Save 22 A Day Trans-America Cycling

Rain and thunderstorms caused today's ride to be cancelled.  There are reports of significant damage in areas that we have ridden out of during the past few days (Gulf Shores and Mississippi).  Weather looks good for the rest of the week, so hopefully we ride every day through a triumphant entry into St. Augustine on Saturday. Heavy rain cancelled today's ride Had we ridden, we would have been on the north side of Eglin Air Force Base much of the day.  Eglin specializes in R&D and test of aircraft-delivered, non-nuclear weapons and guidance systems.  Eglin operates an enormous test and training range that extends out into the Gulf of Mexico.  It’s a good place to test fire new missiles.  Eglin AFB is a choice assignment within Air Force Materiel Command.  The Base is within the Redneck Riviera. The Redneck Riviera is located on the Emerald Coast of Florida.  The Emerald Coast is bounded roughly by the Pensacola Beach on the west a...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . The highlight of the day was visiting the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola.  There are over 400 volunteers at the museum, many of whom lead excellent tours explaining the significance of aircraft on display.  In this way there is no entrance fee to the museum, making it the number one tourist attraction in Pensacola. Many airplanes are on display in multiple hangers, with more outdoors.  We could have spent days at the museum. Cyclists posed in front of a fascinating sculpture at the entrance to the museum.    The sculpture depicts a WWII pilot reliving his flight with Naval Aviators from   WWI, Korean conflict, Vietnam and Gulf War. 5 cyclists (Jim, Ray, Roberto, Barry and John) and 5 pilots (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Gulf War) Outside the front door of the museum is an F-14 Tomcat fighter, the type of aircraft flown in the movie Top Gun. Gruma...

1000 TADSAW Service Dog Teams Accredited Train A Dog-Save A Warrior (TADSAW) has announced that their 1000 th service dog team has been accredited.  This is a major milestone in the life of the TADSAW program.  It means that 1000 veteran lives have potentially been saved.  The number may even be a conservative estimate, because for every warrior/service dog team that is accredited from having passed “final exam” tests, there are many more teams that have entered, received a dog and trained in the program.  Just because veterans for whatever reason could not make it through the entire program doesn’t mean that they did not grow and improve their lives from the experience with their dog.  The veterans would have cared for and trained their dog under the tutelage from the TADSAW trainer for some period of time.  In most cases the veteran still has their dog.  Even though they didn’t attain the status of Medical Alert Service Dog, the veteran and th...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . Today we had another great ride of about 70 miles; some rode more, some less.  Scenery was inspiring.  Wind was mostly a headwind of 15 mph, but riders fought through it with strong riding.  We rode into Alabama, our third state in three days.  On the ferry ride from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan across the coastal end of Mobile Bay the water was surprisingly calm.  BTW Dauphin was the title given to the eldest son of the king of France from 1350 to 1830, and as such the dauphin was the heir apparent to the French crown. Riders frozen in their paceline positions Hannah and Alison leading an Alabama cheer On the way to the ferry port we saw members of a classic car club parked with their vehicles at a gas station convenient for us to stop for coffee and a snack.  They were getting ready to drive to a state of Alabama Welcome C...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . Won't you please come swim with me?  (Hee hee, I heard that humans taste like chicken.) Today we rode to Pascagoula.  It is one of the 25 largest seaports in the USA and the largest in Mississippi.  It appears to be a working man’s town, surrounded by tourist towns and bedroom communities. Mississippi's Flagship City Entrance to Pascagoula harbor, looking toward the Gulf of Mexico   A bridge in Jimmy Buffett's home town of Pascagoula, Miss, was dedicated in his honor in 2015. Don't you just love the way he sings Margaritaville? How about singing along? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue2-ZVxpVjc Pascagoula is too good of a town name to not be in a country song.   Ray Stevens is known for his humorous country songs poking fun at the human condition.   You may want to check out on YouTube the tongue-in-cheek song by Ray Stevens called “The Mississippi Squirr...