November 20 - Palatka to St. Augustine, FL

November 2 - Sunday; Palatka to St. Augustine FL; 36 miles.
The End!!

Tour-ending Atlantic wheel dip.

Fred reaches the Atlantic.

We had a nice stay at the Sleep Inn in Palatka and a nice continental breakfast before heading out around 8:00 am. We had studied the ACA map and Google Maps and decided to take a more direct route to St. Augustine - FL207. This route was 4-lane and had more traffic than the map route but had a wide shoulder - and by this morning, we all just wanted to get to Anastasia State Park where we would dip our wheels in the Atlantic Ocean. The day was sunny and warm with little wind. The ride was going well until about 5 miles out of East Palatka when RJ ran over a staple causing a flat rear tire (it's always the rear - the hardest to fix, especially with racks and panniers). We all stopped and helped as we could but as we pulled out, Adrian ran over a staple and had a flat rear tire too. While we were helping Adrian fix his flat, we noticed large staples everywhere. After about 1/2 hour total delay for both flats, we were again on our way. Shortly, Dan narrowly escaped a flat when he herd something hitting his fender. When he stopped, he had indeed run over the same type of staple but it did not go through the tire. He pulled it out and we were again on our way. All went well for several more miles as we approached Hastings when Adrian had another flat. RJ, Gary, Dan and I rode to a convenience store in Hastings for a  break and waited for the rest to arrive. After another short break we rode into the St. Augustine city limits and stopped for a break one last time at I-95 before riding to Anastasia State Park. We took photos of the wheel dipping ceremony and congratulated each other on a most excellent adventure. We headed to the Pirate Haus Inn (Hostel) where we'll be staying the the next two nights. After cleaning up, we headed for a local brew-pub for refreshments. We later met RJ and his wife at a very nice Italian restaurant for dinner. Dan treated us to ice cream at a nearby ice cream/chocolate parlour. We're back at the Pirate Haus for the night.

Getting ready to leave Palatka for the final ride.

RJ's flat on FL-207. I think this was his 11th of the trip.

Adrian holding the culprit after his 2nd flat of the morning.

Getting close - 9 more miles.

Entering Anastasia State Park

Tomorrow I'll take my bike and gear to the shipping store to be boxed and shipped home. Later I plan to do a walking tour of the historic St. Augustine old downtown erea. The group is having dinner together again tomorrow night. RJ will probably be gone and maybe Vicky as well. Ray leaves Tuesday and the rest of us leave Wednesday.I'll make blog entries the next few days until my adventure is finally over when I arrive at home on the 23rd.