Clearwater to New Port Richey
April 1, 2008
It was a short ride today, from our comfortable but musty motel room in Clearwater to New Port Richey, about 37 miles away, mostly via the Pinellas Trail once again. We retraced our route from the day before to Tarpon Springs and continued to the end of the trail at Keystone Road.
The first rest stop was at Wall Springs where we had p.b.&j. and delicious cut grapefruit slices. It was early when we arrived but we still packed in some calories, not knowing when or where we would find lunch.
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| Wall Springs rest stop | Suncoast Primate Sanctuary | Pinellas Trail near Tarpon Springs |
Just after the rest stop we saw the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary, and watched the animals being fed fresh fruit, and one lucky chimp getting his rump scratched. We were joined by a three generation family of riders; grandma, ma, and grandchild, on a recumbent and a recumbent tandem.
At Keystone Road we were instructed to wait for a police escort along about a 2 mile particularly busy, shoulderless stretch of road. As we were in the first wave of cyclists, we didn't have to wait long. There were about 30 of us and we were told to stay together. Of course the lead policeman proceeded to set about a 20 mph pace and the line of cyclists was about as long as the stretch of road.
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| Awaiting police escort at Keystone Rd | Keystone Rd | Quality Inn New Port Ritchey |
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, with good, smooth roads with shoulders. The "wilderness" was located adjacent to typical suburban development. The Starkey Wilderness Preserve is one of the largest undeveloped tracts in Pasco County. There wasn't much activity at the park, a few cyclists were straggling in and the luggage trucks had not yet arrived. There wasn't much going on at the park. We found bathrooms and mosquitoes and decided to head to the motel instead of waiting to find out about the shuttle bus schedule.
The so called dangerous riding conditions from the park to the motel that we had heard about turned out to be not so dangerous, at least not at 11 am. There was little traffic and most drivers were respectful. I had found a route on MapMyRide and we wound through residential areas and came out on Route 19 adjacent to the Quality Inn at around noon. At one point on the ride to the motel we heard a loud shreik and looked to see a pair of Sandhill cranes flying overhead. We saw many species of birds today, including several osprey.
We checked in, had a surprisingly good lunch at Dunkin Donuts, and returned to the motel to take the bike and bags up to our room. We learned later that two shuttle buses to the park were planned at 4:30 and 5:30pm, and two back, at 7:30 and 8:30pm. The motel is located on a bleak stretch of Route 19 and many of the shops in a new development across the street are not yet open. Since we didn't want to try Dunkin Donuts for dinner, we planned to catch the shuttle out to the park for dinner.
As we waited for the 4:30 shuttle we were asked about a route back to the Wilderness area. While we discussed the directions several people loaded into the back of a pickup truck to hitch a ride to the camp. At about 4:30 a couple of vehicles pulled up to offer rides, but only after they had a critical mass. They didn't pay much attention to us when we told them that everyone else wanting the 4:30 shuttle was already gone. It was not looking promising, so we decided to walk across the street and scavenge some food. The last, last resort was the Macdonalds. The last resort was the Publix market. Instead we ate at a take-out/eat-in Chinese joint that was OK, at least until a family near us moved the tables around and we saw all the crud that hadn't been cleaned up in a while under the table legs.
The Chinese place was located in one of the longest strip malls I've ever seen. I took a picture of half of it. We stopped at the Publix to get some juice, fruit, and cereal. It will be a long day tomorrow, a nearly 10 mile ride to the park, and a 68 mile ride to tent city in Inverness.