Boog's Blog

Somehow….

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Somehow….

2009-06-23 05.42.31.jpg

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Somehow….

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Somehow….

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8 March. Gainseville

Statistics summary:
biked 1055 miles (on gps)
Boats. Approx 270 miles
Car rental. 210 miles

Easy ride today, straight on rt 24, just stay on the road. No wind and good
roads mostly through forest area. Some gentle rolling hills.

Breakfast conversation. Indiana: economy about average, not too bad except
for auto manufacturing. Conservative governer who has built a large
surplus. Main discussion is whether to save the surplus for bad times or
use some now.

Georgia: basically ok except for Atlanta which is in very bad shape like
Phoenix and Las Vegas except our real estate is down only 10%; problem is
mayor and corruption in Atlanta.

Gps routing to hotel near University of Florida took me off rt 24 and on a
wandering and interesting tour of the school. Strange, no people or
students. Spring break? Quiet ride past lakes and agricultural class
sections.

This being a University town figured there should be so good Asian cuisine.
Pulled out the iPhone and use Urbanspoon to advise. Ah, Vietnamese. Went
there as it was walking distance.

Went in and tried to order bababa (vietnamese beer, 333). Did not have any
but this led to a discussion – she is from Na Tragnh and her parents live in
Virgina, but only half time. That was in response to my saying she lives in
Florida because she likes the heat. Yes.

Had Bun Bo Hue, a spicy broth, with Vermicelli noodles and sprouts and lean
beef and pork. Excellent. A full dinner in itself.

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7 March. Cedar Key II

Decided to spend an extra day touring the area and doing a boat tour out to
the birding and santuary islands.

Florida bald eagle and nest (good view with binocs from the captain),
ospreys, cormorants, Great white and the half sized browns, loons, as well
as history and ecology dialog as we boated and walked some islands.

Pictues of clam seedlings, 4mm clams, and Cedar tree (Faber made his pencils
from the local cedar); clam farming big industry – had them, Cedar Key Clams
– for dinner last night and likely will again.

Spoke with the Kayak rental manager. Business very good. Was bad for a
spell due …the high winds. The hotel is fully booked and the boat tour
was overbooked so they brought out a second smaller boat.

Spent some of the day relaxing and reading HG Wells Time Traveler on the
iPhone (used Stanza). For those interested in e-books I was quite happy
with the experiance. Tried on the Android but the screen washes out too
much when near any sun. The iPhone was comfortable to the hand and after a
few chapters I did not even think I was reading anything other that words –
device went away.

Dinner. Black bean soup and seafood medley salad – warm mixture over
veggies, raw and cooked. Yummy. Room too dark as is evident.

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6 March. Cedar Key

Breakfast. Thought I would ride a few miles before first eats. Turned out
to be 25 miles with no services, through the Goethe and Suncoast Gulf
forests. Good ride on a four lane divided highway. No shoulder but due to
low traffic and nice drivers I had a lane to myself.

Found a truck stop for fried eggs and a bisquit.

How's business I ask. Terrible, getting worse in this economy wit dem
giving out all that money and no taxes coming in caise no jobs.

I said they could just print some more money. "Nope, the oil companies only
accept gold." Asked another way and got another variant of only gold.

Asked about the local fishing as this must be a mainstay of the area.
"Terrible! Lots of fish but they won't let you keep them. $30 for a license
and you can keep one red fish and two others. Now who is going to pay $30
for three fish?"

Sam suggested this detour and as his suggestions have been good I made the
southwest turn at Otter Creek on my way to the recommended Island Hotel.

Great old hotel (1859) in an area that looks like what historic key west
must have been 60 odd years ago before the arrival of Hard Rock and the
commercialization of Duval Street. Cedar still has local charm and "no need
honey to lock your bike (I did)" just the reverse of key west.

Lunch, pictured, at Frog's was as good as it looks. Dinner was (in Sam's
words) yummy; seafood and veggie soup and then lots of local steamed clams.
Maybe some desert and a draft beer.

This means I may not make the last day's ride to Jacksonville; may have to
rent a car as this detour is a day's ride. No doubt a better choice than
crossing North Central Fl.

Global cooling has been replaced by local warming. Cooler, of course, on
the water. Cooler but not much.

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5 March. Withlacoochee River, Inglis

About 11 miles North of Crystal River one finds nothing. No lodging for the
next 35 miles. Decided to like the place. Pictured. $55 and I got the
last room! Turns out that there is construction at several nearby sites and
almost all rooms were taken. 2 Pics included.

Easy ride on US 19 with a good shoulder most of the way. Fast riding as no
headwind -yeah.
Warming up, gloves came off by 9 am as did overshirt.

Many RV parks and adult communities. Crystal River is a sports and
recreation area with a good state park.

As I had time explored the local area, towards the Gulf. Yankeetown and the
associated Crackertown. Asked a few locals about the history but none were
from here. Mostly got that Crackertown folks have been here for generations
and the name comes from the type of housing. Suspect more to it.

Local economy doing OK, maybe a little slower than usual. "Hope the
recession will pass us by, we are a low wages area". What is the local
industry? "No idea".

Did see a big flag on the back of a truck, could not get a pic: Redneck
word on a red white and blue fabric. This is the friendliest redneck area I
have visited. Went to Gobblers for dinner and tried to order a beer. "No
sir, no beer here". OK I said but then several rednecks nicely explained I
could go to the package store next door and bring in a beer. Strange.
"Florida is strange". Nice evening conversation about nothing ensued.
Figured best to keep away from my pinko commie comments. Kept my baseball
style cap on as did all, though some had them reversed or with very short
brims. Hardy food for hard working folks. Portion sizes for giants.

Cup chilli (excellent) pull pork and baked beans (no nearly as good as
Dee's) and coleslaw; good all. No veggies, fruit or salad in the place.
Total with tax and tip and coffee $12

Will return as originally planned, on Tues. The 10th.

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4 March.

Lovely if cold (gloves required) morning.

Continued on the excellent Pinellas (correct name) trail. As good as any
trail I have been on anywhere – if not the best very close. Too short at 34
miles. Winds through several communities, many watershed areas, numerous
birds, and nice people on trail.

Rode with someone (lightspeed bike) from Kentucky and a fellow tourer.
Highly recommended: start in St. Louis, go south on Mississippi trail,
visit Paduka artist colony, then tour the excellent network of state parks
each with excellent lodges. Distance between lodges 20-35 miles.

Took another of Sam's suggestions (thanks again) and visited Tarpon
Springs. Breakfast pic. Picture seems to have been lost – problem with
the memory card I think. Thumbnails stopped working last week. Not good
luck with these microsd cards.

Went to the Spong Docks. Greek community specializing in sponge fishing.
Saw many examples of many types. Basically the sponges and loophas we see
in local stores. Lots of food and tourist shopping.

After one of the best trails rode on one of the least desireable ones.
Route 19 North, 20 plus miles so far with debris shrewn shoulder, or
miserable sidewalk riding when no shoulder, in heavy noisy traffic.

Have not stayed in Hampton Inns before; will certainly again if this one is
at all represenative. Big, very big room, low cost, very good motel layout
and breakfast included.

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3 March. Clearwater Beach

The adventure improved today. Started off cold, many layers of clothing
shed during the day. Was 39 when I left and got to 59.

Tampa is a nice looking city but, as expected, not much fun to bike
thriough. Urban, without shoulders had to ride the sidewalks quite a bit.

Then turned West and South to St. Petersberg. Good ride over the long and
extremely debris free wide path of the Gandy bridge, only one a bike can use
so had to divert quite a bit.

Pretty ride to St. P's downtown, OK, with a nice yacht harbor. Western part
of St. P is going downhill fast.

Picked up the excellent Pinelas trail, a city trail that runs 34 miles from
western St. P to Tarpon Springs. Perfect road quality, no moterized
traffic, numerous steep overpasses (a good thing after so much flat land
riding), passing through many retirement communities. Lite of places to eat
and even lighter on places that one would wish to eat.

Decided to go to a Gulf side barrier so got off the path and went to
Clearwater Beach. Best Western resort hotel. Good dinner expected and
wanted. Simple pasta Fra Diablo with shrimp – added a salad, and of course a
well earned beer. There is chatter on the news that the wind will become
warmer on Thurs. Or Fri.

Note to me: no increase in pain. No roll over pain, pain but minimal when
walking, just the occasional twing on the bike. Similar to previous report.

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