Florida the Beautiful

Labor Day weekend Caleb, My brother Chris, and I went on a bit of trip around Central Florida. We departed from the Polk City Trail Head on the James A. Van Fleet Trail. We rode the Van Fleet Trail up to State Road 50 and headed West to Join up with the Withlacoochee State Trail. We rode the Withlacoochee up into Inverness where we Camped for the first night. From Inverness we decided to take 41 south through Brooksville in favor of heading back down the Withlacooshee trail. We took 41 to the Suncoast Trail and headed back towards Hillsborough county. We spent the second night at Starkey Park off the Suncoast. We continued south to SR 54 and visited the new Suncoast Trailside Bicycles right off of the trail, former CBE employee and my friend, Geoff happens to be the owner. Its a neat little shop. We continued down 54 and met up with the Pinellas Trail in Tarpon Springs. We Finally made our way into Seminole where we finished off 200 miles of riding in 3 days.
Van Fleet Trail My Bro And Caleb on the Van Fleet
There we lots of neat little spots to get off the bike and explore. It was crucial to keeping Caleb entertained. Its not easy riding 200 miles with a 5 year old... but what most people dont realize is that it is possible.

Chariot trailer I borrowed from the shop.. this thing was a crucial element in our trip. I would definately recomend this trailer to anyone.
A neat old house off of SR50
It rained for about two hours on the first day... I really need to get better rain gear, though my panniers stayed nice and dry.
Caleb helping my bro fix the first flat of the trip
There were more people.. maybe somebody moved?
ha.
Withlacoochee State Trail bridge over SR 50
This was a little trail we found forking off of the Withlacoochee Trail. We took a bit of an off road ride down to a beautiful view of the Withlacoochee River. It seemed like a great place to camp but it was stil very early in the day.


Beautful... pictures just dont do it justice.








The General Store in Istachatta, with my Surly Long Haul Trucker parked out front.. too bad it wasnt open.. i wanted a t-shirt.

We had some trouble with camping the first night. At first we found a good spot that seemed discreet enough, however the park ranger who wrote us a good warning didnt think so. We had to tear down camp in the dark and search for another spot, luckily the Sheriff in Inverness was more than happy to divulge a secret camp spot that he and his son had used in the past... it was late and it was really dark but the spot was just feet fromt he trail.



The Inverness CourthouseInverness had a lot of neat things like this.
and this.

We went through Brooksville and if you've ever driven through there you know that the hills are pretty steep. With 40lbs of gear on the bike and over 100lbs in the trailer, including a moving 5 year old, those climbs were a bit chalenging coming through on 41. I did not miss a climb though... if youve never ridden through Brooksville you should give it a try... then you will understand why I have no pictures of it.

We almost went in. We stopped at a park off of 41, name escapes me right now and we heard a little kid screaming that he caught a gator. sure enough here it is. good timing :)

finally on the Suncoast Trail we stayed our second night at one of the equestrian campsites at Starkey Park. It was really hot and it rained all night long.. but we had a really nice cooked meal. beanie weenies. ha. We couldnt find a glass cover for this so we let him go... phesants are bigger than I had ever imagined and they move like a dinosaur.. a neat little creature, and he didnt fly either... just ran away from us as we chased him, forks in hand.

Wishful thinking.. we still had half a day to go.

My brother.. being.. himself.

Suncoast headed Home. This was a delightful find on the Pinellas Trail in Tarpon Springs. A Primate sanctuary.. for a minute there I thought my brother had gotten in but then i realized he was still just out of sight of the camera.

More trips to come.. its hard to plan for a trip like this but I am learning more with every trip.. if you have any interest in going with us next time please email me and ill try to accomodate. I dont have any idea what to do for the next one yet but im keeping it in the back of my mind.