March 4, 2015
Day 30: Dunnellon to Kate's Fish Camp (on the way to Hawthorne)
We had the option of heading westward out of town, in search of quieter roads, but 41, the direct route to Williston seemed to have a decent shoulder, so we went for it. This is also the way to Rainbow Springs State Park, which was a camping option for last night. We see now that camping there wopuld have taken another 10 km, which we probably did not have in us, so the Two Rivers Motel turned out to be worth it.
Unfortunately, as this is being written - 10 km up highway 41 - the shoulder has all but disappeared. Maybe it will come back. If not, it will be a little tense, riding the white line.
The shoulder continued narrow to nonexistent for another 10km before reverting to something reasonable. So maybe this road really is an acceptable way north.
A tail wind helped us reach Williston before lunch. We found that the town is the centre of a peanut growing area, and we stopped in to a packing plant. I had just been thinking that I have had it with Snickers bars, but here we were in peanut central. We invested in "Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Malt Balls" and classical "Peanut Brittle". The peanut brittle had a label that said " Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations". That's great, fine by us. We wish we had had such an exemption on the farm.
We pulled in to a gas station with some picnic tables, and shared one with Rudolph. I was glad Dodie did most of the talking, because I had a hard time with his southern accent. As Dodie will eagerly tell you, she is the better listener.
Rudolph said his roots here date to the 1780's, on his father's side. He is a guitar player/singer and gave us a clue as to how to find him on Youtube. If we can follow that up, we will have a link here.
Before really entering Gainsville, we swerved east and headed for the start of the Gainsville-Hawthorne bike trail. This is another of those lovely Florida trails, although as usual it is rather short and does not particularly connect to any other trails. This one also skirts the back end of Payne's Prairie State Park, and it passes through a very pleasant forested area, which apparently is a hammock.
Before we could get started with the trail we encountered a "trail closed - detour" sign. We never ever believe such signs, and we have faith that we will get hopelessly lost if we try to follow detour directions. Encouraged by someone coming through from the other way, we just barged past the roadblock. It turned out that the forest on one side was being destroyed by heavy machinery. Why? The trail, though, was intact. So other than having to outrun some giant machine, we were fine.
The ACA map identified no camping in this area,but somehow we had spotted "Kate's Fish Camp". Led there by our GPS, we at first spotted no live humans. But a young man did emerge from a shack and collected $14 from us, for the right to camp anywhere in a large wood. There were no tables or facilities, save a stone fire ring and lots of fallen branches for making a fire. I did find a decrepit plywood folding table, with rusted and crushed struts, but with judiciously placed stones and bricks, it was somewhat level and sort of stable. So table, fireplace, and a forest to ourselves - pretty good!
Today's ride: 84 km (52 miles)
Total: 1,544 km (959 miles)
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