February 28, 2015
Day 26: Bartow to Auburndale: Punt!
We left our scuzzy to semi-scuzzy motel (the El Jon) and passed through a not too prosperous part of town. The only things that seemed to be doing well were medical and legal offices, and the funeral home. Bail bonds remains a prominent business. We see this not at all in Canada. Maybe the systems differ with respect to bail. On the other hand perhaps you can get arrested on broader grounds down here - like catching an undersized fish.
Anyway, the news is that the Homeland Security department has been funded for another 7 days. We feel safer already!
This area, Polk County, went up one notch in our book as we got onto one of several bike trails that have been created here. This one, the Fort Fraser trail, is a short 15 km rail trail from Bartow to Lakeland. They have done it up really nicely, with covered tables, washrooms, and informative historical signs. The society here (like any) is conflicted. You can pass by really run down neighbourhoods, but soon run beside a car dealership lot with hundreds of gleaming new pickups. Or, you can fight it out bumper to bumper with uncontrolled crazy zooming traffic by your "bike lane" one day, and the next the bike path warns you when you are within 80 feet of a laneway, and provides a cute little stop sign so you can check for any non-existant traffic. You can be scared shitless on one road, and be provided with little needed restrooms every 5 km on another.
As we pedalled pleasantly along the rail trail, it started to rain gently. The forecast had called for possible thunder storms later in the day, and I was thinking I would have to write in the blog that this had been swapped for an all day gentle rain. No such thing, because the rain soon intensified.
Just at this point Dodie spied a covered picnic shelter and suggested we go there to eat our lunch. By the time we pulled up to the shelter, it was pelting rain. Good call!
the rain then revealed itself to in fact be the predicted thunder storm, and we got thunder and lightening, and rain that was now a wind blown deluge. There would be no waiting this out - it showed no sign at all of tapering.
This was a day when our plan was to go sleep in the bush, maybe in a shelter we thought we knew about, maybe not. Our new, lighter tent can not be put up in the rain, and besides we were already soaked. The answer: Punt! Bail!
So we dragged out Google maps, the GPS, and the phone, and located a motel in Auburndale, which was actually along our route but way short of where we were meant to get to. Even reaching Auburndale was quite "entertaining", with rain and wind so intense.
Ah, just before we totally leave that picnic shelter, an honourable mention for weirdness to the young couple who were sitting there snuggling when we arrived. We scarcely got any acknowledgement for our greeting when we arrived, and they then sat there giggling at the screen of a smart phone for a full hour. Though we sat right by them, we did not exist. It was either young love or brain death, or both!
When we got to the motel - and old place called the Lake Forest - the kind manager suppliednus with a stack of towels, a room with all tile floors, and even some coins for the dryer.
Now, two and a half hours later, it is still raining but has eased up. We will just get going earlier tomorrow to make up lost time, but for now we seem to be watching a Star Trek movie on the tv!
photos coming...
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Today's ride: 31 km (19 miles)
Total: 1,331 km (827 miles)
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