Periodic Progress Report Southern Tier Cross-Country Bicycle Tour

Date(s): Nov. 18, 1999
Day: Friday
From: O'leno State Park, FL
To: Micanopy, FL
Lodging: Paynes Prairie Preserve Campground
Segment Mileage: 46.1
Cumulative Mileage: 3488.7
Actual Riding Time: 3:22
Average Speed: 13.7
Weather: Mild, partly cloudy
Temp: High 70's

Alligators! Today we finally saw some alligators (and yes, I cheated and used a postcard for the photo). A group of us, Bruno, Oliver, Jimmy, Cyndi, Suzanne, and I, went into Gainesville to see the city and the campus of the University of Florida. As we were leaving town, riding across Paynes Prairie, Suzanne pointed to the marsh and yelled "Alligators!" and sure enough there were about 10 very large alligators basking in the sun. Cyndi pulled out her binoculars and we stayed and watched them for a long time. While there, a guy who does research at the university stopped and talked about the preserve and the diverse wildlife there. He pointed out some sandhill cranes that were migrating through the area. There were birds everywhere, and we kept seeing gators. As we were leaving and we were discussing our trip and all the food we eat, the man mentioned that his physician invented the Gatorade formula. He was working with the university football team and noticed that the players were accumulating salts on their skin and he devised some drink formulas, one of which turned out to be Gatorade, an appropriate name since the University of Florida football team calls themselves the Gators.

Oliver, Bruno, Suzanne and I had started the day looking for gators at our camp, O'leno State Park, but had no luck. Afterwards the whole group met in High Springs for breakfast. Moneybags Jim never arrived so I picked up the tab after everyone had eaten. Jim had missed the restaurant as he was looking for our first restaurant choice which was closed. From there the Gainesville group had a fast ride into the city along route 441. There was lots of fast traffic but there was a good shoulder and a slight tailwind.

We found an alternate route as we got into town, with a bike lane all the way into the city center. We explored the campus, a small city within the larger city. After a coffee at the student union we continued out of town, losing Oliver at a music store. It was then that we saw the alligators. We felt bad for Oliver because he had wanted to see them the most. After we got into camp we told him about it and he returned with Todd and they were able to see them. This is a beautiful park, but the campsites consist of small pads normally used for one tent, but most of them now have 4. This is so that there is minimal impact on the forest floor.

I checked out various options for dinner since we didn't want to cook. I had several choices and finally decided on an excellent Chinese restaurant, Jade Gardens. They agreed to deliver to our campsite for free, with a little coaxing from Spike and me. It was quite a sight, the group eating chinese takeout with chopsticks at the picnic table. Afterwards we all sat around the fire reminiscing about the trip, enjoying the company of the group, knowing we'll be going our separate ways soon. (Thanks again to Lynne for the camp photos)