Day 19: Gainesville to Ichetucknee Springs: All night at the bar

January 23, 2014

High traffic roads don't seem nearly so mysterious and scary in the broad light of day as they do when you roll in tired and confused in the black night. So it was as we headed back up the broad boulevard and made for the northerly exits of Gainesville. This still did not make it easy, broad boulevards never are. However, there were some interesting parts to our transit of the city.

First we passed the fraternity district associated with the University of Florida. Here were some large houses and buildings, each dedicated to a three Greek letter organization. Maybe lots of universities still have this, but here it struck us as particularly "old school".

More fascinating than fraternities was Krispy Kreme. This is the donut outfit that made a sortie into Canada, but perhaps got stalled out by the powerful Tim Horton's. Down here, the main donut rivalry is with Dunkin' Donuts. We are falling down on the job a bit, because so far we have no analysis of either operation. Maybe this is because technically donuts are not pastry, and Grampies have only ever claimed to be pastry researchers. OK, ok, we'll get to the donuts soon.

Not so scary boulevard by day, but still not easy

We did stop at McDonald's to pick up two of their really quite good yogurt parfaits. While there, we enjoyed comparing notes with more experienced "homeless people", about good places to stay in town. The predicted hard freeze for the previous night had not really materialized though, and we rode on quite comfortably at about 5 degrees.

On the north side of Gainesville, heading for the town of Alachua, we finally did join for really and truly with the Adventure Cycling route. Coincidentally or not, this is where the riding really started to become enjoyable. We were on Millhopper Road, which has a good shoulder and quiet traffic. There is a lot of live oak to be seen, and large attractive spreads often devoted to horses.

We have no idea why the unicorn chose this spot in Northern Florida

Any idea what these nuts are? Nothing we had could split them open.

Where we have cycled before the hills are

This spread had a really vast expanse of green grass

Our way crossed over the Interstate 75 three times, only serving to accentuate how peaceful our road was. On our route lay the town of High Springs, notable because (especially in contrast to something like the suburbs of Naples) it was pretty much a real town. That is, it had a crossroads that could be called the centre, and some refined and elegant houses. Best of all, there was a farmers' market going on off by the railroad tracks. We diverted over to there, and "put in an appearance". I use this term because here, as in Europe, the introduction of two old timers basically wearing clown clothes and on loaded circus bikes with Canadian flags normally attracts some attention.

Of course, we are interested in what we can learn of local people and products, and here we were not disappointed. We were able to buy some tangerines from one lady's own tree, for example. And we bought spanakopita (spinach pie with filo) from another who had made her way with her husband form Albania to Greece and finally all the way to here.

We reluctantly left all our new friends, because we knew we had to make it to a camping spot before dark and the predicted low of 26F.

Another High Springs house. The ACA route actually wanted to bypass High Springs, but we had other ideas.

This is the road that the ACA route seemed to want to keep us off of. It was fine for us.

This material was scattered along the roads for kms. We take it to be cotton (vs Cottonwood tree fluff), but where did it come from?

We made it to Ichetucknee Campground, beside the state park of the same name. Having phoned ahead, we learned that they had stashed a cyclist the other night on a pool table in the "game room", to keep him out of the freezing temperatures. We were rather hoping for a spot on that table ourselves, but the super kind hosts had another idea. They stashed us in a disused bar that forms part of the property. These hosts took on the management of the campground on condition there be no drinking going on. So the cosy bar sits unused except for some storage. Clearly in a "blink" decision, it was decided we were trustworthy enough to be given dominion over all the furniture and equipment, maybe alcohol, and who knows what, that are in here.

We found our needed 7x5 feet of floor space, put out our s6leeping bags and pads and are as warm and happy as can be, Actually, happier than that, because the bar has wifi and even one working lamp!

Fort White was not as attractive as High Springs. However outside of town was a huge high school, with what looked like a square km of grounds. We are always interested in "grounds" for their camping potential.

We had a hard time getting this armadillo to look up. He just kept digging and rooting rather than properly posing for a photo.

The State Park. There is no camping here, but rather at one of two adjacent private operations. The one we did not go to was offering primitive cabins at $50. Our cost was $10.

The bar where we will hang out all night!

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN

Our friend Michel Fleurance in Nantes France is keeping track of where we have been, If you click on the link below, you will be taken to his guestbook entry that shows an updated track. Give it a try:

CLICK HERE

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 1,081 km (671 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0