Day 16: Punta Gorda, FL to Naples, FL; 70.6 miles, 89 degrees

Today was an interesting riding day. A summary would be: Boardwalk, sand, Burnt Store Rd, two flat tires, Tamiami Trail and a police officer. This photo doesn’t do the day justice, but gives you an idea.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, and we started the riding today by trying to take the Punta Gorda boardwalk but quickly discovered that parts of it were destroyed in one or two recent hurricanes. So, we got to walk across sand and carry our bikes across construction fencing to get to the boardwalk, which then lasted less than a mile before we were dumped onto the road.

It was kind of a fancy boardwalk in places.

After a few short miles, we turned onto Burnt Store Rd, which at times made the four-foot shoulder of the Tamiami Trail seem like a pedestrian walkway in a forest preserve. It was two lanes of 55 mph traffic and NO SHOULDER in rush hour!! It was on Burnt Store Rd that Bill had his first flat tire of the day. That was fun!

We finally arrived at the first rest stop at the Walgreens and Bill was able to pump up his tire and get his valve stem tightened.

We moved on from the first rest stop and found ourselves on Veteran’s Memorial Parkway, where Bill had his second flat just before we were to cross the Midpoint Bridge. We stopped in the emergency lane just behind an accident under investigation and the investigating officer came up to our group and told us that bicycles are not allowed on Veteran’s Memorial Parkway, and we were not to cross the bridge there – she even asked us if we understood (LOL). She said we would need to exit the parkway and find another way and she left her traffic monitor there to make sure that we did in fact exit the parkway. We did find another way that was much more pleasant than the suggested route riding on Veteran’s Parkway and we had a beautiful view from the bridge.

Lunch was at Publix and then we were back on the Tamiami Trail for the afternoon.

Our afternoon stop was at Wendy’s and we shared a Frosty. That was a nice break from the intense heat.

Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any worse, we found ourselves on the Tamiami Trail entering Naples where the road goes from two lanes of traffic in each direction with a four-foot bike lane to three lanes of traffic and NO SHOULDER and non-stop traffic. There also were many red lights that we had the pleasure of stopping at so we could have extra time enjoying the heat rising off the pavement.

We did see these guys marching in front of the Best Western. They really held their line well.

And this guy was keeping watch over the others and the property.

Some folks have this view from their room at the hotel:

We have this view. We are so fortunate!

The shower rates a 5.5. It’s a tub and we seemed to be standing in a trough, which was interesting, and the water pressure was far from good.

Our good friends, Laura and Jim Gorman drove down from Fort Myers and treated us to a very good Italian meal. It was so good to be with them after quite a few years. Laura and I met in the early 1990’s at Winnetka Bible Church and Bill and Jim met about the same time at Willow Creek.

Comment of the day from the gray-haired Walgreen’s clerk who said, “You look like me and today is senior discount day, so you get a discount.” LOL

Billboard of the day: A mother’s hand holding the hand of her baby with the words, “Mommy, please take my hand not my life.”