We’ve been watching the weather closely to find dry spells for the couple of rides that we hoped to do in the Gainesville area. On Tuesday we were pleased to see a dry patch in the morning so we headed out right from the house to ride the Gainesville to Hawthorne trail. The humidity is really, really high and the thunderstorms that roll through in the afternoons are not helping much. It was a sweaty 18 miles on the trail but so worth it! The trail has rolling hills, curves, and a number of overlooks. We saw a bit of wildlife, a doe and some turkeys, but no gators.
Tom walked out to the Sweetwater Overlook while I headed back. We ended up riding the final bits to the blessed AC together and spent the rest of the day doing some stitching and reading.
Same weather deal Wednesday morning although not quite as long a dry spell predicted. We were out early for an hour drive to the Nature Coast trail. Nature Coast is as flat as a pancake, nice and wide, and not much else. It has one main attraction – the Suwanee River Bridge. The bridge was just a few miles in and we stopped to take pictures. There was a local rider taking a break on the bridge so we chatted with him for a bit; then 2 other local riders came on and we chatted with them as well. We were on that bridge for quite some time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! It’s a nice trail but not the most interesting once you get beyond the bridge. When the raindrops started we turned around and headed back, so just a 12 mile ride.
Tomorrow we drive to the Kennedy Space Center and will spend 2 partial days there ending up in Brunswick Georgia for some more biking and a trip to the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge.