Today’s ride was not overly strenuous – it was a mix of two lane roads with cars, farm roads with almost no traffic of any kind, and bike paths.  We left our hotel shortly after 8 AM so that we could get to Chateau de Chambord shortly after 9 AM, which was when it opened, and we accomplished that.  Here are some photos of Chateau de Chambord, another creation of Francoise I, which he had constructed from 1529 to 1549, and mainly used to hunt on the grounds and to impress his visitors, including the Holy Roman emperor.

On the way into Chateau de Chambord.

One of the ceramic stoves used to heat the Chateau.

King Louis XIV, one of the Chateau’s occupants.

A view of the gardens from the rear of the Chateau.

The church at Chateau de Chambord, which I entered while mass was in progress for the feast of the Assumption. I only stayed for the gospel. Does that count?

After a lunch of coffee and a tomato and cheese baggett (which was excellent), we left to ride to Orleans. On the way, we stopped at Clery- Saint Andre, where there is a Basilica de Notre Dame de Clery, which is where the tomb of Louis XII is located, along with the heart of Charles VIII. Here are some photos of the Basilica.

Some of the beers we drank after getting to our hotel in Orleans.

After a shower and a nap, we walked into the restaurant district of Orleans and had wine, more beer, and a nice dinner.

At dinner in Orleans.

We walked back to our hotel along a running trail, marked with this symbol.

The trail back to our hotel after dinner.

Tomorrow is our last day of riding. 🙁

Two photos of de Vinci’s last residence, now the site of a museum about him.

It was a little difficult getting out of Tours due to some construction on the bridge that Google Maps wanted us to use to cross over the Loire. But once we got past that, it was pretty smooth sailing on a mix of asphalt farm roads and two lane highways. We made it to Amboise around 11:30 a.m., where we toured the Leonardo de Vinci museum, the last place that he lived and worked in before he died. Here are some photos of the museum. 

His workshop and laboratory were the most interesting part of the museum.

A copy of one of de Vinci’s masterpieces.

After touring the museum we went back down to Amboise and met up with Beth, and had lunch right outside the Chateau de Amboise. Here are some photos we took at lunch.

This lunch was excellent!

Beth and me at lunch. Please don’t tag Beth if you put this photo on Facebook – thanks!

Beth then visited the Chateau de Amboise while Mark, Tim and I biked about two more hours to Blois.

Mark and Tim on the road to Blois with the Loire River in the background.

Mark walking along the Loire River on the way to dinner from our hotel.

The outside of the Cathedral de Saint Louis in Blois, which we visited after dinner in Blois.

The interior of the Cathedral de Saint Louis in Blois.

Tomorrow we ride to Orleans after first stopping for a visit at Chateau de Chambord.

Today’s ride was absolutely awesome! With the exception of only about 1 kilometer, where we were on cobblestones, our roads were either asphalt or concrete. We were almost always in sight of the Loire and we rode through beautiful farmland all day. Our only significant rest stop was on the outskirts of Villany, to which we returned and spent the afternoon after getting into our hotel and showering. Here are some of the photos from today’s ride.

At our rest stop just outside of Villany.

Biking along the Loire levy between Villany and Tours.

The view of the Tours train station from my room in Le Grand Hotel.

Beth drove us back to Villany where we had our best lunch of this trip and then toured the Chateau and the gardens at Villany. Here are some of the photos from our afternoon at Villany.

Mark and Beth while at lunch in Villany.

A view of the gardens at Villany from inside the Chateau.

Another picture of the gardens at Villany.

Threatening skies over Villany. We managed to avoid the rain.

The moat at the Chateau with trios blanc swans. 🙂

After spending about three hours at Villany, we went back to our hotel for a short nap, followed by dinner.

Tim and I at dinner in Tours. The beer and the wine are both Beth’s, who took this photo. 🙂

Tomorrow we ride to Blois and on the way we’re planning to stop at Leonardo de Vinci’s last residence, which is now a museum about his life and work.

On day 1 we went from Nantes to Pellerin and back, for a total of 58 kilometers.  We’re using rented bikes this time, and except for hard seats, the bikes are perfect! In the evening we went out to dinner, which was excellent!

Our hotel might be older than the U.S., but the rooms were nice and the breakfast was great!

On our second day of riding, we went to Angers, which turned out to be 110 km when Google maps said it would only be 95 km. So it took us more than 7 hours to get there and we arrived around 3:30 p.m. Here are some photos from our second day of riding.

Tim taking a picture of his scraped knee.

We had falls at the beginning and at the end of our ride, by Tim and me, respectively. But we’re ok.

Mark by the road on the way to Angers.

Sunflowers growing in a field on the way from Nantes to Angers.

Another picture on the way to Angers.

After the 110 kilometers ride, today was a relatively easier ride of only 52 kilometers from Angers to Saumur.  Some of the roads were pretty rough, made of stones and/or gravel. But overall it was a good ride. We left our Angers hotel at 9:30 a.m. and made it to Saumur by shortly after 1 p.m.  Here are some photos of today’s ride.

An old chateau on the way to Saumur.

Tim standing in a field with rolled up hay bales.

Another haystack with Tim and Mark in the far background.

After an excellent lunch at the cafe in our hotel, followed by a nice hot shower, Beth, Mark and I went for a walk. We visited the Catholic church in Centre Ville Saumur and then walked up to the Chateau de Saumur, which is being renovated. After getting another 4,000 steps (still not enough to catch Tim 🙁 ), we had beers in an outdoor courtyard cafe in Saumur, and then went back to the hotel for a nice nap. Dinner wasn’t great but afterwards we went back to our hotel for coffee and blogging.

Tomorrow we head to Tours with a stop at Villany, which looks really cool. We’re planning on meeting up with Beth there around noon.

Tim, Mark and Matt returned to Philadelphia on a late morning flight out of Jacksonville.  I slept in but Beth had to ride early to drive them to the airport and then return back to St. Augustine.  This was just one more way that Beth earned her money on this leg of the trip – I was really happy not to have to get up early.

When Beth returned, we had a light breakfast in the hotel and then did some sight-seeing in Historic St. Augustine.  We stated out spending a few hours inside the Castillo de San Marcos Monument and then walked through the many streets of the old town.  We ate a late lunch at the Prince of Wales Restaurant, an English style pub in the old town.  We looked for nice tee shirts but weren’t successful, and we tried to get into the Basilica Cathedral of St. Augustine, but since it was Saturday it was all booked up for weddings, so we couldn’t get in except for a little peek.  About 3 p.m. we went back to the hotel, Beth did some laundry using the hotel laundry room, and I went back to my room to work on an exam I had to give to my Villanova University class on Monday evening.  We got together a little before 5 p.m. and went to Saturday night mass at the Basilica Cathedral, which was really nice.  Here are some photos of our day together touring Historic St. Augustine.

Beth at the old city gates of Historic St. Augustine.

Photo of menu cover for The Prince of Wales Restaurant – Historic St. Augustine. Sorry the shadows almost ruin the picture.

St. Augustine Bay and open drawbridge on A1A. This bridge reminded all of us of the old Causeway Bridge into Ocean City – it had a very similar architecture.

Altar in Basilica Cathedral of St. Augustine, where Beth and I went to Mass on Saturday night.

Rear view with ceiling of Basilica Cathedral of St. Augustine.

At dinner on Friday night, Beth asked all of us what we had learned about ourselves from completing the ride, which was a very interesting question.  Here are some of my thoughts on that question:

I really need a lot of sleep to keep up with everyone on the rides, and it helps a lot to not do any work to get that sleep.  I didn’t really appreciate this until the final leg of the trip.

Biking across the country has to be one of the very best ways possible to see the United States.  By and large, with only a very few exceptions, people were extremely frienndly, talkative, and interested in what we were doing.

Florida is one of the most, if not the most bike friendly states in the entire United States!  We almost always had a bike lane and drivers were always extremely courteous, whether or not we were in a bike lane.

I think I am tougher than I realized.  Again, it took the last leg for me to accept this (despite all my falls on previous legs) and I only realized it becuase I was so sick leading up to the ride, and also during the first and last rides of the final leg.

There are probably more things I learned, but I will close by saying that I learned it is great to have a goal and persue it whole-heartedly.  Which is why we’ve started looking for another ride to do, whether it is something local, the Pacific Coast route, or another cross country route across either the middle or northern part of the U.S.  So stay tuned!

As the sun rose on our final day of riding, I was still feeling the affects of some kind of food poisoning, which was causing numerous trips to use a bathroom during the night and into the morning.  Fortunately I did not have stomach pains, but I was not able to eat much for fear of losing it shortly thereafter.  I decided I could still do the ride, because a) there was no way I was going to miss this final ride, b) it was not going to be more than 50 miles or so, and c) I felt I could do a relatively short ride with little or no breakfast.  But then Beth remembered that she had some Imodium AD pills and I took them and used them.  Would you believe that was the first time in my life I had ever used anything like that? I am still amazed that those two tiny pills could possibly be so effective!  They really did the trick and made it possible for me to eat some food during the ride – so thanks again Beth!

The day turned out to be overcast, breezy and chilly, starting shortly after we left Palatka.  But I would not say we were ever really that cold during the ride – we definitely weren’t warm and comfortable either, but we were not overly cold.  I took just a few pictures during the ride and many more by the Atlantic Ocean at St. Augustine Beach and also within Historic St. Augustine.  Hope you enjoy them!

First stop on our final day of riding, somewhere along Rte. 207. It was cold so neither this nor our two other stops lasted too long.  As usual (and fortunately for all of us) Tim is studying the map!

View of the St. Johns River from CR13. This was on our 2nd stop of this final ride.

When Tim was planning the final day’s ride while we were in our hotel in Palatka, he was determined to find the best route to the St. Augustine Beach, which was not at all clear from studying the maps.  At the time I was ambivalent about actually riding to the beach and dipping our tires into the Atlantic Ocean.  But once we found the beach and performed our ritual of tire dipping, I was really glad we did!  It was actually nearly emotional, since it had taken us four years to complete the ride and accomplish the goal.  Here are some pictures on the beach.

View of the Atlantic Oceam from the St. Augustine Beach. It was almost hard to believe we had finally made it!

The brothers dipping our bike tires into the Atlantic Ocean at St. Augustine Beach.

Barefoot Beth on St. Augustine Beach – we all know we could never have completed the ride without her help! She was there for us every single day of all six legs! Thanks so much Beth!

Matt and Beth on St. Augustine Beach. Unquestionably, Matt was a great help in both Legs 5 and 6, readily taking the point and allowing us to draft behind him, thereby making it easier for all of the brothers. Thanks Matt!

Bridge on A1A from downtown St. Augustine to St. Augustine Beach. When the brothers went over the bridge, we had no problems. But Beth got held up by the drawbridge opening.

After the beach, we rode back into St. Augustine, disassembled our bikes, and checked into our hotel.  Beth and I went to a nearby Irish Pub for a late lunch and Mark joined us there soon after.  Then we walked around the old fort at St. Augustine, called the Castillo de San Marcos Monument.  Here are a few pictures of the Monument.

Castillo de San Marcos Monument in Historic St. Augustine.

Mark and Beth walking around the Castillo de San Marcos Monument.

After we returned from our short walking tour, we met up and went out to dinner, after which we walked some more around Historic St. Augustine.  Here are a few more pictures from the rest of the day.

Beth and Tim at Dinner in Historic St. Augustine, after we took our bikes apart and walked around the old town.

Matt and Mark at dinner in Historic St. Augustine.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.

Statue of Ponce de Leon at Plaza de La Constitución in Historic St. Augustine.

Plaza de La Constitución in Historic St. Augustine.  That’s Beth, Tim and Mark at the base of the Ponce de Leon statue in the background.

One of the best parts of the day, however, was when we returned to our hotel and had a few (Ok, a lot of) drinks in the hotel lounge.  Our main topic of conversation was the primary elections, which lead to discussions on Bernie Sander’s tax proposals, voter identification, the social security system, equal pay for men and women, and various other political issues.  It was never contenious and always friendly, and was both fun and informative at the same time.  We talked for almost three hours and we all really enjoyed it!

We left the Grady House B&B a little after 8 a.m. after eating a big and delicious breakfast.  We were uncertain whether to take the 85 mile ACA route or the shorter 67 mile route mapped by Google bike maps and agreed that we’d make that decision once we got to Gainesville.  But our tired legs after a 76 mile ride yesterday made the decision for us, and so the shorter 67 mile route was what we did.  We made good time today and only stopped about four times, not counting the break we took while Matt changed another flat tire.  Here are a few photos I took today.

Live Oaks at our first rest stop of the day, about 12 miles outside High Springs.

Beefcake shot of Tim at our 2nd rest stop outside Gainesville, where we shed some layers to help keep cool.

Sit-down lunch at Subway in Melrose. This was the only time this leg that we stopped for lunch at a fast food restaurant.

Mark on dedicated bike trail parallel to Rt 100 about 10 miles outside Palatka. Away from road traffic, we finally had a chance to play some trivia, inluding famous quotes, unsuccessful U.S. Vice-Presidential candidates, and more baseball trivia.

After making it to our Holiday Inn Express, we all went to the pool for a quick and cold dip, enjoying some cold beers that Beth had picked up for us on her way to the hotel.  For dinner we did Italian, the first time this leg we ate at an Italian restaurant and it was good.  Back at the hotel, Tim read aloud the last chapter of “Crossing the Borderlands,” after which we retired for the night.

It’s hard to believe there is only one more day of riding, but tomorrow our ride is to St. Augustine and the Atlantic Ocean, the end of the Southern Route across the United States.

It was a great day for riding, with temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s for almost the entire ride, and almost no hills at all.  The sun came out after a few hours, which only warmed things up a little. We mostly finished wearing everything we started out with, so there were no beefcake shots today – sorry girls! 🙂  Mark had a fall in Lake City, where there was construction on US 90 close to its intersection with I10.  And we did had several flat tires today – Tim was the only one of us who did not have a flat.  But other than that, it was a near perfect day for bike riding.  Here are some photos from the ride.

Tim and Matt on a bench in Memorial Park at Live Oak, FL.

Memorial Park in Live Oak, FL, where we stopped for our first break.

Bikes resting along far wall of Memorial Park Live Oak, FL.  An old Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum ad is pained on the wall.

Court House in Live Oak, FL.

Wooded area at our next to the last stop of the day, just before Lake City, FL.

Meadow across US 90 at our next to the last stop of the day, just before Lake City, FL.

Ranch house at our last stop of the day, 18 miles outside of High Springs, FL. Beth had caught up to us at this rest stop.

Bill W at about 6 miles outside of High Springs, FL. We were changing flats at the bottom of his driveway, and he came out to talk to us.

We made it to our lodging for the night at around 2:45 pm, received a tour of the property from Paul Regensdorf, the owner, and proceeded to change our tires and tubes to hopefully prevent any additional flats tomorrow.  We walked back into town to purchase an additional tire for Mark’s bike and spare tubes for Tim and my bike, and Matt also purchased a tube patch kit for a wopping $2.  We checked out the restaurant we had a reservation for, then walked back to shower and change for dinner.  Here are some photos of the Grady House B&B, a really nice place to stay if you ever find yourself in High Springs, FL.

Front Porch ar the Grady House B&B High Springs FL.

Dining Room at the Grady House B&B High Springs FL. I think that’s where we will be eating breakfast tomorrow morning.

Staircase at the Grady House B&B High Springs FL.

Photo of the duvet in the sitting room attached to my bedroom at the Grady House B&B.

My bedroom at the Grady House B&B. Its called the Navy room for the blue decor.

Dinner at the Great Outdoors Restaurant in downtown High Springs was excellent.  The beer, the food and the live country music band were a great way to end our day.  Photos of my side garden salad and my entree (Tennessee Tenderloin) close out my blog for tonight!

Side order garden salad at the Great Outdoors Restaurant High Springs FL

Tennessee Tenderloin entree at the Great Outdoors Restaurant in High Springs, FL. It was bigger than this – I didn’t take the picture until after several bites of the steak.

Tomorrow’s ride is either 66 or 85 miles, depending on the route and the wind direction.  Stay tuned! Good night!