Inverness to Dunnellon
April 3, 2008
It was an easy 2.5 mile ride from the motel to Inverness Middle School for breakfast of eggs, grits, biscuits, and juice. This was to be another long day, about 75 miles including the rides to/from the motels. After a little searching we found the route from the school; a grass path that lead to the Withlacoochee trail. The next 10 miles was a pleasant stretch of the trail where lots of locals were out riding and walking. At the first rest stop there was a bit of a line at the one restroom. The port-a-john man was late with his delivery; he arrived as we were leaving. After the rest stop we followed a circuitous route through back roads toward the Withlacoochee Bay Trail and lunch.
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| Portable toilets behind schedule | Lunch line at Withlacoochee Bay Trailhead | End of Withlacoochee Bay Trail at Gulf of Mexico |
Characteristic of this year's tour, lunch was late and there were no port-a-johns. We waited in line as the box lunches were prepared. The vegetarian option was a tasteless sprouts and orange chunks wrap. Not nearly enough food for the long day, so it was supplemented with one of our energy bars. By the time we finished the lunch line had about doubled. After lunch was an optional ride to the Gulf on the Bay Trail, a pleasant stretch of trail along the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. The greenway is an aborted cross-florida canal, work on which was halted by environmentalists just as it was nearly completed. It's now a lush greenway and popular fishing spot.
There wasn't much to see at the end of the trail at the Gulf. We took a few photos and headed back toward the lunch spot. The first unpaved section of the day took us back to the route so we could avoid making a left turn on Route 19. We crossed Inglis Dam where we spotted large turtles floating below. The worst section of the trip followed, about a mile on "lime rock road" which turned out to be a two track path with sand about 6 inches deep. No one could ride through. Pushing the tandem was not easy and we both helped out. There was lots of grumbling about the trek.
The sandy trail turned into a grassy field where we reached the non-functioning Inglis Lock on the abandoned Greenway canal. A lock keeper was there anyway. She offered us ice and answered our questions about the canal and lock. A large alligator floated below, trapped in the lock.
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| Sandy trail to Inglis Lock | Inglis Lock | Alligator trapped in lock |
From the last rest stop at Rainbow Lakes fire station the last section of the route was pretty boring, long stretches of straight, pine-lined roads. We were beat when we reached St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and tent city. The Dinner Bell motel was located 4.5 miles south on Route 41 and the only way to get there was on the high-speed, narrow road. Luckily there was a bit of shoulder or right turn lanes that we used to avoid the fast traffic and the ride to the motel wasn't as bad as expected, at least I didn't think so. The motel room was OK although the bathroom floor was grossly dirty and since the non-smoking rooms were booked we had reserved a smoking room and it smelled bad too.
We wanted to catch the biker dinner so we changed and caught the shuttle bus back toward camp. Dinner was at Rainbow Springs Park. It's a popular swimming and boating destination with crystal clear waters. We shared a good meal with a couple from Ohio. We traded stories about TOSRV, about our ill-fated attempt and their rides over the years. He has a Barcroft and we later realized that we had chatted last year on Bike Florida about our respective Barcroft bikes.
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| Great Blue Heron on the Withlacoochee River | Beside the Withlacoochee River | Hot weather entertainment; riding bikes down the boat ramp into the river |
We walked around the springs for a while and caught the shuttle back to town. The Withlacoochee River was near our motel and we took an evening stroll down to the river where a Great Blue Heron floated down and landed on the boat ramp next to us. Definitely an urban bird. Another heron was nearby. We watched them for a while until two youths on 20" wheel bikes rode down the ramp right into the water, screaming in delight. We laughed and took photos as they did it a couple of times then rode off into the night.
Another Bike Florida rider was there as well. He was an original rider on the Bikentennial route in 1976, a select group of bicycle tourists.