Day 4 of biking across Florida

Journaling:
Wednesday
37 miles Winter Garden to Sanford

We had a short day so there would be time for an excursion to Blue Spring State Park. It had been cold, so many manatees were expected. Since we've been there three times, we decided to use the afternoon to rest and do laundry at the hotel.

The first few miles and last few miles were beautiful. In the middle we had to deal with a trail routed through the Orlando suburbs adjacent to heavily-traveled highways. Although we had a separate bike trail, essentially wide sidewalks, in many places we had to cross over frequent driveway entrances to businesses where drivers just weren't looking for bikes, and use "beg buttons" which didn't offer us a crossing for several cycles. It was more stressful than dangerous.

As we left Winter Garden, David took a wrong turn. Since I had stopped to take a picture, I thought he was up ahead of me somewhere and tried to catch up for miles. Finally I stopped, as he could only be behind me, and a few minutes later he appeared.

It was funny to see sandhill cranes right next to a busy road, and seemingly unconcerned that I stopped for photos just a few feet away. We also saw alligators lounging in the sun.

We finished the day with a few beautiful, brand new miles along Lake Monroe as we came into Sanford. We stopped at a park for a quick lunch then took the van to a hotel. That evening, several of us went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner, since it was next door.