March 23, 2007, Thursday
New Smyrna Beach to DeLand
We passed through acres of pine forest on the short 30 mile return trip to DeLand. The traffic on the long stretches we rode along Route 44 was heavy although there was a good shoulder. We had the obligatory encounter with a rude redneck who was going in the opposite direction. He honked and flipped us the bird. Lunch was waiting for us at the DeLand High School at the end of the tour.
Unlike on other trips, I'm writing this several months after we returned to Reston and I have only vague memories of many parts of the trip. While we enjoyed the trip, there was little that stood out in the way of sights or landscape. Even so, it's a great chance for us to do some early season riding on our recumbent tandem, and an opportunity to visit with Mom on the way down and back. We plan to return next year as the tour route moves to the east coast from Clearwater to Fanning Springs.