Farewell to the Coast of Florida July 19

Another morning on the eastern coast of Florida brought another climb up a bridge with long views. This climb was again the highest climb of the entire day. A nice tailwind was also a pleasurable feature today. It may be hot in Florida this time of year, but the breeze and flat terrain more than compensated.

Perhaps you can see the helmet cam at the ready in the adjacent photo. The camera affixes to either of our helmets with a velcro-like strip adhered to the back of each of our helmets, which allows us to swap the camera between one another or reverse the position with ease. We’ve enjoyed getting to know our new tool for sharing our experience with you. We know our editing needs some work, but the time demands on a tour don’t allow for much fine-tuning, like placing down a different audio without noisy wind sound and placing captions within to identify our location.

We again traveled along route A1A adjacent to the eastern shore of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean. As we approached the Jacksonville area, the beach communities were closer together and hosted lovely if not luxurious seaside homes. During a roadside stop, two people stopped to see if they could lend assistance. A third inquired through an open window of his crawling pickup. People were out for their morning exercise, whether jogging or bicycling. It was a friendly and pleasant environs.

At lunch at a Subway on the outskirts of Jacksonville, we enjoyed a conversation with a retired Navy vet and his wife. They lived in Connecticut for many years before migrating south to Florida. We find many of the people who we’ve encountered to be very friendly and helpful.

Leaving the Subway under heavily overcast skies revealed our hand for the remainder of the day. Lightning lit up the sky on one side and eventually a storm cloud chased us up the north shore. The rain was steady, but not hard, so the cycling experience was not unpleasant.
The wet weather cooled us but did not materially impede our progress. A ferry ride across the St. John’s River added a unique touch to today’s experience.