Day 18 - Pensacola

Fri 12/17
I finally made it to pensacola. I only had about 40 miles left from gulf shores so it was a pretty easy ride. It was nice to have had 2 short days since dauphin island, plus the prospect of a day off tomorrow. I built a little wiggle room into my schedule, partially for my own benefit, but also so I could have my mobile mechanic events fall on saturdays.
Despite being at the beach, this has been the worst weather ive seen all trip. It was basically like being in a cloud. Standing still, it didnt really feel like rain, but when I was moving into the humidity I could feel little droplets accumulating. I saw 3 guys getting ready to go surfing and chatted them up a bit. One told me that the 2 ft waves today werent the best that they get around there, but he insisted it would still be fun. Youve got to love it to be out there on a drizzly 60 degree day, so kudos to them. They would probably say the same thing about the guy riding his bike 1300 miles.
It started to rain more seriously once I got into pensacola proper. At one point I stopped to take a picture of a neat old house. There was a guy nearby who told me it was over 100 years old. The guy, Chip, was tucked under the overhang of his sign shop watching the weather. We talked about the house, which had been moved from its original location, and he invited me to check out his shop. He made signs in the afternoons to pay the bills, but in the morning and evening he would make art. I didnt get any pictures with the
phone camera, but he had lots of painting, sculpture and mixed media stuff. He collected old shovel heads and would turn them into abstract little heads. Those were probably my favorites but it was hard to tell through the sensory overload.
I rode the last 5 miles to my host's house and got there before the skies opened up in earnest. I was safely seated at the bar for the rest of the afternoon watching randy make dinner from scratch. Short ribs over homemade polenta cakes with baked squash, fresh green beans and a delicious apple crisp for dessert. Mmm. His wife got home and we had a great dinner. Theyre really interesting people, and I know the rest of my stay will be lots of fun. Randy was also instrumental in organizing the event for tomorrow, which sounds like it will be the biggest yet. Im feeling very fortunate to meet all these great people, and I know itll only get better.