04 November 2019
The morning was beautiful. The cooler breeze from last night had warmed, but it was still beautiful.
Today was all A1A until I left the route for the campground. The bridge at Sebastian Inlet State Park greeted me only about two miles into the day. There was a pretty good cross wind, and the bridge is steep enough to drop my mileage down low enough that I felt as if I might blow over. I didn’t.
I loved it when I saw a coconut. Then I realized it had fallen from one of the two trees here. Just fun to see. What can I say? We don’t see those too much up in Suches. Anyway, it called to mind Harry Nillson’s “Coconut.”
If I saw 50 anoles today, I saw 100. The side path adjacent to the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge seemed to have the most active population. I pray I never hit one, but it would have been almost impossible not to hit one. I spent a lot of time slowing down or weaving across the side path to avoid them. They were literally everywhere. Lots to feed on down here.
As I approached the Vero Beach area, I could feel some faint spits. At first I thought it was water from a sprinkler. It wasn’t long before the bottom fell out. There was a nice solid rain for no more than a half a mile. It was raining as I passed Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.
At the halfway point, I pulled over to have a rest. The place I identified as shade and potential cover for rain that might start at any moment was in the process of being vacated by two women riding self-supported. DL and I had spotted them yesterday when we were on the way to our late lunch/early dinner. They said they were going to Key West but were following the A1A rather than the ECG. Of course, down here, they are one in the same for miles and miles. They recognized that I was traveling light for a trip to Key West. They seemed amazed and impressed that I had such ride support. I am one lucky person! But we wished each other well. I saw them a couple more times when one of us would stop for a while as we passed each other. It is very possible I’ll see them on the road again.
Once in Fort Pierce, we headed to a bicycle shop to have a much needed tune-up. Because we were heading down to the Stuart area to meet up with a friend, and because tomorrow is a rest day, I was able to leave it with them. We'll pick it up tomorrow.
Alice is a long-time friend of DL, and she took us out for a delicious meal on the water. (After our showers!) The restaurant was shady and comfortable enough to sit outside. A little blue heron entertained diners off of the porch. It would come right up and eat raw shrimp out of the hands of one of the restaurant workers. I love looking out at water and boats in a marina. It was a wonderful afternoon and early evening. Back at her home, we did more laundry, drank wine, and visited.
Long spans of time on the road lead to all kinds of thoughts. Seemed like I was in a musical state of mind today. After the rain today, I started thinking of how happy I was there was a rest day coming up. Then I thought of the sun and rain today, and James Taylor ("Fire and Rain") popped into my mind. If you’re up for a little ditty, have at it. (Don’t worry, I’m retired. I don’t have to worry about my day job.)
Well I’ve seen sun, and I’ve seen rain.
I’ve felt shearing to my sit bones causing pain.
I’ve been in my head for much too long I fear.
But I knew a rest day’s looming mighty near.
There’ve been a few times that I thought I might blow over.
Need a butt break.
Need to sleep in.
Sun and rain.
33.83 mi / 853.92
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