Mobile to Bay Minette, Alabama

Today’s Mileage: 34.7 / Trip Mileage: 38.5

Today’s photos are here.

No doubt about it: we were all rarin’ to go this morning. I’d set the alarm for 6:30 but was wide awake long before then.

Patty, our “executive chef,” had breakfast ready for us in the driveway of the hotel at 7:30 (real Irish oatmeal - yum!) and had set up a table with the ingredients to make up our own gorp mixes (gorp = Good Old Raisins & Peanuts), fixings for pb&j sandwiches, energy bars, oatmeal cookies - everything necessary to give us the carbs and calories we’d need to do the day’s ride without bonking.

One of the great thing about bicycle touring is that you absolutely have to consume mega-amounts of food to offset energy burned. So, you get to indulge your love for food with no guilt and no bad aftereffects!

Before we loaded our bags into the trailer, we had to weigh them to make sure they were within the 50 pounds each of us is allowed. Reminded me of mandatory weight checks of my flight attendant days - only then it was me, not my suitcases, that was being weighed!

My bags were eight pounds under the limit but even so I brought way too much and will be sending stuff home on the first rest day.

That’s another thing I like about bicycle touring (at least the way Woman Tours does it): you really don’t need much in the way of clothing. Nobody cares - or even notices - if you wear the same biking jersey every day or if you show up for dinner every evening in the same tee shirt & shorts.

Before getting underway, the whole group walked a block from the hotel to a park for the traditional group send off picture. Two of the rider’s husbands and the friend of another rider who’d shown up to see her off took all our digital cameras and snapped picture after picture on camera after camera. Wish I had a picture of the photo-takers loaded down from wrist to elbow with cameras hanging from straps.

We sort of snaked our way from Mobile to Bay Minette - first heading north out of the city, then east across the Mobile River, then south and once again east over Mobile Bay to Spanish Fort, then north again to Bay Minette. The first half of the route from Mobile to Spanish Fort was flat, except for the humps of the bridges. The second half, from Spanish Fort to Bay Minette, had short rolling hills - none too steep, none too long. Being a Saturday, traffic in Mobile wasn’t bad and the further we got from the city, the fewer cars were on the road.

Today’s Points of Interest: Mobile’s Slave Market, Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad Terminal, Battleship Alabama Memorial Park, Saluda Hill Cemetery

I stopped at Historic Blakeley State Park where the last major battle of the Civil War was fought and had a nice chat with the ranger. Wish I’d spent time exploring there - will have to go back someday.

Lots more to tell but I’ve rambled on for too long already. More tomorrow. Or maybe not until the day after: tomorrow’s an 102 mile day.

Thanks for reading my blog!