Dauphin Island, AL to Pensacola, FL

 Our path off Dauphin Island today started out with a 6 mile ferry ride across the bay.  Without that ferry ride, we would have needed to climb the bridge we came in on yesterday, and add about 70 miles to our trip.  The ferry ride was an easy decision, and included in the planning from the start.  Here is a look down from the upper deck with assorted vehicles, and our bikes.

Once we got back on our bikes, there is a long peninsula going East-West with a single road.  Fortunately it isn’t heavily travelled, but also isn’t very scenic.  The surprise of the day for me was that our route planners found some nice paved trails that took us off the main roads.

It reminded me of the trails ride I did in Northern Minnesota in the fall of 2023, with different types of vegetation & about 30 degrees warmer.  All of a sudden, the trails ended & here is what we saw:

Gulf Shores, AL.  Lots of development & traffic.  Quite a contrast from the extensive network of trails we had just ridden through.  This is also the Eastern edge of Alabama, and I had to stop in to see the Florabama Lounge.  It is famous in this area for live music, beach front parties & of course multiple bars.  It sits almost at the Alabama-Florida border & here is the only picture I got that proves we are in Florida:

The ride today was 63 miles (including the mileage on the ferry even though we weren’t pedaling). Because there is so much water down here, we continue to have bridges to climb so ships can get underneath.  They are extra work on the bicycle, but nothing as hard as the Dauphin Island bridge I described yesterday.  When I got to the top of one today, I stopped to get a picture of this yacht.  

Can’t even imagine how much that cost.

Another great day of biking, and we normally finish off the day with a group dinner.  Tonight’s choice was  Italian & 7 of us went to the slowest restaurant I’ve ever experienced.  Great food, but my business mind says they could be more successful if they could figure out how to get customers in and out quicker.  We always have something to talk about - getting to know new people & hearing their stories.  Of course we are quite hungry after a day on the bicycle also, but we made it through.

Pascagoula, MS to Dauphin Island, AL

Only 42 miles today, and entered our 3rd state:

 For those of you who followed my Coast to Coast bike ride in 2019, you might remember this bridge:

This is the bridge to Dauphin Island.  You can see it coming up for about 10 miles, and that makes it even more intimidating. In 2019, I was in much better shape, and I was 6 years younger.  I am happy to report that I was able to climb it again today, but it took everything I had to do so.  The wind was manageable today, and except for that bridge, nothing exciting to report about the ride.

Here are some interesting facts about our group.  Average age is 67, with the oldest being 80 (3 of them), and the youngest 37.  11 women, 16 men.  There are 5 husband/wife teams, with 2 of them riding tandem bikes.  2 recumbent bikes (including my Q45 Cruzbike).  All the rest are traditional uprights, with at least one of them including electric assist.  

Unlike my 2019 Coast to Coast trip, this adventure is almost completely run by volunteers.  Everything from route planning to logistics is done by a variety of people who just love to provide this opportunity to others.  Our main leader & his wife ride one of the tandems, and last fall they drove the entire route to check the roads & the quality of the hotels.  We are grateful for their dedication.

The other group that is critical to the success of a trip like this is the support crew.  3 women whose spouses are riding, drive vans or pick up trucks to supply us with rest breaks.  They have water, make us sandwiches, have snacks available every 15 - 20 miles.  Here is what a typical rest stop looks like:

 

There is also one van with a trailer to carry extra bikes and gear.  The driver of that van is also a pretty good bike mechanic, so he is able to help along the way with any equipment problems riders may have.  It is also possible that sometimes a rider needs to take a day off, or maybe just part of a day, and the support crew is able to put their bike in a vehicle & drive them to our destination.  What a blessing this support crew is to us!

Bay St Louis, MS to Pascagoula, MS

 We fought headwinds again today, but only had to go 54 miles instead of 70.  I still feel almost as tired.  I’m surprised at the number of large bridges that exist in this area of the country.  Almost always they are going over large expanses of the gulf, and to allow big ships to pass under, they tend to be quite tall.  What that means for a bicycle rider is a hill to climb, and this bicycle rider doesn’t enjoy that part.  But there’s nothing to do except keep on pedaling.  We had 3 such bridges today.

The other thing that comes with being on big expanses of water is various water activities: fishing and commercial water traffic like this:

 There is also recreational boating like this:

And of course with recreation comes large estates on the water like this:

I also learned that Gulfport, MS is a pretty big tourist area.  I always thought it was Gulfport, AL that folks went to vacation.  A google search revealed to me that it is Gulf Shores, AL.  In any event Gulfport, MS has large hotels, casinos, and long expanses of white sand beach.

Something I have never seen before are souvenir stores with special entrances.  Sometimes alligators:

Sometimes sharks (notice my Cruzbike parked out

I’m enjoying getting to see a part of the USA that I haven’t spent much time in, and in my opinion there I no better way to do that than on a bicycle at 10 - 15 mph.  It’s too easy to miss the best parts otherwise.

New Orleans, LA to Bay St Louis, MS

 

This is what I looked like after doing our first day ride of 70 miles.  We all agreed we should take credit for 90 miles because we had a 20 mph headwind pretty much all day.  I’m happy to report that in spite of All my medical adventures so far in 2025 (back injury, hernia surgery & Covid), I really made it through this day quite well.

the image below shows what our group looked like as we prepared to push off from New Orleans.

You may notice a motorcycle in the image.  That bike was not part of our group.  It just happened to be parked right there in the lot.  We got out right at 8 AM, and fortunately a local biker provided us with a friendly route out of the city.  Some trails, some roads, but lightly travelled for the most part.  Here is something we hate to see when out biking:

In this case we had advance knowledge, again because of the local biker connection.  There is about a 20 mile stretch of US 90 that has been closed to traffic for years.  There are 4 or 5 bridges that need to be rebuilt, but they don’t have the money to do it.  The problem is heavy truck traffic.  Bicycles are allowed, but there are huge concrete barriers to prevent motor vehicles.  Once you lift your bike around the barrier there is 20 miles of paved surface with no other traffic.  The down side is that the pavement isn’t maintained, so it can be quite uneven.

This definitely is hurricane country.  Hundreds of houses are built high off the ground like this:

It is also pretty clear that some of the hurricanes in the past 20 years wiped out everything that had been standing because all of these houses are really quite new. 

This is named the Gulf Coast tour, and I expect to see a lot of the Gulf of Mexico in the next few weeks, but it took us 60 miles of riding today before I could get this picture:

Most of the day was spent pedaling through swamp and forest. Not very scenic, but sometimes that has to be done to get where you’re going.

Overall a pretty good day.  Temperatures in the high 70’s - low 80’s.  The wind kept it from feeling too hot, but if I had my choice, I’d rather sweat than fight the wind all day.

Overview of our Route

As you follow me from New Orleans to Key West, click on this link for the interactive google map that will give you a good idea of my progress.  Thanks to my daughter Julie for putting this together.

We have arrived in New Orleans & met the group of riders.  19 are doing the full trip,  another 9 will either leave early, or join us part way in.  

In addition we have 4 Support staff who drive the route carrying our baggage, setting up rest stops, helping to repair breakdowns, and checking us into hotels along the way.  They are our favorite people, and really make the trip the great experience it can be.

Tomorrow morning at 8 AM is our set departure time.

2025 Gulf Coast Tour

 Welcome to my biking blog!   Some of you may have followed me on previous trips (the posts for those are below this one), but this is a new adventure.  I was invited by my friend AD Carson, who was the guy that got me going on these trips in the first place.  If you want to read that story, go to the page titled "How I got here"

AD & I leave early tomorrow morning for New Orleans.  We are driving my big Transit van, which will also serve as a support vehicle during the trip.  I will be biking, but the spouse of one of the other riders will be following us in the van, and providing us water and snacks along the way.

The trip is 21 days of biking an average of 55 miles per day from New Orleans to Key West, FL.  We will have 2 off days during the trip, and we will have extra tourist days at both the beginning and end of the trip.  Then AD and I will load up our bikes (and a couple of others for some riders from Chicago), and drive back home. 

I plan to post every day beginning Sunday April 20, and will include as many pictures as possible.  There should be plenty of things to see because we will be riding along the coast until we need to cross the Everglades to get to the Keys.

Let me know if you have any questions.  I will try to answer.  Here we go! 

North Branch to Maple Grove

 No pictures today - No biking today.

It rained over night, and was drizzling at 6 AM.  The forecast was variable, but all weather channels agreed that at some point it was going to rain today.  Our leader and tour planner took a very democratic approach to the decision.  Although all of would like to have completed the loop, we also agreed that it has been a great trip & that completing the last 50 miles wasn’t worth the potential risk of going down on a trail covered with wet leaves, or getting caught in a storm.

This was the best day to have a washout.  The logistics were pretty straightforward.  Some of us drove the 50 miles to our starting point with as much gear and bikes as we could fit.  There we unloaded into the hotel lobby, picked up my big transit van & drove back to North Branch.

We were then able to get everything, and everyone else in the two vehicles.  We were back in Maple Grove by 10 AM.  When we arrived, the sun was out, but the forecast was still dismal.  No one regrets the decision to not ride.  This is all part of planning a trip like this.

Tonight we will have a final dinner where exaggerated stories will be told.  

I am very satisfied with the experience.  I’ve made 10 new friends from all around the country - Maryland, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon & Wisconsin.  I have accomplished my goal of keeping my fitness at a high enough level to do a trip like this.  I continue to enjoy riding my Cruzbike Q45 recumbent.  I most enjoy the comfort compared to some others on the trip riding their upright bikes who spend too much time shaking out the numbness in their hands, or standing up on their pedals to give their butts some relief.

Thanks for following along these past few weeks.

0 miles today - 736 total miles for the trip