. We have wasted no time hitting the road as early as possible. The constant threat of thunderstorms by 2 or 3 in the afternoon have reaffirmed our early morning routine again and again. Royce shot forward pass the Alabama stateline and then rode back to me. We had an early lunch and then we rode into Mobile together. Royce was able to make a loop out of his ride, instead of his standard out and back. Traffic began to increase on the outskirts of town and I thought riding through the heart of Mobile could get interesting. Mobile did not seem to have a lot of use for bicycles on the road. The drivers were not as courteous as MS or LA. In those s...

Bogalusa LA to Vancleave MS May 19, 2015 95 miles Hello Mississippi We knew the rain would clear and today would bring new sights and adventures. All of our equipment dried nicely overnight and we were road ready again this morning. Today we crossed into Mississippi not long after leaving Bogalusa. The first 20 miles were on Hwy 26. The road had a fair amount of traffic on it at 630 am, but I made it into Poplarville before the traffic got to crazy.  Once I left Poplarville the route turned onto private forested areas. There were homes spaced out about every 3 miles and very little traffic on the road and the roads were nice. Wow, this was like a dream or maybe this is what I had hoped for all along.  As I rode along the area reminded me of when I use to ride up through the forests above Blue Lake CA (on the North Coast). Those were my early days of bike riding and probably the ones that helped create the passion I developed for it. I was so happy for this ride in ...

Jackson LA to Bogalusa LA May 18, 2015 92 miles Louisiana's scenery is vibrantly green and lush it is hard not to just marvel at the beauty as you ride along the roads. The morning was so glorious that as the day heated up I thought this could be a great no rain ride. That would be a first in many days for us. I was thinking this could be one of the greatest rides of the trip. Then I started to remember how what starts out as such a great ride can turn just as quickly into a troubled ride. This had happened in Texas quite a bit. Usually the wind would come up in the afternoon. That can take an easy cruiser day and turn it into some real work. Royce met up with be right around 11 and I probably had logged 40 miles by then. We pedaled our way to the car were we would have lunch. We were riding on Hwy 38 and later the 440 road. These roads had little to no shoulder. Loaded logging trucks provided for a majority of the traffic on the road. This tests your nerves a bit, but the driv...

Bunkie LA to Jackson LA May 17, 2015 86 miles More Southern charm and sights were plentiful today. Royce and I have been getting to ride more together. Today was extra special because we got to cross the Mississippi River together. After lunch Royce was going to ride 10 miles and then turn back. As we made our way along the route a golden twin towered bridge came into view. We had rode along a back road for about 7 miles knowing that the great Mississippi River lay behind a large levee that blocked a clear view. This was rather disappointing. When we say the bridge we knew it went over the Mississippi River and could not wait to ride over the bridge. Royce threw out any thought of 10 miles. He was going to ride over the bridge no matter what it took. We stood in the middle of the bridge in awe of the magnificent bridge and the mighty Mississippi. Of course we took plenty of pictures. As I made my way out to Jackson it was interesting to see the conflicting living conditions. One m...