Day 16: Polk City to Center Hill (mid day) to Wildwood: Martin Luther King Day

January 20, 2014

The trail patrolman swung his car around and stopped in a position that gave a great view of both us and the trail entrance. From that point he just sat there. Needless to say that set up a dilemma for us. Clearly we could not enter the trail, which would be technically closed when the sun set in a few minutes. And we could not stay where we were, which would also technically close shortly. The only alternative seemed to be to leave the area and return after dark. Then we could cruise down the trail with our headlights and find a place to pitch the tent.

While we were pondering this, though, the officer mysteriously just drove off. We could not tell if he was quitting, or if he might be heading for another trailhead to sweep back down the trail. No choice, though, we headed onto the trail.

Very quickly we came upon the access to a nature trail. Aha. Quick like bunnies we led our bikes back into the bush, out of sight of the trail. We felt reasonably confident that no motorised patrolman would actually leave his vehicle to venture down a trail, and we were deep enough in that all the darn reflectors on all our stuff would not be visible.

So we pitched our tent, and despite lingering tension about the patrol were soon lulled to sleep in our down bags and listening to "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Need to turn off those darn reflectors if this stealth camp is going to work

The air was filled with mist that reflected the camera flash

Along the way, this screened covered shelter. This would have been a swell tent free alternative had we known about it

Because of the early bedtime, we got up at 4 and got under way. The temperature was a balmy 5 degrees Celcius, but with the motion of the bikes, we needed to have most of our stuff on. Even so, hands quite quickly became painful, and in time feet followed. The temperature dropped as dawn came, eventually touching 1.5 degrees before slowly warming. We decided to try out some chemical hand and foot warmers that we had picked up on a whim. They didn't seem to really work at first, but hours later, when no longer needed, they were going strong!

With our reasonably powerful Cygolite headlights, cycling along the straight and flat path was no problem. In fact, except for the cold, we find the night rides we somehow get in to can be quite enjoyable. You don't see much, but you can hear and feel a different range of things than in the day.

The coming of the light and warming of the day allowed us to enjoy this super trail even more. Even by 10 a.m. there were only a very few other riders to be seen. Three of these were Walter, Randy, and Patti out of Orlando. They said hi to us as they headed past in the opposite direction, and then we had a little chat as they caught us on their way back.They had some tips for us, about the web site of Tracy Draper, a lady organizing a cross country southern tier type ride in June, and an iphone app that will find the nearest bike shop. These three were competitive cyclists, but we still had a lot in common and much enjoyed talking together.

We thought we were done with gators, but the trail passes through the Green Swamp

At home we have webs that a spun flat on the ground, but these are conical and in bushes

Finally with a bit oif light and warmth, we cooked breakfast on our Coleman kit.

Patti, Randy, and Walter were speedily cycling up and down the trail

The trail in daylight. Its really a beauty.

The end of the Van Fleet trail came up pretty quickly. 50 km of trail is ok, but we want more, more! Now back on the roads, we headed north on CR469 toward Center Hill. This was an area of small (50 acre) cattle ranches and larger deciduous type trees. I was wondering what kind they were, when we saw a man standing by a pickup truck up ahead. Dodie said "Ask that man". "OK, if he'll speak to me", I replied.

As we rolled up, the man stepped forward. "The Grampies!" he exclaimed. So this turned out to be Dennis Crowder. An avid cyclist and Cattrike owner, he had been following the tour since the beginning. Based on yesterday's entry he had scoped out where we were likely to be!

This kind of thing only happens about once a year, but when it does, it is such a thrill. It was particularly so this time, since though we did meet Walter et al, cyclists of any type have been a rare sight here - let alone members of the CGOAB community.

We had a look at Dennis' Cattrike, in the back of the truck, and learned that they are made just 20 miles from here, in Winter Garden. Dennis rides his most often on the Withlacoochie Trail, which we unfortunately missed. We told Dennis about our friend Michel (Ballades Autour de Nantes) who has a Scorpion and we reminisced about the CGOAB blog Divide By Three. In short, it was great.

And p.s., those trees are Live Oaks.

We reached the town of Center Hill which boasts a post office and a convenience store, though not much else, save a beef plant and a gravel pit. Still, it was a pleasant place at least having a more or less recognizable center. There was not much in the store that was actually nutritious, but we were able to sit at a kids size table they had and eat our stuff from Publix.

Back home, Google Maps had made us a track from Center Hill to the Ocala area. We followed that track now, up some side streets, and according to Google, on out of the area. The first hint that something was amiss was a sign that said "Dead End". Normally a sign like that is easy to interpret. It means the road ends! But we saw no immediate end, and besides the GPS said we were dead on track. So on we went. After a km or two we came to a sign that said "County Maintenance Ends". Again, the fast talking GPS said No Worries. So on we went. Sort of. The road deteriorated into a sand track. Still did not fizz on the Grampies. Finally a man came along in a big 4x4. "You're on private property". Well, said the Grampies, where does this road go? "My house", was the reply.

The man turned out to be quite nice and could only surmise that there used to be a road here 80 years ago, to a now gone settlement. He advised us on the best way to get where we were going, which in summary was "Backtrack 5km and head for Bevill's corner", etc.

We did that, pausing at the store to buy the most poisonous Little Debbie's pastry known to man. It ended in the garbage. What are the people thinking down here.

The cattrike in the truck. It was great just to see this piece of biking tech out here where such things are scarce.

Dennis Crowder intercepted us by the roadside

These chips, like Old Dutch back home, have a back story.

This is chapter six of the Uncle Ray's chips story. Uncle Ray's we have only seen here, but the guy and thge company are from Detroit

The Google track turned into a sand trap!

This bush by the sand trap side had globular yellow fruits. any ideas what this is?

From that point we followed a series of roads with semi decent shoulders and lots of truck traffic, to the town of Coleman, where the shoulder disappeared. Coleman is quite depressed, and we noted some pretty sorry housing.

This one is for sale - for single or multiple occupancy!

From Coleman it was off toward Wildwood, again on heavily travelled road with just adequate shoulder. Only thing, the sun set. So we were back to full lights and flashers, moving through the traffic, dark, and increasing cold toward the motels that cluster by the I-75. We passed a KOA but deemed it too dark to be setting up. Also, an illuminated sign for all you can eat I-HOP pancakes lured us on. We finally lighted (after 107 km) in a very run down Super 8 motel, but across the street from that I-HOP. So tomorrow, they will be mixing up extra batter for sure!

What the rest of the day looked like to me

This illuminated sign gave a reason to carry on

Today's ride: 107 km (66 miles)
Total: 872 km (542 miles)

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