More St Augustine.

It's a nice place, pity I'm on my home in a few minutes.

St Augustine.

It's been emotional...

Last day dawns.

Florida saves the sunshine for the last day....

Very funny.

Not long to go, a quick forty mile hack and I'll be done.

Here goes.

Sunshine State!

The sun has made a surprise appearance in Florida.

Still a bit nippy though.

More pics of today. Note the gators are not running away from me. I noted this also and took the pictures from where I stood.

One more day to go of only 40 or so miles. My bottom is very pleased.

It's raining so...

I might as well get wet.

At Gainesville tennis club where I demonstrate my diving prowess.

Florida.

Is famous for:

Being flat.
Sunshine.
Oranges.
Alligators.

I've seen 3 alligators (in Florida) so, that's a fair comment. However, it's been a bit hilly and the weather has been relentlessly dire. Rain, headwinds, rain, wet, rain, and more bloody rain.

The nice lady at he B&B gave me an orange for breakfast which was much appreciated.

Sunshine state my arse.

There are no pics because its too wet to take my camera out.

The trip to Greenville.

A nice 67 mile ride to Greenville today where we're staying at the Grace Manor bed and breakfast.

On the way we visited the scene of a civil war battle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Natural_Bridge

We also spotted a juvenile alligator sharing a log with some friendly turtles.

We're currently ending the day with a splendid dinner in the B&B.

The usual pics including a random caterpillar that was ambling around the beer table.

Tallahassee.

Is actually quite nice. Even though its rained all the time we've been in Florida. Well it seems like anyway. Went to the state capitals today, old and new. Lovely restaurant last night and half price glasses of wine. (4 dollars each!).
Here are some pics.

Georgia.

Wasn't on the route but I took a detour down a dirt track and there it was. The signpost is for Decatur county which is in Georgia. Another one bagged. The bonus was that the dirt road took us (there were three of us) down past a local prison. There are lots of them in this part of the world. Some of the prisoners bereft of any meaningful pastimes tried to engage us in a spot of robust banter. Two of us continued on to the state line. One of our number decided to turn back, then promptly go lost. He caught up with us about an hour later. On the way back I waved and announced. "I'm on holiday". I think they'll have enjoyed that.

More pitcher plants.

Now in focus!!!!

Top Gun.

Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum.

Following my first taste of flying a few weeks ago I thought I'd take it up a notch...

My Saddle.

Looks like the first picture.

But 2600 miles in, it feels like the second picture. (We went to the caves).

Fort Morgan.

Here are some shots from Fort Morgan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Morgan_(Alabama)

Bob Pederson is the person in the crosshairs (he'd taken the last slice of pie the night before. A decision he's about to regret).

Fort Morgan was the location of (just yards offshore) a major civil war naval encounter, the battle of Mobile bay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mobile_Bay

More Alabama and some Florida.

It's been a couple of days since the last post so here's an update with pictures of our time in Alabama.

Puncture update.

Five so far.

That doesn't include fixes for original punctures that I've failed to repair correctly or for the dreaded Texan goat head plant that can attack your tyre with ten punctures at once.

Bammy.

Today saw us enter Alabama. (Bammy). It didn't rain and I saw my first live and healthy coyote. It ran away from me which is something I have now become accustomed to. We're staying on Dauphin island which the rest of the group pronounce in a very strange way. I explained that its French for dolphin which may have confused them. Dauphin island is in the Gulf of Mexico, so we've made the coast at last. Our hotel is on the beach but it looks a bit muddy so I'll give the obligatory dip a miss. Lots of pelicans about and the usual cheeky seagulls. The island is accessed via a 5 mile long bridge/causeway and tomorrow we leave it via a ferry if the weather isn't too bad.

Pitcher plant.

Saw these yesterday. Pitcher plants. I didn't have my glasses on and we'd been issued a tornado warning, so I was rushing, thus it's slightly out of focus. Sorry. Also notice the craw daddy (crayfish) hole on the left of the picture. It looks a bit like something a dog might do if it were unwell. Maybe that's why crawfish taste the way they do.

As for the tornado warning, it never appeared, which is a pity as it might have been a pleasant diversion from the 74 miles of driving rain....

Also notice in the second picture the bizarre lengths we have to go to stay dry. This was last nights campsite. it was a bit wet. Interestingly I slept like a log.