Visiting the Cousins in Florida

Tuesday, 3 November 

We enjoyed another cool night which made for great sleeping. Our original plan for today was to play golf in Green Cove Springs at a golf course we played in February 2018. But we both decided to take a break from golf, so we made it a bike riding day.

We had a leisurely morning as we waited for it to warm up above 60 degrees. The Lake campground loop is located almost 3 miles from the park entrance. Upon entering yesterday, we saw a paved trail running parallel to the main road, and the Ranger said it went all the way to Keystone Heights, about 6 miles away.

After filling our fresh water tank and visiting the dump station, we moved Sprinty to the picnic area in case we did not get back from the bike ride before the 1pm checkout time.

We broke out the eBikes and rode around the park, then rode to Keystone Heights. As the paved trail was along the highway, it was not the most exciting of rides, but with very few road crossings, we enjoyed not having to watch for cars until we got into town, where the bike path ended and we rode on city sidewalks for awhile. And there were no other walkers, bikers, or runners on the bike path today - we had it all to ourselves.

After a snack at the Veterans park in town, we rode back. After packing up the eBikes, we headed for the ultimate destination for this Florida adventure, Payne's Prairie State Park in Micanopy (pronounced Mee-Can-Opy), FL, just south of Gainesville. The location for a Roadtrek Rally we signed up for almost a year ago. Florida state parks are extremely popular, especially in the winter. Once the rally was announced in November last year, we made our reservation, figuring it was much easier to cancel if we changed our mind than it would be to decide to attend later. Of course, this was all pre-COVID.

After our small adventures in Sprinty this year, we knew we could travel in Sprinty in a comfortable and COVID-cautious manner. We hoped that our fellow Roadtrekers were also COVID-cautious so we could enjoy seeing our Roadtrek friends. There were 18 Roadtreks and 33 people attending.

We did make a slight detour on the way to the state park so Kris could pay up for yesterday's golf.

We got Sprinty settled pretty quickly. At 4pm, we headed over to the rally host's site for the typical 4pm social (pour at four). In pre-COVID times, the social would involve everyone bringing snacks to share - no snacks this time. In fact the only item on the picnic table for people to partake was a bag of masks that one of the Roadtrekers had made.

Pizza was delivered at 5pm. We were able to sit far enough away to feel comfortable. And nearly all in attendance were wearing masks, although later we had to wonder if it was because of the free mask handout on the table. We met some new friends and enjoyed seeing old friends. And learning about how other friends were doing that were not attending.

Overall, we left the evening optimistic on the mask wearing and physical distancing that were described in the rally announcements. With only a few exceptions, things looked like we hoped they would be.

Wednesday, 4 November

Another nice night for sleeping as low temperature got to 53 degrees. The rally host arranged for one of the park rangers to share some history of the park. As the group gathered, it seemed like people were respecting the distancing somewhat, and everyone was wearing their mask. Overall, the precautions were even better than last evening.

Ranger Tony told the group that the Alachua basin was formed several thousand years ago when a number of sink holes collapsed. As a result, the basin is the drain point for a watershed of about 150 square miles and the resultant water flowing underground is the main source of drinking water in the area. So one of the primary missions of the Payne's Prairie state park is to restore the basin so it properly filters the drainage into the basin.

Payne's Prairie also experiences a number of high water events when they get the torrential rains from hurricanes. The park is home to a number of wild horses, cattle, wild boars, black bears, and other wildlife.

After the Ranger talk, we got the eBikes out to explore the park. Many of the trails in Payne's Prairie state park are dual use - hiking and biking. After riding the paved road to the boat ramp, we took the Lake Trail towards to visitor center. It was a nice wide sandy path that must also be used for vehicles from time to time.

When the trail came out on the main park road, we rode that to the Visitor Center area, only to find the last path to the Visitor Center did not allow bikes. As we did not plan to go in the Visitor Center anyway, we headed back to the Jackson's Gap Trail. Jackson's Gap Trail was a little more single-track, but with the wide tires and pedal assist, we both navigated it just fine. When we reached the north end, the gate to the Cones Dike Trail was a narrow zig-zag designed to keep the wild horses and cattle out. And the sign clearly said no bikes, which was fine as we would have had to lift our 70 pound bikes over the 5' fence.

We saw the observation tower behind the Visitor Center was not far away, so we locked up the eBikes to the metal gate and walked to the observation tower. From the top of the tower, you could get a good view of Payne's Prairie basin, which looks like a large dry-ish marsh. 

We learned from the Ranger, that many of the trails are on dikes built in the early 1900s to control the water. The original plan was to use the water for hydroelectric power to provide electric power to Gainesville, but that did not turn out well. So the area was used for raising cattle, and the dikes helped keep the area drier than it was before man intervened.

Feeling somewhat confident with our trailing riding using our wide tired eBikes, we decided to ride the Chacala loop trail back to the campground area. Near the end of Jackson's Gap Trail, the trail went through a muddy, boggy area, which proved quite the challenge to navigate. Fortunately, that was the knurliest part of the entire ride.

Once back on pavement, we decided we were not done riding, so we took the main park road to the entrance of the park, then rode the bike lane on US441 to the small town of Micanopy. Riding along a major road, with or without a bike lane, is not our preferred riding, but as it was only for just over a mile, it was not too bad.

We learned from the sign in town that Micanapy was the first distinct American town founded in the new territory of Florida following the Spanish relinquishment of Florida to the United States in 1821.

There was not much to the town, but a playground park served as a nice place to take a break and each lunch.

After riding back, we chilled for the afternoon. At 4pm, we headed over to the social. One of the highlights of the social was Nick Schmidt, from Sunshine State RVs (largest Roadtrek dealer in North America, and a sponsor of the rally) gave us an update on the new Roadtrek company. Matt, his A Number 1 Roadtrek tech, was also present and was doing gratis minor repairs on various Roadtreks.

Unfortunately, the conscientious effort we saw last evening and this morning of mask wearing and physical distancing seemed to have faded with the election results. Unlike last evening when all but a few people were wearing their masks, only a handful were wearing masks this evening. After situating ourselves with appropriate distance, having to move three times as people kept encroaching on our distancing (also sans face mask), and having people come over to talk to us from only a few feet away without wearing masks, we decided it was a losing battle, so we packed it in for the night. A disappointment as the rally information clearly indicated we would be adhering to mask wearing and distancing - and it seemed like everyone was onboard with masks and distancing for a little over 16 hours. The contrast in behaviors between this morning and this evening was as if there had been some announcement during the day that they had found a cure for COVID. If there was such an announcement, we missed it.

So instead of partaking of the catered BBQ dinner provided by Sunshine State RVs, we retreated to dinner in Sprinty. After dinner, we caught up with Nathan and Marissa Moss of "Less Junk, More Journey." They are about half our age and full-time in a 40' fifth wheel with their 6-year old daughter and 1-1/2 year old son. The last we heard from them, they had just gotten back from a 6-week trip to Michigan with the RV. In fact, we have been enjoying reliving our Michigan trip through their lens as they visited many of the same places we did two years ago.

Well we learned that why we had not heard much from them all last month was that shortly after getting back from Michigan, they all had COVID. Fortunately, they all survived.

Part of what was interesting in their update was their comparing their COVID chances while traveling versus when they were at their home base in Tennessee. They said that while traveling, as two introverts, they were rarely are around others. Once home though, the pull of a family gathering was enough to get together. One of the people at the gathering had COVID and did not know it. Marissa got it first, followed by everyone else. As she described, how can you isolate in a 400 square foot fifth wheel?

What was also interesting was how each member of the family experienced COVID differently. Marissa lost her sense of taste and smell, but seemed to weather the experience as just a little longer than a severe flu. Their 6-year old daughter had a fever and low energy for several days. Their son just seemed off and mad. Nathan was hit the worst - 12 days of fever of 100 degrees or more, sleeping 18+ hours a day, and being very miserable. Although they have been over COVID for over two weeks, they are still not fully recovered. Both said they still had fatigue and a marked loss of stamina.

On to a happier note. Before turning in for the evening, Kris and Darrell also unpacked the 13-mile bike ride earlier today which included a lot of trail riding and adventuring down US441 to Micanopy. Both of us were very pleased with the bike ride and glad we did it. We took the trails slowly and with the fat tires and electric assist, navigated the soft sand, roots and mud in ways that would not be possible with regular mountain bikes at our age. It was certainly a boost to our confidence for exploring some trails and the biking opportunities we had hoped our fat tire eBikes would provide.

Thursday, 5 November

Today's activity was to ride the 16.5 mile Gainesville-Hawthorne State Park Trail which connects the university town of Gainesville with rural Hawthorne.

It is an asphalt rail trail, although there is a section near the north side of Payne's Prairie that is likely not the original rail bed - too curvy and hilly. While the path roughly parallels State Route 20, it also traverses one of Florida's most environmentally sensitive areas: Paynes Prairie State Preserve. https://www.traillink.com/trail/gainesville-hawthorne-state-park-trail/

Reviewing the trail map on TrailLink.com, we picked out two parks near the Gainesville end. Our Plan A was Depot Park, but a check of the satellite view showed limited spaces, and many of those would not accommodate Sprinty due to trees and bushes. Our Plan B was Boulware Springs Park, which had a larger parking area, but was located 2 miles down the trail.

Plan A worked - we found a site to back Sprinty in so the rear overhand was our of the way. We rode for about an hour, stopped for a snack. Then we continued to the east end of the trail in Hawthorne which was 17.5 miles from Depot Park. We then turned around and rode about 10 miles of the ride back, and stopped for lunch. Total milage was 35 miles.

Kris talked Darrell into stopping for a Starbucks - just because - on the way back to the campground.

At 4pm we wandered over to the gathering area for the social. After yesterday's experience, we weren't sure how it would work out, but our rally host said several people left this morning, so the group would be smaller. The group that gathered was about half the size, more spread out, and better mask wearing. Enough that we could enjoy the social as we had the first day, as well as at previous rallies.

After dinner and showers, we were settling in the back to watch Jeopardy, and Darrell bushed up against something moist on the ottoman. The something moist then jumped. Then jumped again towards the back stopping on the back of the sofa/bed. The next jump would have had it behind/under the bed. Darrell quickly captured the tree frog that was touring the inside of Sprinty with his bare hands and returned him back to the wild. And all were relived we found it while the lights were on - better than having it land or crawl on us in bed tonight.

Friday, 6 November

With the conclusion of the rally, we decided to head home and see if we could do it in one shot. Google maps said it was 383 miles to our house and was estimated to take 5 hours 30 minutes. We figured off we changed our mind, we would find something, even if it was a Friday night.

Kris was up at first light - maybe a little anxious to get home and prepare for the next adventure.

Traffic was fairly light except around Macon, between Macon and Atlanta, and through Atlanta. Kris made a game of counting RVs she saw on the road, either northbound or southbound. She said she saw 342 RVs. We got home in just over 6 hours as we stopped for restroom breaks, changing drivers, and lunch.

Trip facts:  1,313 miles driving; 11 nights camping; 142 miles of bike riding