August 9.
Another 60 mile day, this time without a detour. St. Marys is very close to the Florida border, but you can’t go as the crow flies. We actually went north and west from St Marys before looping back toward the south and the east to cross the border and finally start down the coast near the ocean. We crossed the state line 15 miles into today’s ride.
We went through a pretty heavily trafficked area and stopped for a brief break where we saw this beautiful neighborhood with a pond in the middle.
Pretty soon after that we were headed to Amelia Island and we got to ride right along the beach. Most of the time we couldn’t see it, but every once in a while we would catch a glimpse.
Amelia Island had a state park where there was a nice bike path. Some of it was a damaged road that is no longer being repaired since a new road and bridge were built parallel to the damaged road. In talking with my nephew, Kris, I learned that the damage was probably caused by Hurricane Matthew.
Spanish moss is very pretty along here. Some places it hangs down right over the path and feels like a low overhanging roof. At the end of the bike path we spotted a spider up in his web.
Near the end of the day, we got to ride a ferry across the river before our last several miles to Atlantic Beach. As we were standing in line for the ferry, we saw a storm trooper and got a picture with him! Unfortunately, it wasn’t on my camera so I don’t have access to the photo right now. But, I promise, we did see a Storm Trooper. He was participating in some kind of scavenger hunt.
