Uh oh, Hills!
Refreshed, the next day we left our campsite with our own personally signed copy of the Gospel of John from our neighbours and a mini prayer meeting and began our northward journey. Our day took us on a toll road where the staff said “No Charge” and through the countryside to Fairhope, a hippy arty town on Mobile Bay. Again we went for two nights rest and had a lovely day wandering around the town pier and promenade and ending up in the local brewery with a tray of sample beers. Fortunately the ride home was very short and on the footpath – at least that’s how I...
Read MoreThe End of Florida
One of our final stops in Florida was the lovely seaside town of Pensacola where we made like the locals and headed to church! Actually we were staying at the youth centre for two nights using the warmshowers scheme – a group of cyclists and walkers who offer their homes and gardens as places for you to stay free. The Youth Director at the Methodist Church is a keen cycle tourer and has accommodated more than 500 people over the years here. After checking in and picking our floor space for our sleeping bags we rolled into this quaint town and settled into a chair on the pavement at a...
Read MoreLong lost cousins
Now you all know the Reeds are a bit weird, but did you know we have a female relation who worked at Bletchley Park in the war and had a secret love child with a Canadian Officer? No, nor did we until a few years ago and as the first time we met this lovechild was at the funeral of his mother the Code breaker we thought we’d stop in to say hello to him again at his home in Miramar Beach. We had planned to stay a couple of nights but stayed for 6 with my cousin Rob and his English wife Joy. They live on a gated estate that has a huge golf course running through it, lakes, restaurants...
Read MoreAdult content warning
This blog is not for the faint hearted and if you’re easily offended please don’t continue reading it, but it reflects our experience at the Fort Pickens Federal Park Campground near Penascola. I’ve decided to do the blog as a tourist advert as you simply won’t believe our experience here. Fort Pickens! If you’re looking for an exhilarating night then look no further than Fort Pickens Campground, where women can spend the night crying in their tent for fear of being raped, or even more fun, murdered! Your kids can learn new phrases and words ljke...
Read MoreSand sea and time zones
This part of the coast is called the Forgotten Coast and is mainly gorgeous houses on stilts right on the beach. It’s quieter and much more to our liking than the commercialised areas we were going to be cycling into later. Mexico Beach was the last forgotten stop before we hit the US high rise equivalent of Blackpool, well, with without all the miserable weather obviously. Our camp site was set on the other side of the road from the sea right next to the main road…. Or there was a tempting hotel right on the beach opposite. We did one of those look left, look right, look left...
Read MoreWould you like to supersize that?
Everything is bigger in the states, the drinks 44oz (1.25L, 143g sugar) is the standard size people get for a drink in the garages as it’s usually the same price as a small and often includes free refills as well and this probably goes a long way to explaining the supersize people. It’s not so much, does my bum look big in this, more does my bum actually fit into it in the first place! Naturally the cars are huge, though there are many more European size cars now than when we last travelled the states. But equally the pickups have got bigger at the same time too. And noisier. I...
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