Gainesville

March 16, 2018

It was a cool morning, cooler, it felt, than yesterday when leaving St Augustine. But the day promised to be warmer. So I went with yesterday's outfit, a long-sleeved base layer, but no jacket (although at times I was tempted).

Today's ride to Gainesville.

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Traffic coming over the bridge, headed in my direction, was heavy. Two full lanes. But it widened a bit in Palatka, so I had a nice shoulder to ride on that eventually became a parking lane (with barely visible striping!). But it worked . . . until it disappeared. So I decided the sidewalk would be OK until I figured things out. Sidewalks are fairly common in Florida, and I don't mind riding them when touring as long as the side streets are infrequent.

Leaving Palatka on, oops, US-17 . . . wrong road!

But shortly thereafter, I realized I had missed my turn! I wasn't expecting that, but the dual lefts I had passed shortly before this picture was my turn, something that would not have been easy to navigate! But since most of the traffic had gone "that" way, it made it easy for me to cross the road and make my way through a small neighborhood back to my course.

Once there, I was on FL-100 and would be for the next seven miles, more or less. FL-100 is not a particularly bike-friendly road, but it is on ACA's Southern Tier route! The shoulder is passable, but traffic is annoyingly busy.

FL-100 . . . boring, but it has a shoulder!

After you get out of town, it gets better vegetation-wise, but check that speed limit!

So why is this on ACA's Southern Tier route? Well, there are few choices when going east-west (or west-east) in Florida. But there is potential along this corridor, and actually, more than potential. They are working on a parallel rail trail that is nicely offset from FL-100, with a very good vegetation barrier. Unfortunately for me, it is still under construction. If they complete the trail from St Augustine to Palatka, it will be very easy to jump on this and continue to Lake Butler, not Gainesville, although I am sure there will be connections to the latter.

There's a lot going on in this picture, but if you blow it up, you can see the future trail and a bridge for it under construction.

So after seven miles of hugging the shoulder of FL-100, my "turn" was onto the finished (i.e., paved) section of the Palatka-Lake Butler State Trail (its official name).

The "road" ahead . . . for the next 12 miles.

And the "road" behind, under construction.

So for the next twelve miles, I was on the rail trail, a former Norfolk-Southern Railroad right-of-way. It was quite pretty, but also on a slight grade up the whole way . . . with a headwind . . . and a blizzard (nah, not the latter, just joking).

A group of recumbents (five total) out for a ride.

At about MP 23, I left the trail and turned left onto FL-26, a nondescript and boring road with a manageable shoulder. And some pretty houses along the way. And rolling terrain . . . there seemed to be a lot just along this one section, until I turned left onto CR-219A.

Left onto FL-26. Continue straight for Lake Butler!

More azaleas . . . more memories of Mom.

After turning onto CR-219A, it seemed we were in "horse" country . . . and also, more trees burdened with Spanish moss . . . an arbor graveyard of sorts.

And several fields of these red things . . . what are they? I saw some yesterday as well, riding into Palatka.

CR-219A took me to US-301, another unpleasant road, although it does have a nice wide shoulder. After a mile on that monstrosity, I turned into Hawthorne, a small but cute town that has signed the entire ACA route through town with sharrows and signs indicating bicycles may use the full lane. Sweet!

Of course, the purpose of all of this "bad" riding is to get you to the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Park Trail, a 17-mile ride that took me into Gainesville . . . sans traffic!

The entrance into the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Park.

At the information board, I met Kenneth, who was down visiting from Tennessee, using an RV to tool around Florida and bike various trails. He caught up with me about nine miles down the trail when I stopped for a snack and to rest some. He's going strong at 71!

Me and my bike, resting and snacking (Fritos) about eight miles out from Gainesville.

It's a pleasant ride, although rail trails tend to be long and straight, my only complaint with them.

I was pretty beat by the time I took that snack break, and I still had eight miles to go to get to the turnoff into Gainesville towards my hotel (which is not in the city center). My last aspiration today was to see the DNA Bridge (officially the Helyx Bridge), after which I altered my course to follow FL-24 to my hotel, as the bike trail there seemed to work for me (and shaved one mile off the course in favor of my butt!).

I was tired when I arrived. I'm out of shape! But while I rested some before dinner, I didn't nap . . . so I guess I'm getting used to it (again). Tomorrow I have off and will tour the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History. On Saturdays they do live butterfly releases at 2:00 PM . . . can't miss that!

Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 168 miles (270 km)

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