Day 4 - Stuart to Fort Lauderdale - 84 miles - Elevation gain: 1.5 bridges

For a small town, Stuart had a lot of activity… planes, trains, and automobiles. We had some busier roads to navigate before getting out along the water. In the morning the winds were strong and slowed our progress. It was an odd wind day, because sometimes it was with us and sometimes I felt like it was going to blow me sideways.

Jupiter Island was our first spot of interest. Lots of large homes, the kind with separate drives for the service people. Today was lawn/tree care day (or perhaps every day is), and it seemed like every home was having work done. There efforts were very much appreciated, because it made for some beautiful scenery. We saw more cyclist today riding in packs than we’ve seen all trip. Several groups of men riding in pelotons.

At our rest stop, Neil discovered that he had no rear brakes. I’m so thankful he found out before we pulled out of the gas station, because he was able to jump in the car and go to 3 bike shops before getting it fixed. During his absence the wind shifted and we had a bit of a tailwind to send us flying. Our route had us on a busy road, but both Al and I noticed there was a trail down by the water. So when traffic backed up, we decided to deviate and take to the water, which ended up being a good call. It was way prettier than a traffic-filled road.

We ended in Fort Lauderdale with a oceanside hotel, and the weather was warm enough to take a walk out to the ocean. The water was actually warmer than the pool yesterday, but too rough to get in to jump waves. So we went back to the hotel and tried the pool, and much to our delight it was heated!

Only two more days of riding until we reach our destination!