Year 4 - Day 5 - Cocoa to Vero Beach Fl

 



Initially I was going to call this day uneventful! But that all changed quickly! We left Cocoa hotel about the normal 8:15 a.m. at a temp near 80 degrees. Because all the hotels near the beach were in excess of $400 per night, I elected to reserve a hotel further west near Route 95. so our first order of business was to travel several miles back east toward the coast to rejoin the greenway. 

If you note the profile, there are three high peaks, each one represents a bridge that we crossed! Our primary source of elevation gain today!


The Holiday Inn Express in Cocoa, being near Cape Canaveral, has labeled their large auditorium the Space Coast Convention Center. Apparently this weekend there is a large gathering of scrapbooking persons! Lots of older ladies with funny sweatshirts and carts full of miscellaneous scrapbooking items! Sorry that we were not able to stay and enjoy the festivities! (Not really!)

A photo below of a small bird that we have seen multiple places throughout our journey. I kept trying to sneak up on him, but he kept his distance from me at lol times!


We rode for a long time along the Indian River. This is the typical new construction of homes in this hurricane prone area. All cinderblock or one we saw was the styrofoam blocks that contain rebar and get filled with poured concrete..


We stopped at a park in Eau Gallie for a break this morning. several photos from the park, one showing the birds perched atop the former dock posts and one showing the bridge we are about to cross the Indian River Lagoon onto the barrier islands.



I stopped and took a couple shots from the top of the bridge.




We spent almost or more than 30 miles on A1A from Melbourne to Vero Beach. some on the “bike trail”, little more than a paved sidewalk and some on the berm of the roads labeled bike lane. The bike path was rough and uneven, filled with debris and holes. For many miles we elected to ride the narrow berm of the road. We were exiting the road for a brief lunch at a gas station Subway, when a Jeep blew his horn at us. Bob, unable to tolerate this type of activity without a response, blew his trusty whistle, which generated a middle finger salute to us! So much hate in this world!

We had exited A1A, heading toward our hotel, when I heard Bob again blowing his whistle. He had a puncture. He picked up a trim nail used for flashing! A nice white nail about an inch log, penetrated his tire and tube. It actually made three individual holes in his tube.


 He changed the tube, inserting his trusty spare, only to find it also would not hold air! Two nice holes in it also! Guess he has been carrying this tube along for a while. Then he went searching in his bags for his second tube. Bob, what a mess you make to change a tube!





Today’s ride was 67.7 miles and we climbed only 686 feet. For this year’s ride we are at 301.7 miles and 4,532 feet of climbing.

Grand total for our ECG trips, we are at 2,783.7 miles and 80,163 feet of climbing.




Comments

  1. Diane FalkowskiNovember 10, 2024 at 5:27 AM

    Pretty sure that bird is an ibis or scarlet ibis. All white with curved bills.

    ReplyDelete

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