Cheryl posting for Chuck, as he’s busy getting all his electronic gadgets charged and ready, and getting to bed early to be fresh for the start of the ride tomorrow.

Bob was up VERY early this morning and rode his bike into town and had some breakfast. He came back just as we were having our own breakfast and we all got together for some coffee before heading over to the Salt Run at Anastasia State Park to check out my new Firefly kayak.

On the water

While I paddled out and back for about a half hour, Chuck checked out the oyster beds and all of the tiny crabs running around on the shoreline while Bob caught up on his reading.

Lots of oysters, and all of them sharp

After some lunch at the RV, we toured some of the sights in St. Augustine – the oldest city in the USA. We started with the St. Augustine Lighthouse.

Chuck & Shadow at St. Augustine Lighthouse

Bob said he doesn’t like heights, so he stayed at ground level to check out the lighthouse and museum.

Bob checks out the bottom floor of the lighthouse — and this enormous wrench!

Chuck climbed the 219 steps to the observation deck at the top and tried to figure out which bridge they would have to cycle over tomorrow. There were several bridges to choose from and from high up in the lighthouse, Chuck said it was hard to tell for sure which one it was.

219 steps

Hello down there!

After touring the grounds along with Shadow (they welcome dogs, just not in the buildings or lighthouse, which is much nicer than the Fort — where we were told no dogs allowed) we all drove down to the ‘Old City’ section of St. Augustine and Bob and Chuck toured Fort Matanzas National Monument on their own.

Walking up to Fort Matanzas

Bob checking out one of the canons

Chuck waves from the wall

Together in front of Fort Matanzas Nat'l Monument

After the Fort, and in search of ice cream for Bob, we walked St. George Street, where the prevailing theme was NOT ALLOWED. First, the grounds keeper at a nearby church said their garden was closed and kicked out everyone who was resting and sitting on a bench and locked the gate behind us. As we walked across the street to a city park, we saw this sign in front of a monument:

Monument to the Constitution. But note the sign, "Do Not Enter Inside Chain. Strictly Enforced. Police Dept."

As we continued on St. George Street, Bob pointed out this sign on the entrance to a store. Chuck thought the ‘no photos’ part particularly funny, so he had to test it out with a photo of his own below:

No EVERYTHING?

This sign made up for all the others, though:

Now that's more like it! A welcome sign for cyclists.

The architecture and parks in St. Augustine are really beautiful and a photographer’s dream.

Don Pedro Menendez De Aviles - Founder of St. Augustine statue in front of Lightner Museum

The old buildings are really neat to see, too.

Oldest School House

Bob eventually gave up on ice-cream, as one-scoop was $5 or more everywhere we went and it was just the principal of it all. Eventually we found a little market to get some drinks at near the Lightner Museum where we walked through the beautifully landscaped courtyard.

Just a taste of the visual beauty. The sweet smell of flowers was amazing.

We then headed back to the campground for dinner and final planning for the ride start tomorrow.

We all had a good evening breaking bread together, and I sent the guys off with a last ‘home-cooked’ meal including pot-roast and salad topped off with ice cream and cookies for desert. They need the calories and will burn them off soon enough. Bob keeps saying he’ll have to mail Chuck back to Florida in an envelope if he loses any weight on this trip. Now Chuck has an excuse to eat all he wants, and cave in to his sweet tooth.

Conversation & Ice Cream

After some good conversation and the last bits of final planning (Chuck and Bob plan to dip their tires into the Atlantic before beginning the ride tomorrow morning, as is the custom) we all said goodnight.

I could tell everyone was eager to get going, but the long day and, I’m sure (though they’ll never admit it), some nervousness, seem to have gotten to them as Chuck and Bob both said goodnight early. Won’t be long now…