I love winter in Florida. It's Sunday, January 27 th . The weather in Ocala looks good for a ride. The temp is in the mid-70's and the sky is overcast. There is a possibility for rain but even if it does, I have good rain gear, so I'm not worried. I put on my 'Stitch and my HJC flip-top helmet and my gloves and head out.
Just before getting on I75 at exit 71, Florida Highway 326, I check the air in my tires. I thought they were a little low and they were at just over 30 pounds in both tires. I bring both up to 40 pounds and I am off. I love those on-ramps to the Interstate highways. It's like being on a drag-strip. You can just turn it loose for a short distance without having to worry about getting a ticket. You do want to enter the traffic at a speed where you don't have to worry about someone rear-ending you, don't you? I don't worry about having a gap behind me. If it's clear beside me as I come onto the Interstate, what's behind me is not important. Just gotta make sure I don't run up the back end of somebody. Once I get established in the right lane, I slow down to something reasonable. I don't want to be the fastest vehicle on the freeway. I'm happy to just drop in behind him (or sometimes her) and lay back a quarter of a mile or so and watch his (her) brake lights. Works for me and I make good progress without worrying too much. I usually prefer to ride in the far right lane unless I am more inconspicuous elsewhere. Just your basic ride-and-hide ticket avoidance tactics.
A few miles up the road, it occurs to me that I have not attached my radar detector, so I stop at the rest area at Paynes Prairie just south of Gainesville and get rid of some used coffee and set up the radar detector and I am on my way again. Another on-ramp. Wooo-hooo. :)
I make steady progress north-bound, following first one car, then another. The interstate for the most part is boring, but it is a great way to cover the miles quickly. I don't know how fast I am going because my speedometer does not work. I installed a brand-new speedo cable just this morning but it still doesn't work. Guess the problem is in the lower unit. I'll worry about that later.
I got off the Interstate at exit 87 at Jennings, just south of the Georgia line. One of my riding goals is to travel around the outer extremity of the entire state of Florida and I plan to add another piece to that puzzle today. I rode south on Highway 41 to Jasper and then headed east on Florida 6. From this point on, I was travelling through very sparsely populated areas. My kinda country. It all looked like a great place to go hunting. It was just miles and miles of wilderness. It was common to travel up to ten miles at a time and not see another vehicle in either direction.
I was expecting to see more traffic when I got on Highway 441 and I did. Probably saw a dozen cars all the way up to the intersection of Highway 94 about eight or ten miles inside Georgia. I turned right on 94 and I was soon back into Florida again. The map shows this area as being part of the Okefenokee Swamp and it certainly is. The speed limit was 60 but since my speedometer didn't work, I just used the 6 on the other gage. There were flocks of birds feeding on the side of the road and I would blast my horn to get them up and out of my way before I got there.
There was a little community at the intersection of Florida 127, then I was back into Georgia again. Most people don't think of Georgia as a state with a "panhandle" and in truth, it doesn't have much of one. More like an effeminate little button than the more masculine shape of Florida, but enjoyable, none-the-less. I was surprised to see the Cherokee Tribal Grounds in this area. The Cherokee (some of my ancestors) are mountain people but after what has happened to all of the American Indians, they are lucky to have any land anywhere. I can see why they would like this area, though. Lots of wilderness and very few people. I'll have to go back and visit sometime.
I came back into Florida as I crossed the Saint Mary's river, then headed south on Florida 121. I turned left on 90, then south on 301. I took a break at a truck stop just south of I10, then continued south on 301. I was travelling at a leisurely pace as 301 is infamous for a couple of speed traps in the small towns along the way. A couple of them are nice enough to post signs saying that the speed limits are strictly enforced. I just laid back and putted on through. The town of Waldo is absolutely notorious for it's speed traps and I always make it a point of travelling slow enough to annoy an Amishman as I go through there. Sure enough, they had someone pulled over on the northbound side of the road as I went by.
Just past Citra, I turned south on Highway 200A, also known as NE Jacksonville Road, and ten minutes later I was back home in Anthony. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. I rode for about five hours and saw some really neat countryside that I would like to visit again. And, I also knocked off about another 70 or so miles of the Florida perimeter.
Ted Reece
COG 4603
IBA 8766
Silverbullet@mfi.net