38 Mile Ride to Ft Meyers Beach

Ft Meyers, FL 38 miles from Coconut Point to Ft Meyers Beach Pier.

It was a another nice day for a ride. weather was in the high 70 to low 80s and humid. A good wind was blowing from the southwest. I rode south along Tamiami trail. I think this road goes to Miami, but I'm not positive. Anyway, I rode south on a nice sidewalk for about 5 miles to get to the road that would take me to the gulf shore. As I turned west I passed by many stores and a few restaurants catering to beach goers. When I got to the shore I noticed that access was somewhat restricted with several private pay beaches along the road. There were however a surprising number of public access point with cute little parking lots with space for 8-10 vehicles. I came across a state park and decided to go in. Lovers Key was the name given. I immediately began to wonder how it got its name. For $2 they let me ride my bike anywhere in the park including dirt nature trails. I took advantage and rode for about 3 mile off pavement. there were a few tricky spots where soft sand wanted me to go a different direction. the gulf shore beach was crowded with people, umbrellas, chairs. Inland there were kayaks paddling in the bayou but swimming was not allowed due to alligators. Gee, if there are alligators in there would a plastic kayak adequately protect the kayaker? They must be small alligators! I have never seen a manatee. When I saw a ranger I asked if there might be a good vantage point for this activity? She said she had seen one earlier in the day near the ranger station and suggested I look there. I looked at every bit of brackish water that I could find but no luck! By this time my stomach was calling for food, so I resumed my ride towards the pier. I had been riding a marked bike path on the road for several miles. I came upon a bridge and a sign stated that the bike trail was ending.Mather funny thing was an arrow pointed on the trail for riders to continue over the bridge. I guess the sign was to mitigate their responsibility as the bridge was narrow with no shoulder. Several more miles on beach houses, then gradually more and more people were about. this was Ft Meyers Beach. The pier area was by far the busiest area that I had been to. hundreds of people were moving about, walking, eating, fishing, enjoying the day. After walking the short and narrow pier, I retreated from the crowd to a waterfront restaurant that I had eyed along my ride. The grouper sandwich was very good as advertised! My waitress even brought me a piece of tape so that I might attempt fixing my sunglasses that broke a few minutes earlier. this was not a day to be without! Before long it was time to head back to my hotel. Along the way I took one more peek by the rangers station for manatees. Today was not the day for me to see one of these creatures

St Louis, MO 22 miles; The Arch; Old 66

Gateway to the West, Old 66 "Chain of Rocks Bridge"

The hotel was located almost at the base of St Louis' "Gateway to the West" Arch (see above). When I began the ride, I couldn't help but ride straight to this wondrous sculpture and do a loop around each of the founding ends. That is how the ride started out. The temperature was in the high 70s with some humidity in the air. A nice day for a ride, once I found the river trail! This river trail went north along the, ah, river. I immediately noticed some local artwork along the path in front of an electrical plant. The trail did not appear to be very well maintained. Now clearly in an industrial area "bollards"

as they were called, had been knocked down allowing for motor vehicles to enter the non motorized path. There were plenty of indications that this had been done; dirty tire tracks on the road. The trail began weaving in and out of water barriers, apparently when the river gets high they close these. For the next 3 miles I traveled, almost thru junk yard after junk yard. The Smell at times was horrendous at times!

At about mile 4 I was out of this section. Stopping at a fountain for water (in my hurry to leave I neglected to fill my camelback) no water! The fountain was dry! In the end I did find another fountain on the trail that actually did work. Looking back on it, the ride was not the great, but there were a few surprises. When I was planning my ride I had noticed a pedestrian only bridge that spanned the entire Mississippi! This was where my ride was to end. This bridge turned out to be the original bridge that transported American's from one side of the river to the other, when traveling the famed route 66! And, it must have been about 2 miles in length. There were some nice relics along the way, still run down as if it had been forgotten like the rest of the trail. On my way back there was a highway crossing with a button to stop traffic. I hit the button and the light immediately turned yellow and red. I was glad that I looked for traffic as a truck decided that he didn't need to stop and what was clearly a red light! My ride ended with a stop at one of the locally famous barbecue joints. The place I had found was called Bogart's. Bogart's had been rated highly numerous times on the yelp site. I would say that Bogarts lived to its name!