Brookville

Today was another 30+ mile day. The wind wasn’t as bad as it has been the last few days. The weather has been kind to us. It’s been a bit warm for me, mid 80s but clear and sunny. Perfect for enhancing my sock tan lines. Ha-ha.

It was mostly off road on the sun coast bike trail today. It was resurfaced recently and provided a really smooth ride.

But yesterday’s ride was even better. We got on the 44 mile Withlacoochie bike trail. The palm trees and live oak created a canopy over us and provided much appreciated shade.

We left rainbow springs with the intention of riding 54 miles to the next campground. I’m happy to report that like me, Rose is a highly skilled lollygagger. If it were a competition I would definitely want her on my team. She would make a formidable opponent and if we were to compete against each other I think the match would last days before one of us was deemed the lollygagging champ. Despite getting up early we did not get on the road until 11. It was a beautiful morning and we found an unmarked bike path/tram road. It was a great ride with a lot of it being on a board walk. It took us to the headwaters of rainbow springs but then dead ended. It was so beautiful we didn’t even mind having to backtrack.

We had 8 miles of road riding to get to the bike trail. Before we got to it though we stopped for breakfast at a little diner. We both got the same thing. I can’t remember what it was called but it was a skillet of deliciousness. It had biscuits on the bottom covered in bacon, sausage and ham then a layer of cheddar cheese 3 eggs over easy and then everything was covered in sausage gravy. It was awesome. We have had trouble with raccoons getting our food a few times the past couple days. They even were able to open a zipper and steal our bread. We need to resupply soon. Last night I heard a lot of commotion from the picnic table and got up just in time to see a racoon dragging one of the food bags off into the woods. I guess he wanted carry out. I chased it down and got the bag back. We try to hang every thing out of reach but it’s surprising what the little creatures are capable of.

After the diner we stopped at a gas station for water and then got on the trail. It was very nice riding. We stopped at a bike shop in Inverness to look for tires. It was a nice shop. They didn’t have any tires for touring though. They graciously refilled our water bottles with cold water. Drinking our water in the shade of a pavilion we realized we were not going to make our 54 mile plan. It was 3:30 and we had only been 34 miles. We could of pushed and rode another twenty miles but it didn’t sound very enjoyable in the 88 degree heat. After talking it over we decided to split a motel room. I was really looking forward to the air conditioning!

The air conditioning was great! We were able to resupply at a Walmart that was close to our motel. Besides the groceries I also needed a water bottle cage. One of mine broke back in NC. When it was cooler it wasn’t an issue but now I’m going through a lot of water again.