Farewell to the Gulf

September 12, 2016

Day 104 - Team A - 81.4 miles.

Jeanna uploaded all of the maps for previous days and has it down to a science. This is team A's first attempt to upload a map and we seem to have merged our track for the last 4 days into a single file. We aren't going to even attempt to fix that.

After weeks of travelling along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, we headed inland today. We did not have an easy task, our ride started with a 30 mile crossing of Tampa. Once again Google maps did a great job of stringing together local bike paths and side streets through neighborhoods, but there were still lots of choke points where the only way to cross a highway or a river was to get on a busy road.

Despite the busy sections, we visited a lot of bike paths that must be favorite locations for people who live in those neighborhoods. Even a few years ago it would have taken a lot of research to come up with such a route through an urban jungle. Google's bike routing was not very good when it first came out, I remember being routed across the Chesapeake bay on a bridge tunnel that surely would not have been open to cyclists. But they designed Google maps to get better over time and now the cycling route selection is excellent.

Not every river was an obstacle. This one had a nice bike trail.

In a few spots without bike paths we got help crossing busy roads from school crossing guards.

I'm convinced children who walk to school will be more likely to exercise when they grow up. These guards make that possible.

After 30 miles we were past the worst of the Tampa area traffic. We headed west to Lakeland for lunch at a Subway. Lakeland has a huge Publix distribution center, and is the corporate headquarters. About half the customers in Subway had Publix badges. I guess they don't have a subsidized employee cafeteria, or maybe they are tired of Publix food.

We encountered some typical Florida citrus crops. How much longer will they be typical? Citrus greening has been reducing the citrus yield year after year. It must be tempting to farmers to sell their land for housing developments.

No, they are not oranges, they are pomelos.

We also encountered typical Florida birds.

Vultures. They are superbly adapted for the vital role they play. Or is it a baleful role? In any case, they are good at what they do.

Not a crop and not a bird, but we saw it.

Yesterday afternoon was hot. Today was heading the same way until afternoon clouds started gathering. We could see rain falling nearby, but we managed to enjoy the cloud cover without getting wet. That seemed like just compensation for the headwind we endured all day. When we got to the hotel in Lake Wales we turned into vegetables and ordered take out food from a local restaurant.

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