FLORIDA COAST TO COAST BIKE TRAIL DAY 4

     Day 4:  47 miles.  80+ degrees and sunny, no wind.  Prior to starting the trip Day 4 was my greatest day of trepidation.  This was supposed to be a 57 mile day with a 28 mile gap in the trail and there were no places to eat along the way.  The 28 mile gap can be bridged by peddling on Route 50.  Route 50 is one of the primary routes for trucks and cars departing Orlando and heading west.  It is a 70 MPH 2 lane road with no shoulders.  The road is heavy with traffic and you would actually be sharing the travel lanes with all the other vehicles.  It is a biker's nightmare!  

    There are several alternative gap routes and many sound highly suspect.  One route takes you on a dirt/sand road through a swamp.  If it is wet you ride in a slurry of mud and if it is dry the road turns into sand--yuck!  I opted for a route which sounded safe and is one of the more popular routes.  My gap alternative road put me on several side streets as well as lightly traveled 2 lane roads through farm country until I approached Bushnell where the 2 lane road started to get a little trafficky with narrow shoulders.  By now, I was used to riding on similar roads so this route turned out to be less worrisome.  Now the big problem!  There are idiots out there who throw bottles out of car windows.  The broken glass ultimately ends up on the shoulders a.k.a "bike lanes."  I saw the glass with just enough time to swerve around the big pieces.  However, I had to ride over an area of finely ground-up glass.  I immediately stopped to inspect my tires.  Both tires showed no signs of glass, no punctures, and appeared to be holding air so all was good.  30 minutes later I took a water break and used the opportunity to reinspect the tires.  Holy crap!  Both tires were bleeding liquid latex from multiple spots.  They both looked like bloody messes and I thought I was dead.  Once again the miracle of tubeless tires came to the rescue as no air seemed to be lost in either tire.  If I were using tubes, I would be repairing 2 flats.  And the air pressure held perfectly for the rest of the day's ride.  Whew!!!

An old farm along the Route 50 gap
alternative trail.

    I heard that there might be a restaurant in the town of Nobelton which was on my route.  Nobelton would be a perfect lunch stop so when I arrived in Nobelton I searched up and down the roads for a restaurant.  Finally, I gave up my search and resorted to Google Maps.  I searched the app for restaurants, found one and asked for directions.  When I pressed the button for directions, Google immediately reported "you have arrived."  Wait a minute...I haven't moved an inch...whats going on?!  Then I looked up and there was a big sign for a restaurant and when I looked a few feet further, there it was.  I called Nan and she set out to join me for a very mediocre lunch.

Roseate Spoonbill on the Good Neighbor Trail.

    Fully nourished from lunch I said goodby to Nan and was instantly off roads and back on bike trails.  Better yet the bike trail was under a canopy of live oaks--perfect!  Nan headed off to our final destination in Brooksville where she planned to jump on the trail with her bike and meet me along the way.  My ride felt so good that I upped my speed by a lot and, of course, zoned out.  The trail I was on was stunning.  It was named the "Good Neighbor Trail" and headed straight through beautiful live oaks and pine.  At one point I had to slam on my brakes as along the trail was a Roseate Spoonbill, one of the most unique and beautiful birds.  Then I started seeing several Sherman's Fox Squirrels.  With their black heads huge, fluffy tails these thing made quite a sight.  Then came danger!  The trail was 10' wide and stretched out over 6' of the trail was a fat ole snake.  I had nowhere to go so I had to pass in the remaining 4'.  I Immediately picked up to racing speed and darted by the viper.  As I passed I identified the snake as a Copperhead!  Holy moly!!!  Later I researched my encounter and determined that my snake was, in fact, a Water Snake.  Well, high adventure for me.

Water Snake from Google

Sherman's Fox from Google

    Still feeling really good I hauled butt down the trail in search of my Moose and shortly, there she was.  I stopped and greeted her but she was not happy as we hooked up only 15 minutes from the trailhead and she wanted more riding.  She turned around and we headed into town.  When we reached town she decided to take the bike trail in the other direction while I explored a town historic area.  After 1 minute I heard Nan calling out to me so I sought her out.  It turned out that the bike trail ended only 100 yards away so her ride was disappointing.  We were staying at an Inn only 1/10 of a mile away so off we went to check out the place.

Mirador Inn

    Our lodging for the night in Brooksville was at the Mirador Inn.  The place was spectacular!  It was beautifully finished on a live oak lined street and only had 3 rooms.  It turned out that the owner did not live on the premises and the other 2 rooms were not occupied so we had the entire place to ourselves.  It felt weird.  Better yet the house was considered one of the more haunted places in Florida.  Nan discovered several You Tube videos featuring our inn as haunted.  In addition, the next night all 3 rooms were booked by a paranormal group to experience the hauntings.  We loved the place and had a great night's sleep!

Former Brooksville Train Station.

    It seemed that my earlier trepidation day turned out to be one of my favorite trail days.