Easy day in Dauphin Island

Today has been very relaxing. Woke up and walked for an hour and a half. Definitely need to get the walking muscles working again so I can get back to daily walks with Brody! Pedaled to the post office and saw some cross-country cyclists we have seen numerous times over the past month (Dave, Carl, Nathan, and two others). We'll be varying from the Adventure Cycling (AC) Southern Tier course in Florida, so may not see them again until St. Augustine as they are following the AC course.

Pedaled to both ends of the island (without cycle computer so that Kak won't have to ride her stationary bike extra miles). There is an old fort -- Fort Gaines -- on the eastern end as well as an Estuarium and harbor ferry. I was going to visit the fort, but just as I pulled in a busload of school kids pulled in too. Decided it wasn't worth the $5 entry fee to trip over kids all over the place. The east end (picture on the top above) is heavily wooded and grassy and the homes looked like they'd been there a while. Biked to the west end (picture on the bottom above) where there is a beach which you have to pay to use. There are no trees on the western half of the island and most of the houses looked relatively new. Almost all houses on the island are on pilings. I asked a building contractor how deep the pilings run in the sand. He told me 15 feet deep, and there is no concrete footing or anything like that around or below them. Sounds pretty unsecure to me -- especially in bad weather with tidal surges!

Took lots of pictures of the island today and then misplaced my camera. Fortunately someone found it and turned it in to the condo office. Thank you whoever found it! Got a picture of the bridge we had to cross yesterday to get to the island. It is about 3.5 miles or so long, with a very high center. Of course, we had a headwind all the way crossing it.

Lubed Bessie, had lunch at the Common Loon -- fried shrimp, hush puppies. Will go out for a beach walk in a few minutes, then get myself organized for tomorrow's ride to Pensacola -- Florida -- more margaritas!!

Two weeks from today I'll be home and playing with Brody. The ride has really gone by quickly.