Day 52. Palatka to St Augustine 36 miles. The Finish

The plan was set up by Bubba - a full day of activity after arriving in St Augustine.  But the weather decided to play havoc with us.  So Bubba let the riders decide what they wanted to do to.  90% of he riders wanted to hurry up and eat breakfast and get on the road to beat the storm.  And that is what we did.  It started raining as we left Palatka and didn't let up.  We were lucky as most of the ride was on a bike trail so we didn't have to worry about cars.  So we were to meet at McDonalds after crossing over the Bridge of Lions.

So on our way to McDonalds it started pouring - a real downpour - you couldn't see in front.  It was actually pretty dangerous as we were on the road and there was a ton of traffic.  But we all made it safely.  Drenched for sure!  We all made it to McDonalds.and then the rain stopped, the sun came out and we took our picture at the Welcome sign.

Rita was chosen to lead the riders the last mile to the beach to dip our front wheel into the Atlantc.  A wonderful person with a great attitude and huge smile who just happens to have MS.  So she led us off and with us whooping it up and cars honking.  Family and friends were there to cheer us all on.  I was quite surprised as I got a little misty as I trudged over the sand for the dip and pictures.  And then I had a fun surprise.  Judy and Mike (I rode with them on C2C 2011) showed up to say hello and we went to lunch and reminisced about our 2011 ride.  We keep in touch but mostly on Facebook so it was really great to see them.

Bubba had a champagne party in evening and we all got together for one last time.  A fun ride, fun people, great route and good food.