After commenting in prior posts about the stately mansions and gated communities along A1A, today we got to experience the “other world.”

Shortly after leaving the hotel, we passed by a male turkey courting a female – lots of squawks and feathers a flutter.

For 7 miles we rode along the Indian River, quiet early on a Saturday morning – again the tree canopy.

The homes were not oversized, but had a comfortable feel, with a view of the River.

Then it was on to US 1 – luckily with a reasonable shoulder, but still 2 lanes of traffic zooming past us for the better part of 35 miles.

I had hoped to visit the Astronaut Hall of Fame on the outskirts of the Kennedy Space Center, but found that it didn’t open until noon (we were pedaling by before 8:30 am).  I definitely want to come back and visit the Space Center on another car trip to Florida.

The town of Titusville had limited services – it had obviously suffered from the reduction of money to the Space Center – no photos of boarded buildings….

At about 50 miles, we were able to find lunch at a local diner.  I have skipped lunch previous days and lived on PBJ but decided to change my eating habits – a yummy BLT and soda.

Lots of docks along the river in Edgewater.  With the weekend, there were a number of JetSkis and other pleasure boats in the water.

We transitioned to New Smyrna Beach and Nancy I. and I took a quick detour to Canal Street Historic District.

We are staying at the Country Inn & Suites in Port Orange.  This lovely magnolia tree is beginning to bloom next to the parking lot.

I laughed out loud when I saw this towel display in our bathroom – reminds me of Caribbean cruising with Mom, so many Christmases ago.

My roommate tonight is Susan Gishi, recently happily retired from Davis, CA.

Forgot to mention the tailwind we enjoyed most of the day, so my average was over 13 mph.

Mileage today:  67.34 miles; total mileage from Fort Lauderdale 258.27; total mileage from Key West 486.75.