Well, after that very challenging day, I got another few interesting days, filled with both beauty and more challenges.
I was pretty excited when I finally arrived at the Florida Caverns State Park. I had been surprised to learn that there were caverns in Florida, and I was looking forward to seeing them. Twice in my life, I had loved visiting Luray Caverns, in Virginia, and I just love the beauty of caverns in general.
However, I am embarrassed to admit that some of my fears started creeping in, as I considered entering. There were signs and warnings indicating that some passages were short (4 feet/1.2 m) and would require ducking, and some passages were as narrow as 2 feet/.61 m. I thought about some of the claustrophobic dreams I have had over the years, and worried whether I would feel OK during the hour-long cavern tour. I then derided myself for being “ridiculous” and a “scaredy cat,” and decided to go in… but then I got nervous again, and hesitated… but then I finally found my courage: I love caverns! I had biked a long, hard way to get there! And it was unlikely I’d ever be in this area again!
And then, of course, I was very glad I had talked myself into it. Ducking through those tight passages was no big deal at all, once I got inside.
It was a very informative group tour, where the guide talked a lot about this FDR-era CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) project, and what the work would have been like for those workers who made the cavern “tourable” by the public. These would have been young men at the time, making very good money for those days, but working in dark and dangerous conditions.
The guide also pointed out two bats, sleeping in two different areas. Very cute. (I didn’t get photos, though, sorry.)
After the tour, I made my way back to the park entrance, and waited for my Host a Sister host, Bonnie, to pick me up. I was so grateful to Bonnie! She had flown in from a work trip to Washington, DC late the previous night, yet she was willing to drive 27 miles each way (43.5 km) to pick me up and take me to stay in her home in Graceville, near the Alabama border to the north, for the night. Without her help, it would have been very difficult for me to have had any of my panhandle adventures.
The next morning, she continued to be an amazingly generous host by then driving me about another 40 miles (65 km) south, to a gas station near the intersection of Hwy 20 & Hwy 77. This got me within a reasonable cycling range of my Servas hosts in Panama City Beach.
Google Maps had told me it would be a 30-mile ride (48 km.) However, its directions were ridiculous—which I’m finding is very common here in Florida—soon trying to route me onto a road in even worse condition than the ones from the other day. I stayed on Hwy 77, deciding to take Google’s next suggested turn. That turn was even worse, though: a non-road, barely a path through a field, and completely blocked off to me by a gate. (I really need to start using Ride With GPS for my routing.)
I decided to just default to staying on Hwy 77 until the next major westbound road. This added five miles/8 km to my day, which at my slow pace, was close to an hour. But the road surfaces were pretty good, and bike lanes not too horrendous, so it was worth it.
I passed some nice scenery as I approached Panama City Beach.
One such place was Gayles Trails, a nice hiking area with a boardwalk and some restrooms. I took a nice stroll and had a brief rest there, before continuing on.
At last, I reached my Servas hosts, Barbara and Steve, in their beautiful 6th-floor condominium overlooking both a lake and the bay. I arrived just as the sun was descending, which was amazing to see from the balcony.
Barbara and Steve had invited some neighbor friends over for dinner—two women from Colombia—and we all enjoyd good food and conversation, before watching the sun disappear over the horizon.
Well, I had thought I was going to write about Tallahassee! After my long (4 hr and 20 min) Greyhound ride from Spring Hill, I did spend a rich two nights and one full day there, staying with my Servas hosts Tim and Regine. (Who had been specifically recommended to me, I should add, by my amazing Fresno Servas host from back in May, Carole.) I also met up with two friends of Tim and Regine’s, Tom and Ka—also Servas hosts—and also attended a dinner party hosted by another friend of theirs, where I met many interesting folks: musicians, activists, and the like.
But I neglected to take any photos! (Except for these two beautiful collages that Ka created; she sent me photos of them to support me in my journey. I love them!)
The good news is, I plan to pass back through Tallahassee in a few weeks, and I’m looking forward to spending time with several of these folks—and riding a new bike trail—plus meeting a few more. Stay tuned.
After my second night in Tallahassee, Tim dropped me off at the bus depot downtown, where I caught a bus that drove me for about an hour into Quincy, the small town where my father’s mother was born and raised. I did not have any time to spend there, unfortunately, but I hope to find some time to do that on my way back.
Instead, I set off on my bike toward the tiny town of Sneads, where I was to stay in a hotel for the night, followed by a half day of riding to the Florida State Caverns (pics to come in the next post) where I was to be met and picked up by my next host, Bonnie. But I won’t get ahead of myself.
Riding out of Quincy, through the tiny neighboring town of Gretna, I tried to imagine what it would have been like for my grandmother as a child. The area is still rather rural, with a lot of poverty.
I stopped to look at the old Baptist church in Gretna, wondering if my grandmother—raised as a Baptist—might have attended services or special events there at some point.
Across the street was the old school. I didn’t get a good pic of the school itself, but I wondered if, again, perhaps she and her family had attended plays or other events in that building at some point.
I pressed on.
Shortly before arriving in Sneads, I stopped for a few provisions in the small town of Chattahoochee. I was surprised and delighted to find a very new-looking small plaza there, complete with bike parking, benches, tables, outlets for electronic devices, and even restrooms.
Sadly, after talking to a local—from a nearby community, I gathered— who was using his laptop at the table, I learned that the restrooms were actually closed due to recent vandalism. We shared a very small-world moment, though, when I learned that this man—a hippie-ish looking fellow in his late 50s, I estimated—had previously worked the Oregon Country Fair one year, taking Amtrak out and back to do so!
I got back on the road, passing a local prison shortly before arriving at the very welcome Lake Seminole Inn.
This hotel was in the middle of nowhere. Without it, I don’t know how I could have made this journey. I was deeply grateful, and received a warm welcome from the man at the desk.
The next day of riding was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated.
Not long after I left the hotel, the bucolic riding environment abruptly turned into a straight-up dirt road.
Wow.
Several miles of this. I did my best to count my blessings: 1) the surface was pretty hard-packed and smooth. (Could have been a lot worse!) 2) It was not currently raining, and hadn’t rained recently enough for it to be muddy. 3) But it also wasn’t dry enough for it to be dusty, billowing clouds into my lungs as I pedaled. 4) There was almost no auto traffic.
Still, that is not my preferred riding surface. I was so relieved to see the pavement reappear!
But that relief was short-lived, as the asphalt soon gave way to sandy dirt again.
This back-and-forth happened several times, over a number of miles.
At one point on that long brown stretch, I saw in the distance what looked like a human figure standing next to a bicycle.
That couldn’t be, though, right?
Several minutes went by, and the shape grew slightly larger as I approached. At some point, I was able to see that yes, it actually was a man walking his bike.
Wow.
He was walking in my direction. I hoped he wasn’t having mechanical trouble—what a terrible place for that.
As we finally passed each other, I saw that he was a young man, probably in his early 20s. I smiled and said hello. He glanced in my direction—from ten feet away or so—but barely acknowledged me, and said nothing.
I found this very odd, but not unprecedented that day. There had been at least three locals I had seen, in their yards or whatnot, to whom I had smiled and said good morning, and been met with no response. I was a bit puzzled, thinking “Aren’t Southerners supposed to be friendly?”
It wasn’t a racial issue, of Black locals distrusting a white outsider; although that area has a high Black population (someone had told me that Quincy is currently 90% Black) these particular folks were all white. But maybe they had indeed clocked me as an outsider (because who rides a rig like that out there?) and therefore were suspicious or standoffish. I did find it odd, though, especially from that poor guy who had clearly been walking his bike for miles.
About an hour later, though, one guy did yell out to me from his yard, “Beautiful day to be ridin’!” I smiled and agreed.
Finally, the earth gave way to pavement for the last time, and I enjoyed the last few miles of the ride to the caverns. I even got to pass some more of that magical Florida water, right alongside the road.
Hello from Panama City Beach! I’m slowly catching up on blogging my travels. My bike-traveling pace these past few weeks reminds me of my year of travels, four years ago, when I was blogging nearly every day.
When I left off in my last post, I was enjoying my last few days of time in St. Petersburg. Then, I was ready to head north to Spring Hill, Florida, to catch the Greyhound to Tallahassee. I broke up the riding into two days: Dunedin to Odessa, then Odessa to Spring Hill.
Since I had already biked from the start of Pinellas Trail to Dunedin, I began my journey there. My new friend Katherine was kind enough to ferry me and my rig from her dog sit in St. Pete up to Josiah Cephus Weaver Park, the end point of my ride a few days prior.
We took a final selfie, then she even captured a shot of me heading off to eat my snack on a bench before embarking. It was a beautiful park.
Once I got on the trail, the scenery was lovely. The weather was sunny and a bit chilly, but not too bad.
At one point, I crossed possibly the longest, two-direction bike bridge I’ve ever encountered. (Come to think of it now, one in Hayward, California might rival it.)
Shortly afterward, I rode through a beautiful painted underpass.
That evening, I arrived at the home of my wonderfully warm and gracious Warmshowers hosts, Don and Susan, in Odessa. Their daughter was visiting, too, and we all had a warm and filling homemade meal of vegan chili, courtesy of Susan. They all shared stories with me about their various impressive bicycle expeditions around the US.
The next morning, they saw me off (with leftover vegan chocolate cupcakes from the dinner!) and I was back on the trail.
The weather was even nicer that day—really just about perfect—and the scenery was lovely and peaceful. I took several meditative rests on the benches along the trail.
Toward the end of the day, I found a surprise on the side of the trail: the Spirit Tree. This seemed to be a place for people to honor loved ones who had passed away, on the branches and benches around the tree, with wind chimes throughout. It was a unique experience to stand underneath it.
Screenshot
Finally, I reached my resting place for the night—the fanciest-looking Motel 6 I have yet encountered!
It was a good place to rest before bicycling partway back along the trail the next morning to meet the Greyhound.
Hello from the small town of Graceland, Florida! I’m staying here for one night with a very generous Host a Sister host, Bonnie, who is helping me with rides to stretch out the distance I can go in the panhandle. More in a future post.
But now I want to share the remainder of my St. Petersburg time, and especially the beautiful sights of the Sunken Gardens. This garden is more than 100 years old, and has been owned and operated by the City of St. Petersburg since 1999. You may recall that I first visited these gardens in my year of travels, in 2022.
I hadn’t planned to go again this year, due to budgetary constraints. But I met up for coffee one day with my former Warmshowers host Kathleen, and she happened to have a free ticket she could share with me! I was so grateful and happy to be able to visit this beautiful place again.
Much of my nearly a week in St. Pete this time was sadly a bit chilly, windy, and/or rainy, so I didn’t spend nearly as much outdoor time as I would have liked. But even in the chill, I did get out a bit to enjoy the neighborhood scenery when I could.
One evening, my new friend Katherine invited me over to the penthouse condo where she was dog sitting to watch the sun set from the balcony. We talked more about the nomadic pet-sitting life, and watched a beautiful sunset over Tropicana Field’s iconic domed stadium.
In my last post, I left off as I arrived back in Orlando after roughly a week of bike touring the eastern part of the Florida Coast to Coast Trail.
I spent that first night in the hotel on the edge of Winter Park, and then the next day, rode to the home of my new Warmshowers hosts, Danny and Sarah, in a lovely classic neighborhood in the northern part of Orlando. They were cool hosts, of course interested in bicycling, but also very vegan-adjacent and eco-friendly in their approach to life. (Sarah had recently founded a local nonprofit focused on reducing solid waste, hosting clothing swaps and similar events.)
I used their home as a base for two nights, and explored the nearby neighborhood parks and bikeways in the intervening day.
I decided to give myself a “vegan splurge day” (rare within my extremely low-budget travel style) and treated myself to a decadent “fried chicken” sandwich at an acclaimed local vegan restaurant, Winter Park Biscuit Company.
Then I wanted to continue the splurge, so I pedaled over to the local vegan bakery, Valhalla Bakery. (To my delight, I later learned they have a St. Petersburg location too!) I enjoyed a rich chocolate Biscoff cupcake.
The next morning, I packed up and headed out to the Winter Park Amtrak station for my train-and-bus ride to St. Petersburg. The house was roughly equidistant to both the Winter Park and Orlando stations, so having arrived in Orlando twice already, I thought I would try something new.
The weather was sunny and 71F/22C as I left the house, but the forecast had led me to fear rain, even on this short 20-minute ride. Just as I was starting to sweat from the sun, and feeling foolish for having worn rain pants and my rain jacket, those fears were realized when the skies suddenly opened up.
I took shelter under a school awning for about ten minutes, but the rain continued pouring—for what my weather app seemed to suggest would be just another few minutes—when the timing started seeming urgent for me to get to the station. (I wanted to be careful to arrive at least 45 minutes before departure, since I would be checking my trailer. Some stations are very strict about these cutoff times, and I could not afford to miss being able to check it onto this Viewliner train; there would be no room in the coach cars to store it.) Sure enough, it only rained for a few more minutes, but that was long enough to get both me and my rig thoroughly drenched.
At the station, as I tried the door and found it locked, the attendant regarded me a bit like a drowned rat, and informed me somewhat tersely that the station wouldn’t open for another 15 minutes. (Apparently these folks were less concerned with the 45-minute window at this station—their opening time wouldn’t even allow for it. Guess I could have waited for the rain to stop.)
Dejected and dripping, I did manage to strike up a very friendly conversation with a woman in her 80s (she volunteered her age, as well as the fact that she was beginning to experience some symptoms of dementia, though she was taking the train alone—for her first time ever—to Tampa that day.) She was a retired schoolteacher, and was very taken with my way of travel. It cheered me up to talk with her.
Once I did make it inside, I ran into more hassles with the two staffers. The woman who had closed the door on me outside mostly avoided interacting with me at all—just interjecting disapprovingly a few times—while her male counterpart helped me to get the trailer checked. He seemed pretty accommodating, but he did later walk out to find me to let me know that technically the dimensions of the trailer were large enough that he could charge me for oversized luggage.
“I won’t this time, since you said other Amtrak staff have let you do it… but just so you know, technically you should pay the extra $20 [$30?] for oversized luggage in the future.”
Argh.
It’s always something.
I thanked him politely, but made a mental note never to depart from the Winter Park station again. I’m very glad to know that Orlando is so close by, since I will probably go through that area at least once more this winter.
The train ride to Tampa was pleasant, and I was seated next to a woman who had also founded a nonprofit—this time a global one, focused on an aging world population, and based on teaching people around the world to live more multi-generationally.
At the Tampa station, I transferred to an Amtrak bus to St. Petersburg. I had considered bicycling across the Gandy Bridge—as I had done four years ago—but decided against it, opting for the ease of a bus. And I’m glad I did, because it was a chilly and windy day in the Tampa Bay. I watched the choppy water as we drove under the clouded skies, and was relieved not to be out riding in the wind for those miles.
And sure enough, arriving in St. Petersburg, my weather app showed a “wind advisory,” with some pretty nasty gusting possible. I was glad I only needed to bicycle a few miles to my Warmshowers host’s house.
Unfortunately, the furnace at the house wasn’t working very well, and it got to be a very cold night, dipping down near freezing. I had thought I might be staying in that house for close to a week, since that host had graciously offered “as long as you need!” but fortunately, I found another host who offered a mother-in-law apartment above his garage for nearly a week, so I moved over there the next day.
While in St. Pete, I also got to meet someone really cool!
I had seen one Katherine Price in a few of my Facebook nomad, pet sitting, and Host a Sister groups. She has been living as a traveling pet sitter (mostly dogs, and traveling in her car) around the US for the past six years—about twice as long as I’ve been at it. We finally found ourselves in the same place at the same time, so we met up! It was so much fun to swap stories about our lives these past few years, and share various tips we had each learned. We planned to meet up again, and I’ll write more about that in the next post.
The following day, the weather was still a bit blustery and, although sunny, not terribly warm (high of 53F/12C) but I set out to cycle my first leg of the Pinellas Trail, about 30 miles/48 km from the trailhead in downtown St. Pete to Dunedin, up the coast a bit. The first part of the trail wasn’t all that scenic, and with the subpar weather, it was a bit of a letdown after that perfect last day on the eastern part of the trail.
But the second half was a little prettier, and I was glad to have done it.
I took a total of three buses back to the apartment, which took me more than two hours! But I felt accomplished at the end of that day.
I’ll write more about my time in St. Pete—and my travels from there to Odessa, then Spring Hill, and now Tallahassee—in upcoming posts.
Hello from St. Petersburg, Florida! The weather outside is frightful, so I’m staying indoors, writing this post and doing some English tutoring on Cambly.
I’ll write more about my time here later, but I still need to catch you up on my last day of the eastern portion of the Florida Coast to Coast Trail.
It was the most beautiful day of the trail yet, and really fun because it included a lot of animals! I’m including some here, but I also saw a snake (who slithered of the trail too quickly for a pic) and many birds, as always here in Florida. And the weather was perfect, warm and sunny.
Jean, my host in New Smyrna Beach, had told me that there would be goats along the trail. She sent me off with an “approved” snack for them: a bag of asparagus! It was really fun to feed them and spend time with them.
Jean had also told me to expect a gray tabby trail kitty, and she gave me some cat treats to share as well. Sure enough, soon after the goats, I found the kitty waiting patiently on the trail. The kitty seemed more interested in affection than treats (though they did eat the treats!) so I thought that was really sweet.
Later, I passed a swampy area and saw a gator and (not pictured) a big black bird and several turtles.
Then shortly afterward I saw another trailside tortoise, which seems to be a Florida thing.
The plant and tree life was beautiful, too.
I took my time and moseyed along the trail, taking many “basking breaks” on the plentiful benches along the way.
Things did get a bit challenging towards the end of the day, though. I had planned to ride about 38 miles (61 km) which was to be the longest of my “trail days” on this journey. I was proud of myself to do so, even though this distance would be considered quite mild by the standards of many bike tourers, who easily travel 60-80 miles in a day.
But I started feeling uneasy about the Warmshowers host who had offered to host me for the night. Although several days earlier he had confirmed that he and his wife could host me—and gave me their address, which was conveniently less than two blocks off the trail—he had stopped replying to my texts two days earlier. I had written to confirm a few things, and my phone indicated that he had read the texts, but had not replied. I had started to feel a little nervous.
He had stopped replying after I had mentioned my vegan diet. I had sent a text indicating that while I didn’t necessarily expect hosts to feed me, some did offer, and so I thought I should mention my dietary restrictions.
I had thus started to spin a story in my head that this couple might be very politically conservative, and perhaps they thought my vegan diet was a sign that I was “not one of them.” I remembered, a few years ago, reading a Warmshowers review from a solo male traveler about staying with a solo male host. (I should mention that from all my personal experiences, as well as reviews I have read on the site, the following is an extremely rare situation. But for obvious reasons, it stood out to me.) Apparently, the host had asked the traveler about his political views. The traveler briefly responded, but requested that they not talk about politics. The host—whose views were opposed to the traveler’s—then “trapped” the guest in his living room for several hours while delivering an impassioned political rant, complete with yelling and pacing across the floor.
Was something like this about to happen to me?? Assuming the host was even still available?
But… I needed a place to stay. And I was now about half an hour away. Maybe I was just imagining things?
I sat down at a rest area and considered my options.
I really didn’t want to pay for a hotel for the night, nor did I want to ride however much farther I would need in order to get to one. But to assess my options, I did search on Google Maps to see where the closest hotels were. I found one four additional miles away, and the pricing was not outrageous. I figured this could be my backup plan.
Then I thought I would look up the host’s Warmshowers profile again, to get more of a feel for him. I had recalled that his profile was quite sparse, and he had only a few very short (but positive) reviews. For this reason, I had been a bit hesitant to even request a night with him in the first place, but his location was perfect for my needs, so I had taken the risk.
But I was shocked to discover that now, when I went to review his profile, Warmshowers indicated that his listing had been deleted!
What??
Wow.
Now there would be no potential accountability of a bad review if he/they were to do anything inappropriate.
Now what?
I knew I had a backup plan, but I still wondered if I were just being paranoid.
I decided to try texting him one more time:
“Hey there, I think I should be arriving in about half an hour. Does this still work for you? (I just checked your WS account, and it looks like it’s deleted?)”
Then I got back on the trail. My stomach felt tight, and my mind alternated between “It’s probably totally fine!” and “I really need to be careful and protect myself.”
A few minutes later, he replied:
“OK! I am home.”
And he dropped a pin on the map showing his location, which matched the address I had.
What the….??? No mention or explanation of his two days of radio silence, nor his Warmshowers account status?
I made the decision to press on.
However, having now resigned myself to paying for a hotel anyway, I thought of a silver lining:
Initially, I had hoped to take the Sun Rail commuter rail from near this host’s house the following morning, to get back into Orlando without having to bike another 30ish miles (48 km) about half of which would have been in nasty Orlando-metro traffic. But I wasn’t going to be able to do that, because the Sun Rail only runs on weekdays, and it was now Friday afternoon.
I now realized, though, that if I were willing to bike even farther, I could take the Sun Rail this evening, and get a hotel in Orlando.
This seemed like the best option. The adrenaline from my confusion and fear fueled me on for the next several miles, as I pedaled toward the Sanford station, about ten miles away.
Amazingly, though, I stopped at one point to check that I was on the correct route, and realized that the DeBary station was about 100 yards away from my current location!
The train only ran about once an hour at this time of day… and I happened to see one pulling in right then. Doh!! I was going to have to wait another hour. But it still seemed worth it to rest for an hour at the station, while finding a new Orlando hotel and booking a reservation.
I made my way over, and got scolded by a platform attendant to walk my bike on the platform, not ride. I hopped off… and then found out from a train attendant that the train was having a 6-minute layover there!
What a miracle!
That attendant helped me to buy a ticket at the machine, and waited patiently while I disassembled the rig to get it onto the train. He showed me a bike space to store it… and I got seated just in time for the train to depart.
From my seat, I hurriedly looked up hotels, and booked one just outside of Winter Park, just northeast of Orlando. Then I texted my would-be host to let him know I would not be coming. (This was already about an hour after our earlier exchange):
“On second thought, I realized I wasn’t feeling entirely comfortable with all this, so I decided to press on and just get a hotel for the night. Thanks for your offer, though, and all the best to you!”
To my relief, instead his reply was, “Okay, no problem. We’re still here if you change your mind. Have a safe ride.”
Whew! My secondary guess about his behavior had been that he simply had very bad interpersonal/communication skills. As I had been debating simply staying there anyway, my gut told me the odds were about 50-50 of this. However, I didn’t like those odds. So, despite the extra cost and stress, I’m glad I prioritized my safety. But I still felt a little better about the world, receiving his reply.
(Oh, and weirdly, a day or two later I looked up his profile again from my laptop, not my phone, and it was there, not deleted! Could that have been simply a particularly poorly timed technical glitch??)
The bummer was that the hotel room was not non-smoking, so all my clothes and belongings ended up soaking in the smell of stale cigarette smoke, which took several days to dissipate.
Still, I was proud of myself for 1) having prioritized my safety; 2) having enjoyed the Sun Rail after all, rather than having a nasty 30-mile bike ride the following day; and 3) having biked 48.5 miles in one day (77 km)… a full ten miles more than what I thought had been my ambitious plan!
And, on the way to the hotel, I got to see this beautiful sunset.
The following day, I biked over to the Orlando Warmshowers hosts I would be staying with for the next two nights, before my trip to St. Petersburg.
This week of bike touring was challenging and rewarding. More to come on the Gulf Coast!
Hello from Orlando! I’ll have to catch you up in the next post about my journey here from New Smyrna Beach (and by that time I’ll be in St. Petersburg, where I’m heading tomorrow via a bike-train-bus combo) but for now, I’m going to cover two days of travel on my just-wrapped eastern Florida bike tour.
When I left off in the last post, I was taking a day of rest in Longwood with my Warmshowers hosts Lee and Sharon.
The following morning, I set out along the bike path (this segment was the Seminole Wekiva Trail) for points north—specifically, Lake Helen and my new Warmshowers hosts, Gary and Sharon.
I enjoyed the infrastructure of the trail: as you can see, there were tunnels, overpasses, and beautiful wooded areas, as well as local artwork depicting wildlife, mostly local.
Much of the early half of the trail was rather unremarkable—basically a wide sidewalk next to very busy roads. But the second half got very pretty.
At one point, I took a turn around a bend and found myself in an unexpected, otherworldly environment—a cypress swamp with a long boardwalk bridge/trail. In the next few days I was to encounter many more cypress swamps—they are common in Florida—but this one really hit me unexpectedly, and I took a few minutes to sit on a trail bench there and just drink in the magical environment, surrounded by tree canopy.
I didn’t get a pic, but a beautiful gray heron suddenly took flight from the swamp during that time. I really love those birds.
After that, it was several miles of thick, lush jungle-like riding, on a smooth, curving trail. It felt so magical, and the air was cooling off to a perfect late-afternoon temperature.
The last several miles of the day, I had to leave the trail and get back on roadways, which was a bit of a letdown, but that’s just a part of touring. By the end of the day, I had covered about 32 miles (51.5 km) which felt like a good achievement.
I arrived to Gary and Sharon’s house, where they fed me a dinner of grilled veggie dogs and vegetables, and then showed me to their guest quarters, which is a small but modern and fully equipped travel van outside their house. It was fun to feel like I was “camping” for the evening, and Gary had gone above and beyond stocking me up with vegan snacks: bananas, Clif bars, potato chips, and a few other items.
In the morning, I did a quick load of laundry, then got back on the road, this time to New Smyrna Beach, on the Atlantic coast.
Unfortunately, getting back on the bike trail would have meant very significant extra mileage, so I took roads the whole way. I expected to ride only about 21 miles (34 km) but it ended up being closer to 25 mi/40 km.
It started out kind of pleasant, but went sideways pretty quickly.
First, Google Maps sent me on a road that turned out to be private. It was funny, because Gary and Lee (and even Tom, the previous night) had all been extolling the virtues of Ride With GPS, as opposed to Google Maps, because they all complained of Google sending them on wild goose chases too many times. I had only experienced that once or twice, in quite a lot of riding, so I wasn’t too concerned. However, it did happen to me that next day!
I started down a pleasant, country road—seemingly a nice alternative to the higher-speed paved road with a minimal shoulder—but it soon became sandier and more rustic, and then it suddenly turned into a private driveway, with multiple signs indicating private property, 24-hour video surveillance, etc (no pic, for obvious reasons) so I turned back for a lumpy, bumpy two miles or so.
Soon after that, I ended up on the even wider, higher-speed Hwy 44. Luckily it had a pretty good bike lane. But then Google Maps routed me onto a “quieter” road, but it had no bike lane, and a minimal shoulder, and it was a pretty narrow road undergoing construction. I briefly considered turning around and taking my chances on Hwy 44 instead, but decided to press on. Eventually, it routed me back to Hwy 44 anyway… only now, the bike lane was horrendous—narrow, with a rumble strip on the left and grass overgrowth on the right. I also had to navigate a highway on-ramp under these conditions.
1/10. Would not recommend.
Finally, though, I made it to the welcoming home of my Host a Sister host, Jean (who turned out to be a Warmshowers host, too!)
I had a nice afternoon and evening spending time with her and her rescued Bengal cat, Mufasa.
And then the next and final day was to be the nicest day of the tour yet! Post to come soon.
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Hello from New Smyrna Beach—I’ve made it all the way to the Atlantic coast, woohoo!
There would be too many photos to post if I were to try to catch you up on all of it, though, so instead I’ll just focus now on the ride the day after the one from my last post. I biked along the path (specifically, the South Lake Trail, then the West Orange Trail) from my Warmshowers host Tom’s house to my new Warmshowers hosts Lee and Sharon.
For some bizarre reason, I awoke at 5:30 am, and couldn’t get back to sleep, although I didn’t actually arise until about 7:30. I lay in bed and checked the weather. Oof—34 degrees?? (1C) This is not what I thought bike touring in Florida was going to be.
I decided to wait until the temp hit 40 before I departed, and the timing worked well, since that happened around 10 am when I had planned to get on the road.
I backtracked along the same pretty trail I had come from Winter Garden.
Then, just on the other side of Winter Garden, I found a lovely park with beautiful light, foliage, and a few blossoms. I rested on one of the many benches for about half an hour, just soaking in the beauty and practicing gratitude for so many aspects of this journey and my life.
Then I got back on the trail.
All in all, I biked about 35 miles (56 km) and felt ready to rest when I arrived at Lee and Sharon’s place. They welcomed me warmly, and Lee even took me out to dinner at a new pan-Asian place in town, where I enjoyed some delicious eggplant and tofu (with enough leftovers for dinner the following night!)
I stayed two nights with these two, spending the middle day just resting and soaking up the sunshine at the nearby Wekiwa Springs State Park, just about a 20-minute bike ride away. I actually spent four hours simply basking in the sun at a secluded picnic table, watching a couple of beautiful butterflies flit about. (That is one thing I’ve noticed about the southeastern US, starting in Charleston and continuing throughout Florida—there are butterflies everywhere! Definitely more than I see in Oregon. It is delightful.)
Before I left the park, I did take a peek at the namesake spring pond. These are to be found all throughout the state of Florida, and they are really beautiful. I’ve been surprised to see people swimming in them, in barely warm outdoor temperatures, but I’ve been told that in the summer, these places are absolutely swarming with swimmers.
This bike tour so far has been challenging, at times trying, and at times lovely. Traveling this way is always an adventure.
Next up: Longwood to Lake Helen, then New Smyrna Beach!
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Hello from Longwood, Florida! I’m back in “touring mode” (haven’t been in this mode since 2022!) so I’m adjusting to days of cycling followed by evenings with hosts. That doesn’t leave me much time to write posts (how did I do this almost every night for a year back then?? I am out of practice!) so I’ll make this pretty short, but I wanted to share all these photos to take you all “on the road” with me.
I had left my cat sit in Lake Nona on the 17th, biking a total of about 20 miles (32 km) combined with two long city bus rides, to get to a hotel near where I was to join the trail in Winter Garden the following day.
The next morning, I set out and biked a few miles to the trail, then headed west all the way to the end of the trail, in Groveland. Then I backtracked several miles to my Warmshowers host Tom’s house in Minneola. I had a healthy dinner and some nice conversation, followed by a good night’s sleep, and then set out yesterday morning to rejoin the trail heading north and east, to reach the home of my current hosts, Lee and Sharon, here in Longwood. I’ll post about yesterday and today soon, but for now, here are the photos from the 18th. My total distance in the saddle was about 29 miles (46 km).
The trail was beautiful and smooth, so I really enjoyed the journey. The challenge was the weather. Florida is having a cold snap. The day started a bit chilly, but sunny and pleasant.
But then, a storm started brewing:
At one point, you can see in the photos that the weather “felt like” 35F/1.7C. At that point, it was also raining steadily, and windy enough to knock my “standing” bike over (I wasn’t on it) while it was attached to the trailer.
I waited out this “weather experience” in a small, wall-less shelter in a park for about an hour and a half.
I was not at my happiest, though I did get to have a phone conversation with Johnny during that time: we had pre-arranged the time, so in that way, the weather was well placed.
And the rain and wind did eventually relent–and the temperature increased slightly–so I set out again. The sun even peeked out again a few times.
One cool surprise: a sighting of a pair of endangered sandhill cranes in a front yard along the trail! Then, just a few minutes later, I saw a mural depicting a pair of them!
As I was getting close to the end of my day, the mercury started dipping again, so I was very glad to get inside and warm up.
It feels very different to be on the road, vs. cat sitting. It’s nice to be able to have the mix. I will continue to have a mix for the rest of my two and a half months here in Florida.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)
Hello again from the Orlando suburb of Lake Nona. I have spent a very quiet indoor week here with this wonderfully snuggly kitty Lucy.
There isn’t much nature near where I’m staying, and bike-friendly infrastructure is scarce, so I only made one nature excursion this week. I’ll share the pics at the bottom of the post—Split Oak Forest was a beautiful and quite varied nature preserve.
First, though, a few pics from my arrival here from Sarasota. As I mentioned in my last post, I took a combination of bike, bus, train, and carpool to arrive here. The bus took us across Tampa Bay, which was predictably gorgeous.
And here at this apartment complex, I did take a nice evening stroll one night along the path next to Lake Whippoorwill. I liked the “exotic” trees, and the pink sunset light on the lake.
Even at an upscale apartment complex, though, this is still Florida: there were several of these reptile-warning signs along the path.
The main excitement I’d like to share with you now, though, is my upcoming bike tour, which will begin tomorrow! I plan to spend the next week bicycling as much as I can—about 25%—of the Florida Coast to Coast Trail.
I will be staying with Warmshowers hosts along the way. The weather looks to be pretty favorable—highs between 57 & 73F (14-22C) with varying sun, clouds, and maybe occasional rain. The trail itself is car free, though there will be times each day when I will need to travel on roads to reach my hosts. I’m not sure what to expect in terms of scenery, shade, etc. I’ll post as many pics as I can along the way.
It will be a bit of an athletic stretch for me—I don’t believe I have ever cycled a full week before, with daily mileage ranging from about 24 to 42, I think (39-68 km) depending on where I can confirm hosting. Some days I will combine the riding with transit. I do have one “rest day” built in, during which I hope to hike in a nearby nature park.
I’m excited for the challenge and a new adventure!
Meanwhile, I’m dreaming up the next month and a half or so of my Florida time:
After the bike week, I plan to take the train to Tampa and continue on a bus to St. Petersburg (or possibly bike across that endless bridge, as I did four years ago—but back then I didn’t know about the bus!) and possibly stay with a local host for a few days or up to a week. Then I want to bike another good chunk of the western half of the Coast to Coast Trail—maybe another 25%—up to Spring Hill, then take a Greyhound to Tallahassee.
I plan to stay with a Servas host couple there for two nights, then make a brief stop in Quincy, where my paternal grandmother grew up, and then continue by bike to Florida Caverns State Park! I’m excited to see the caverns. I will meet there with a woman who lives in Graceville, who will then host me in her home for a night, and then drop me off the next day after we explore another nature park to the south, Econfina Creek Water Management Area. Then I’ll do some combination of cycling and transit to work my way through Panama City, and maybe Destin or Navarre, to Pensacola, where I’ll stay with a host for a couple of nights.
Then I plan to return to Tallahassee for another couple days, then ideally Gainesville for about a week, then Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and then possibly Miami in early March. After that… who knows? I expect I’ll slowly work my way back north until I reach Virginia in mid-April. I may stop again in Tampa/St. Pete, Orlando, Jacksonville, Savannah, Richmond, and possibly even Norfolk and/or Newport News.
Whew! I’m excited to think about all this. If you know of any magical connections in any of these places—or for that matter, anywhere else in Florida—please let me know!
I’ll leave you with the pics from the Split Oak Forest Wildlife and Environmental Area.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!
Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!
Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)
