We finally had the twice postponed St. Augustine Lighthouse ride on May 5th. We had a pleasant ride up and were on long stretches of Florida Scenic Highway much of the time. The morning was fairly cool early but soon reached the mid 80′s. As a result, we stopped twice for rest breaks at one hour intervals. It is roughly 100 miles from Apopka to the lighthouse. We took SR 100 into Flagler Beach than A1A up along the ocean. It didn’t cool down much, but the scenery was spectacular!
There were just four bikes. Gary Hoop, Ted Russell, Mark Reeder and Henry Prince. Once we got to the lighthouse, we took a few pictures than unanimously decided to forego the museum and head for lunch! Lunch was another 8 miles up A1A which took us past the historic Castillo de San Marcos and back out on the barrier island. We opted for the air conditioned inside seating at the waterfront Caps on the Water restaurant. Great seafood. Ted said Carolyn would have approved of the restaurant selected!
For the ride back, I wanted to avoid just retracing our steps, so we rode over to Palatka and came back on SR 19 through the Ocala National Forest – another Florida scenic highway! The ride back was pretty hot, but we made good time through the forest. No bear sightings to report, however. I think the bears were taking an afternoon siesta to avoid the hot Florida sun!!
Gary Hoop
