March 2007 - Florida

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="0a9b85a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Bev and Jim Winsness</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bev and Jim Winsness"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="thelma.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thelma our bike!"><B>Thelma - our bike!</B></A></div> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="0aad2b83.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="first_ride.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="First ride">First ride</A></div> <div> <A HREF="sc_route.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="South Carolina Route">South Carolina Route</A></div> <div> <B>March 2007 - Florida</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> March 11-13, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail</div> <bR> <div> Our first "out-of-state" ride began in Tallahassee where we rode the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail!  </div> <bR> <div> We started at the trailhead in Tallahassee:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0ac20580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The trail was an old railroad bed from Tallahassee to St. Marks:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ae20580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> At St. Marks, we visited the historic fort, watched a wonderful history video, and loved the beauty!</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0b020580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> After the visit to the fort, we traveled to the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge and the historic lighthouse where Thelma rested under a beautiful live oak tree and Spanish moss.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0b258200.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="800" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The birds and beauty were fantastic.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0b420580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0b620580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The ride back to Tallahassee completed a 58.7 mile trip.</div> <bR> <div> Monday started with genealogy research at the archives, and as we left town, we located the apartment where Amy lived her first year out of college!  Her room was at the right end, second balcony was hers!</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0b820580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Nature Coast State Trail:</div> <div> This trail has three 'legs' with a junction at Wilcox Junction at Fanning Springs.  We stayed in a motel at Fanning Springs and the afternoon trip was to Cross City, Trenton, and back to Fanning Springs.</div> <bR> <div> On the ride to Cross City was a beautiful bridge over the Swanee River:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ba20580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Still riding, I took this photo of the beautiful Swanee River by just reaching up and pointing the camera out over to the right!</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0bc20580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The stop for dinner was at the trailhead in Trenton:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0be20580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> What a fantastic find - a wonderful Italian restaurant!  Dinner was incredible!  Thelma enjoyed waiting outside!</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0c020580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The next morning, we rode from Fanning Springs to Chiefland where we had breakfast, then returned to Fanning Springs and checked out of the motel.</div> <bR> <div> Withlacoochee Bay Trail</div> <div> The Withlachoochee is a 46 mile trail and we hoped to stay in the town of Inverness which was generally in the center of the trail.  However, there were no motels available, so we went to the south end of the trail where Highway 50 crosses I75 and spent the night there.</div> <bR> <div> We started the ride from where the trail crosses Highway 50 where there is a spectacular bike bridge!</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0c220580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The trail is wide, quite flat, and goes under I75 which is seen in this photo:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0c420580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Nice rest areas are found along all the trails:</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0c620580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Watch out for crossing traffic!</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0c820580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> And, back at the trailhead, Thelma is ready to go back into the van for the return to South Carolina.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ca20580.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="600" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Each day was over 50 miles - wonderful days!</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>