Seacrest

On Wednesday I was in Apalachicola, the oyster capital of the world, according to the welcome sign. Being as my family is from near the Chesapeake Bay on Maryland’s Eastern Shore I want to be clear that that is what the sign says and does not reflect my own opinions in any way. I would hate to be disowned over a bivalve molluscs! Haha. It was a long ride to get here. 61 miles with the 16 bonus miles I had the pleasure of pedaling. I stopped for a midmorning coffee and I did not have my ATM card! The last place I had used it was for dinner in Sopchoppy the night before. So I backtracked and thankfully it was there and I headed down the road again. It was a great road. Not so great I was happy about riding an 8 mile section 3 times though!

I was on route 98 mostly. The views of the Apalachicola Bay were beautiful.

I caught up to another cycle tourist around 3 o’clock. Surprisingly we recognized each other. We had met and shared a campsite on the Great Allegany Passage back in August. Ron lived in Pittsburgh, Pa and had left his house the first week of November bound for Pensacola, Florida. Once there he will turn around and head back to Pittsburgh. Definitely a great way to avoid the Pa winter.

I guess neither Ron nor I were in a talkative mood. After establishing that we had met and asking how the roads been treating you, we fell into a comfortable silence for many miles. Traffic was light enough we rode side by side until we heard a car then we would ride single file. At some point he dropped back and I didn’t see him again. Tailwinds and safe travels Ron!

I was in a bit of a hurry to get to Apalachicola. A friend of Rose worked at the Apalachicola Coffee and Chocolate company there. Rose was her Warm Shower host when Caitlyn was on her first cross-country tour. It’s always fun to talk to fellow cycle tourist. Caitlyn had offered to pay for my latte if I got there before her shift ended. I couldn’t turn that down!

I was pretty tired and ended up getting a motel room in Apalachicola. I’m trying to get back on my budget. I didn’t eat at any restaurants today so I guess that’s a start!

Thursday. I left Apalachicola pretty early with hopes of doing another 60 mile day. The weather was perfect and the road was still beautiful

This is called Florida’s forgotten coast. It is awesome. Not touristy at all. The only downside to that was I could not find a coffee shop or even a gas station. A pretty bad headwind was sabotaging my best efforts at any kind of speed. I struggled to maintain 8 miles an hour. Sitting on guard rail while taking a break, I complained about the coffee situation to the only one around. I don’t think he cared at all. But he did cock his head back and forth like he was listening.

Reaching Port St Joe I finally got a much needed Starbucks Frappuccino from a gas station. It was the last one they had. I had to share with Rosie. She is even grumpier then I am without coffee

After taking a break along the beach I headed back to rt 98. I went another 5 or 6 miles when I came across a perfect stealth campsite. Even though it was early and I had only rode 31 miles,I stopped for the day.

I had a little secluded beach all to myself.

The sunset was spectacular!

I had 63 miles to ride today. I was planning on staying at a Warm Shower host in Seacrest. The wind had slacked off during the night and the water was so calm.

It was another beautiful day of riding. Some where I crossed into central time, gaining an hour. That worked in my favor. Martin, my ws host for the night, was going to have dinner ready at 5:30 and I wasn’t sure if I would make it or not. But with only a mild head wind and an excellent latte from Caribbean Coffee, I made it with a half hour to spare.

The days ride was beautiful.

At a park I stopped and ate lunch. Oatmeal and peanut butter. It’s a lot better then it sounds!

Seacrest seems like a great beach town. I really enjoyed the little I saw of it, especially the bike path.

After being shown the guest quarters I took a quick shower and then we sat down to eat. Martin had made a delicious meal. Salad, spaghetti squash with marinara sauce green beans and macaroni and cheese. I was hungry and it was really good. His little dog, Joey and I became good friends. During dinner I learned one of my favorite authors, Anna Mcnuff had stayed here while on her tour of all 50 states. It was a good ending to a great day of riding.