October 9 – To the Coast & Dauphin Island – Today took us through little towns and salt marshes. The air smelled like pine and ocean – a winning combination, in my opinion. Fantasies of sunny beaches and fresh shrimp took over my thoughts.  I met The RIder at Alabama Port on Mobile Bay. From there we drove the route over a TALL bridge to Dauphin Island. The island was the first capital of the Louisiana Territory.

We enjoyed camping at Dauphin Island campground by the ferry dock.  I got my Alabama ride in on a really nice bike trail/lane that runs the 17 mile length of the island. It’s a great way to get a feeling for a new place. It’s a quiet island with beach house rentals and residences. Lot’s of fishing. I bought some fresh shrimp to stir fry for dinner. Yumm. We met a neat local boy named Marshall at the campground who is home-schooled. His family is in the bait and mullet businesses. They spend months on the road following mullet, purchasing and reselling them.

October 10 – Rider crosses bridge, the ferry & Gulf Shores, AL –  

The day started with shuttling The Rider back over the big bridge so he could cross it. It’s the kind with low guard rails that gave me the creeps when I walked out on it to take some pictures.Plus it is 83 feet above the water! It is a real benchmark on the route. That day gave him over 2400 miles and he earned another star on the back window of the truck!

We just made the 9:30 am car ferry to Fort Morgan. Thanks to the Ferry guy who collected our money for only charging us for one person when he heard about the Unicycle Ride.

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I toured the fort while Dave kept riding. “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead” (Admiral Farragut first said this during the civil war during the Union assault on the fort).

I met Dave in Gulf Shores shortly after noon. We spent some time on the beach, where the sand was like fine white sugar. We decided to make this stop a layover day for more rest for the Rider and beach time for the Crew. I walked and ran into a fellow Cleveland-Marshall grad, who was at the law school the same time I was.  The campground we chose (Sun Runners – my favorite campground name yet!) was adjacent to their street, so we ended up stopping by the Margiottis’ home for a visit. Dinner was at a great local seafood place called Tin Top in Bon Secour, a place where you can’t get there from here.  My goal is to o.d. on shrimp before leaving the area.  Am now also addicted to gouda grits.