Friday February 13, 2015

A really cold start this morning, I had to wear my ear warmers, it was below zero when we got up and only about 3 degrees when we started cycling at 9:00.

We had checked on the website to see if the ferry was running across Mobile Bay. If it wasn’t, it would mean an 80 km detour through Mobile, Alabama. Fortunately, the ferry was running which was good because it was a nicer ride heading out to the gulf and following the coast road.

It was a flat coastal road until we uploaded the garmins and the elevations showed four hills. No the four bumps were actually four bridges crossing the bayou.

We crossed into Alabama and spotted the ‘famous’ florabam restaurant. Most of the coastal route, was covered with condominiums.

We met another touring cyclists from England. Charlie has been on the road for 18 years! He had a great sense of humour, he told us that he had to make the detour around Mobile.

He commented on our tires and our brooks saddles and told us we really should have Ortlieb panniers, but I really like my Arkels. We told him that we had only one flat in over 16,000 kms. Damn I spoke too soon, Friday 13^th and I get my first flat on these tires. It was a slow leak, and we only had about 8 ks to go to the motel. I only needed to pump it twice before we got to the motel. We settled into the motel and then I repaired my tire. We found the sliver of metal in the tire and replaced the inner tube. Good to go tomorrow.