To the coast and back, and to the coast again.

The morning we left Siena we were excited to get to the coast. The first few hours were a struggle. We rode past thousands of sunflowers and olive trees. One could swear there are no flat roads in Tuscany. After a long climb up the mountains, we enjoyed a glorious 25-mile-long decent to the coast town of Follonica. AnneMarie was so excited to see the Sea she wooped for joy, and even the first flat tire of the trip couldn't dampen the excitement.
Follonica was a neat town, there was a lot going on, and we were just happy to see civilization. We had a perfect pizza and birra morretti dinner and walked back to the tent.
The next day we rode down the coast to a campsite Dino stayed at last year. It was huge and had its own private beach where we were able to swim and get out of the heat.
Yesterday we rode from north of Grossetto to just north of Orbettello. A distance that would be around 20 miles down the coast, but thanks to the fact that there are no bicycle worthy roads along the coast, it took us 60 miles and back into the hills. The ride was up a long slow hill that led us to a hill town called montiano. We ate lunch on a bench infront of the cemetary and then coasted down the hill while appreciating the beautiful landscape. Along the way we saw strange cactai, many vineyards and villas, sheep resting in the shade of pine trees, and dino ran over a lizard.
Once we got back near the coast we started to see tomatos on the road. Then we began to smell pizza. As we finally got closer we found a large crop of tomatos being harvested, which put us in the mood for another pizza dinner. (Tonight will be the 5th night of pizza in a row)
Today we bicycled around Argento island to arrive at Orbatello. The island is connected by three landbridges allowing all the Italians to get on the nice island beaches.
Thanks to another flat tire, AnneMarie had to ride on the rack of a nice young italian's bicycle into town where she was treated to a granite and pizza. Our situation as it stands now is that we have to wait until the bicycle shop opens on monday to buy a new tube. So we have decided to join the party on the beach for the next few days. Also, our discovery that the only road that goes to where we want to go is the equivalent of I-5 without a shoulder is resulting in us reworking our itinerary.
But for now we will just spend this time on the Tyranean beaches working on our tans. Where we will go next is still undecided.