Mississippi to Alabama to Florida

We spent a wonderful day off on Dauphin Island, Alabama. The sand is sugary, soft and white. The water is 73 degrees. Our condos were right on the ocean! Oh my - heaven. (To a beach person like myself.) Between our condo and the beach were two pools, quite lovely when lit from below, but pools nonetheless. Most of the women chose to loll by the pools which is totally inconceivable to me. I played in the ocean and walked on the beach. Walking on the beach is on my "top ten" list.

Shrimp. I am totally ruined for shrimp. The shrimp in Alabama is fresh and what a difference it makes. In Boston it always comes previously frozen, no matter how high end the fish market. It's expensive and tastes like cardboard compared to the shrimp here. I bought shrimp at a market - the woman said her two sons support their families as shrimpers and she sells all they catch. She steamed them for me (mild, medium or hot) for $5.75 a pound for medium and $7.50 a pound for jumbo - and man oh man were they amazing.

The Alabama coast was beautiful. We rode into Florida but it was unmarked because the sign blew down during Katrina three years ago. Mary's brother in law owns a condo on the route and he painted a big "welcome Mary" sign and draped it over his car, so that was our welcome to Florida.

Florida - our last state! Hard to believe we have just one more week and we will have traversed the country. I think you could pop me down on a stretch of highway and I could look at the road conditions, the road kill, the plants, and know where I was!

Tommorow is a 90 miler but I am thinking of adding 10 to get in a third century ride. I am feeling so strong on my bike. The biggest hurdles for me have been social, in some ways feeling like I'm back in high school, and dietary, being away from the foods that keep me feeling safe and nourished and instead being surrounded "binge" foods. But dealing with these challenges has been strengthening too and I am already thinking about my next bike adventure.