We have been enjoying a week away from the bikes. In that time, we have done a fair bit of bike maintenance (oil change on the hubs, new chains and sprockets). We have also replaced some equipment, most notably Becky’s GPS was retired as well as her flaky computer. She now has a new computer which will hopefully last longer than her previous one.

A couple weeks ago, the freighter travel agent notified us that the boat no longer stops in Savannah Georgia. We had the option of getting on at either New Orleans or Port Everglades (Florida). We opted for the later, partially because the timing worked out better, but also because we were uncertain about visiting New Orleans with our bikes. This looks to have been a good call, with all the hurricane activity in the area.

There is no way we could ride to Florida from Fredericton in the time we have (we couldn’t make it to Savannah either), so we have decided to take Amtrak. When Becky researched taking the bikes on Amtrak we did not like what they said. They would take the bikes as freight, not guaranteeing that they would be on the same train, and not insure them. Given that, we have decided it would be better to Fedex or UPS the bikes while we take the train. It requires a little more preparation, but it will make the travelling a little less stressful.

Our current schedule is:
Sept 12 – Leave Fredericton, stay somewhere between Fredericton and Saint John.
Sept 13 – Ride to Saint John
Sept 14 – Stay in Saint John – visit the Saint John Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Sept 15 – Take the ferry over to Digby – will ride if the weather is good, otherwise we’ll stay in Digby
Sept 16, 17 – Ride to Yarmouth
Sept 18 – Take the ferry from Yarmouth to Portland Maine – Stay in Portland.
Sept 19, 20, 21 – Ride to Boston
Sept 22 – Pack up the bikes and ship them, stay in Boston
Sept 23 – Train to New York City (stay night in NYC)
Sept 24 – Train to Hollywood Florida (overnight on train)
Sept 25 – Stay in Hollywood Florida
Sept 26, 27, 28 – Do a circle ride towards the Florida Keys (maybe stay in Key Largo)
Sept 29, 30 – Stay in Hollywood Florida
Oct 1 – Get on boat