Day 52: Monday, 04/25/16, Palatka, FL to St. Augustine, FL

All 36 coasters after completing the 2016 Coast 2 Coast ride, on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean at St. Augustine, Florida!

 

Day 52 distance: 36 miles

Total miles:  2840 miles

Elevation gain: 218 feet

Map of today's ride:

Today's ride into St. Augustine was very emotional. Rather than everyone riding individually or in very small groups as they usually rode each day, everyone rode together in a few large groups on the short 36 mile ride into St. Augustine. If you have ever observed the joy on the rider's faces on the last day of the Tour de France as the riders ride into Paris, we all had that same joyful face as we rode into St. Augustine!

The ride into St. Augustine was staged, in that we all gathered for lunch at the A1A Ale Works in St. Augustine, some five miles before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. After lunch, we rode to another point 1.6 miles from the Atlantic Ocean for a group picture in front of a large "Welcome to St. Augustine" sign. After this picture was taken, Bubba, from the back of a pickup truck, led all the riders, to the Hampton Inn on Florida Highway A1A. To contain the riders and offer security from other vehicles, another C2C vehicle followed the last rider on this final leg of the ride. As a group, the coasters chose Fred Loftin, the oldest rider at 82, to lead the riders on this final leg.

At the front entrance to the Hampton Inn, we dismounted our bicycles and pushed them through the many coaster family members that had made the trip to greet their arriving coaster. We then continued pushing our bicycles into and through the lobby of the Hampton Inn and out the door to the beach. We then headed to the beach of the Atlantic Ocean for a group picture. This was followed by a drink of something bubbly :). We then proceeded to have our individual photos taken, dipping our bicycle's front wheel into the Atlantic Ocean!

What a grand day it was for all of us! There were many emotions displayed at the end, but the prevailing feeling shared by all coasters was one of happiness and elation for achieving the goal of riding a bicycle coast 2 coast!

I am including many pictures today without saying much about them. I tried to get pictures of all the coasters and hope that I succeeded in getting everyone in at least one photo. The one thing that stands out in all the photos is everyone had a big smile on their face the entire day!

Tom Fleming was leading this group of riders at this point while riding on a bicycle trail on the ride to St. Augustine.

Tom Coe followed by John "Curly" McIntyre, also riding on the bicycle trail.

From left to right: coasters Sherry Smith, Ciska Van Den Belt (with sunglasses), Bruce Farrell, Robyn Saur, Tom Coe, Gerald Allard, and J.T. Turner.

Watching some coasters arriving at the the A1A Ale Works. We ate lunch in a seating area on the second floor balcony.

Coaster Kurt Frederick and Wayne Andresen.

Coasters Brigitte "Bee" Cooremans, Zach DeSalvo, J.T. Turner, and Tom Fleming.

The coaster's bicycles parked on the sidewalk in front of the A1A Ale Works.

Coasters Rich Niewald, and Truus and Jan Ritzer.

Coasters Robyn Saur, Mary Ellen Kurki, Sherry Smith, and Mark Copher.

Coasters Andrew and Judith Gustafson, and Gene Ice.

Coaster Wayne Andresen and wife Cheryl.

Coasters Larry Sharkey, an unknown non-coaster, Jim Hilly, and Gerald Allard.

Coasters Kathy Del Sesto, Lucie Bolduc, and Bruce Farrell.

Coaster Julie Willmering and husband Mike.

Coasters John Ilenin and Jim Sporer.

Sheila Hill, a friend of Bubba's sister, coasters Jenine Morehouse, Wayne "WEB" Baird, and Grace Stewart, Bubba's sister.

SAG member Snowflake and our C2C mascot, Cocoa Bean.

Coasters John "Eddo" Edwards and Fred Loftin.

Coaster Wayne Andresen and Bubba.

SAG support member Pete McCabe and coaster Amy Russell.

Coaster Janet Wiener.

Coaster Tres Smith and spouse.

All 36 coasters at the "Welcome to St. Augustine" sign.

Bubba in the back of a pickup leading the coasters the last 1.6 miles to the Hampton Inn. He appears to be doing a rendition of a Biblical pose!

The ride into the Hampton Inn. Note how the back of our C2C jerseys are red versus the blue color when viewed from the front. Also, apparently Bubba's instruction of riding single file was not observed! :)

Bubba's final words of farewell to the coasters on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean.

Getting a little "bubbly" to celebrate our completion of this year's C2C!

Left to right, SAG member Beth Thomason mechanic Dave "Coach" Moss, and coaster Wayne Andresen, saying thanks and goodbye.

Coasters Jan and Truss Ritzer, from the Netherlands, dipping their bicycle wheels in the Atlantic Ocean

Your blogger dipping his front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean.

A repeat of the photo of all 36 coasters to close the chapter in an unforgettable 2016 bicycle ride across the United States!

Day 51: Sunday 04/24/16 High Springs, FL to Palatka, FL

Early morning view of the road we traveled a few miles out of High Springs, Florida, on Day 51. The Florida roads that had any traffic always had a nice shoulder for bicycling.

 

Day 51 distance: 84 miles

Total miles:  2804 miles

Elevation gain: 1514 feet

Map of today's ride:

As mentioned yesterday, most of the riders were concerned about Day 51's 84 mile ride, the day before our final short 36 mile ride into St. Augustine, Florida. As it turned out, the concern was only mental. The day was nice and I am not aware of anyone struggling with the ride once we got started. Nor should we have struggled, as everyone had shown weeks ago they were capable of daily long rides. By a little after 2:00 pm, some of the faster riders completed the ride and started arriving for the night at the Palatka, Florida armory, and by 5:00 pm, everyone had arrived.

We had dinner at 6:30 pm, and after dinner, the final rider meeting was held. Bubba had everyone sit in a circle where we reviewed the past 51 days, giving our thoughts on questions such as: Which day was the hardest ride? ..the most scenic?, ..the windiest?, ..where was our favorite overnight stop?, ..our favorite dinner?, ..etc. There were a lot of different opinions, but everyone's thoughts were interesting. Each rider was then presented a 2016 C2C engraved framed picture of him/herself taken at some point during the ride by John Murphy, this year's C2C staff photographer. At that time, each coaster briefly talked about what the experience of the ride across the country meant to them. We heard everything from funny experiences, thank you's to their fellow riders and staff, to the impact the ride had, or will have on that rider's life. It was a very emotional experience. Lights when sleeping in a gym are always out at 9:00 pm, but on this night, we did not even finish the evening's agenda until well after 9:00 pm, and the lights were finally shut off at 10:15 pm.

Early Sunday morning, when riding through the town of High Springs, Florida, on our way to Palatka, Florida, I counted 11 buzzards at this house. They were feasting on a dead armadillo (on the grass) that apparently had been hit and killed by a car during the night. I saw my first dead armadillo in East Texas, but once we rode into Louisiana and beyond, I would guess I saw at least another dozen road killed armadillos.

In the Gainesville, Florida area, we rode about 20 miles of today's ride on a beautiful canopied bicycle trail.

Anne's last dinner of the 2016 C2C was tacos.

Finishing dinner and after dinner discussions.

This year's Wolf Pack. These young people are a very hard working group. They set up each night's sleeping facility, pack everything up after the riders leave the next morning, and then transport and set up the next night's facility (tents, armory, or motel) before the riders arrive that afternoon. They also received a well-deserved framed photo commemorating their effort.

This year's SAG staff receiving their framed photo commemorating the big effort they made to make this year's C2C a success.