A Rare Pink African Elephant Along the Trail

January 13, 2022

Heading north on the Withlacoochee trail today we saw a wide variety of wild animals. 😉 A rouge Pink elephant with purple nail polish, a blue heron, a large sea turtle and a few suicidal squirrels.

After leaving the motel we headed to Inverness and took a few minutes to explore the beautiful park along the lake with lots of open green space. The park exceeded our expectations. It is clear that the area values the rail trail and the commerce that comes with it. It was clearly a popular place to ride, walk, or walk your dog. There was public art, a really nice boardwalk along the lake, and lots of amenities connected to the trail. Inverness clearly values public spaces for people!

Getting ready to head out for day 2 on the Withlacoochee trail

Inverness seems to really welcome cyclists and all users of the trail.

As this trail stretches both north and south at times the trail is near roads, businesses, or homes but the trail maintains a nice buffer of trees between the trail and the buildings most of the time so as a rider you have the illusion that you are biking away from it all. The community seems to embrace the trail with homes and new construction at times near the trail.

On this trail we saw more recumbent trikes both electric and analog than we have ever seen before. They were all over the place!

Going to the north from Inverness we crossed about 3 fairly busy roads but the community has installed great infrastructure to help keep cyclists and pedestrians safe. Bold crosswalks, flashing lights, stop signs for cyclists and pedestrians, electric eyes to trigger flashers when cyclists approach the road, and no right turn signals when the walking man is illuminated for the crosswalk all work together to make things safer.

We enjoyed our rides on the Withlacoochie and meeting the Women’s 60+ riders and plan to be back to ride the last 8 miles of the Withlacoochee and some connector trails. We also hope to meet up with the Women’s 60+ riders again on another trip!

Loading up to return to Tallahassee. Two bikes and luggage inside.

And two bikes on the back, ready to hit the road.

Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 653 miles (1,051 km)

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