120 miles of road!

It wasn't fun, but it had to be done.

The Western Corridor of the FL Trail has a 60ish miles of road walk where the trail is not yet complete. I had made the choice to hike the Western Corridor because it is close to my home in Tampa. I have hiked all the real trail, ie non road sections during various weekend and day hikes, but I need to cover the road walks too, to eventually claim the End to Ender status of having hiked the entire length of the FL Trail.

I haven't had much luck talking anyone, even Ian, into hiking the Western Corridor with me, so I know that persuading anyone to walk the 60 miles of road is just a pipe dream, so I'd have to hike it alone. I had some free time this week, and the weather is not too hot, though still rather uncomfortable for carrying a backpack, so I decided I'd break this big roadwalk into daily chunks and get it done. Not having a hiking partner meant I would have to do the hike out, and get back to my car myself. The plan for this was my bicycle. The good part of all this being road is that it can be ridden on a bike as easy (or actually easier). It doubles the effort, but I have found that if I bike out a reasonable distance to hike, chain my bike to a tree or fence, then hike back to the car, I can get miles covered fairly painlessly. It appears to be much better to bike first as my legs get much more tired, and distances harder to reasonably judge, when hiking. This tactic is especially useful along the roads as the traffic is generally lighter earlier in the day, when it gets busier during the day I can just walk on the grassy banks beside the road wherever possible.

The route took me from the southern point of the East/West split at Three Lakes, through Kissimmee, around the north end of Lake Tohopekaliga, then across country (via road) to the paved Van Fleet state bicycle trail and on to Green Swamp. In general the trail was not very well blazed, but well described in my data book, and therefor easy to follow. I was rather disconcerted to find that the East/West corridor split at the south end here is not really marled at all. I thought that the decision point at the north end in Ocala was poorly marked, but it at least was marked. I know most hikers that come to either of these points in their hike have already made the decision on which route to follow, but in this case I doubt most would even be aware that the other route had split off at this point.

It was gruelling, but it's done. There was quite a lot of construction on this section, and the roads were extremely busy in places. I felt particularly vulnerable to traffic on the southernmost road section while biking, and most loathed by traffic while cycling through the construction heading into Kissimmee, but my closest brush with a vehicle was just short of the Van Fleet trail when a church van nearly side swiped me on an otherwise clear road. I have found that of all vehicles to not pull over to give a cyclist room, even when the road is completely clear, church vans and mini buses seem to be the worst!

Some of the nicer parts of the hike were the interaction with grazing cattle, who for some reason are not bothered in the least by 60mph trucks zooming by, but appear confused and then terrirfied by a cyclist or hiker. Passing through Kissimmee on a bicyle/pedestrian path was nice, especially as there was a hot dog vendor and kiosk to provide refreshments. And the very brief section on the Old Tampa brick highway was neat for the history, the quirky "citrus" marker, and the cool shade provided by the overhanging trees.

View more photos in my Picasa album

It just had to be the can opener

I moved to Orlando today, and I'm now officially living in my RV. I know Orlando isn't exactly far from home, but it's far enough that I'll have to make a conscious effort to go back to the house for anything I have forgotten. I also don't have my car here with me yet, so I have to hoof it if I need anything from the store. Fortunately I have a super walmart within a mile, so I doubt I'll go without anything I need but forgot.

The decision to not stay in Tampa was mainly becasue I spend most of my weekends over here doing hiking/biking/kayaking trips anyway. I'm on vacation next week, and I want to hike the 60 miles of road walk that I still need to complete for the Western Corridor of the FL Trail. It passes right by the endo of the road where I'm staying, so it just made sense to be over here.

Today was also the first day of my last month of working. By the end of September I'll be voluntarily unemployed. It's time for me to start enjoying being over here in the States and working only on seeing some of the places I want to see, doing some long hikes, etc.

Oh yeah, the can opener. It was the first thing I realized I didn't pack in the RV. I noticed that when I was standing with my supper can of soup in my hand. I guess I'll be walking to walmart in the morning!

Happy Birthday Mark

Spent the weekend in Louisville, KY to visit friends Mark and Elke and attend Mark's birthday party. They are great hosts and obviously very experienced in this custom of opening your house to various friends and colleagues. The party was great and went very late. I very much enjoyed meeting Mark's co workers and friends, and the additional company of their visiting friends from England. We ate out at a couple fo great local restaurants, and polished off the weekend with a grand buffet brunch on the riverside this morning before they dropped me back at the airport.

Thanks again for the party guys.

Tubing the Rainbow

As many times as I've kayaked this river, I've never just floated down it on a tube. Until today.

Had a great lazy day out on the river. Nice and hot and sunny, and a great group of Florida Trail'ers, led by Rodney.

The river was as clear as always, and even easier to enjoy from the comfort of a rubber tube. It was warm enough to want to be in the water a couple of times an hour, and lay out in the sun the remainder. We saw the usual wildlife, birds, fish, and a couple of otters, one of which swam by us for a while while he worked on cracking open an oyster on his belly. Of course, I didn't have the camera becasue I'd been concerned about keeping it dry. That figures.

I'll have to remember to add this to the list of things to do with out of town guests in the summer.

Little Econ Flood

When it rains, it pours.

The central florida area has received some torrential rainfall in the past couple of weeks, and the rivers are all in high flood. Ian called on Thursday with an invite to join the gang on an impromptu kayak tripon the very flooded Little Big Econ River. Usually the river is about a foot or so deep and you have to worry about sandbars, so the idea of paddling high water seemed like fun.

It was. The water was high and swift. We were up in the trees at the tops of the banks, and in a couple of places the banks were breached with water flowing both into and out of the river. All the beaches we usually pull up on for breaks were non existant. We actually ended up stopping for lunch at the Florida Trail bridge, which was impassable by water or land. By water it was a mere inch or two from the bottom of the bridge, but only in the humped center of the span. That inch or so was pulling swift and hard, and straining debris that was sucked into the flow. The trail at the ends of the bridge were several feet under water. After lunch in our boats anchored to the bridge we had to paddle quite far inland and through the old railroad bridge posts to get around and downstream.

Had a bit of excitement with a friend of Rodnay's on her first kayak trip. For some reason she wasn't wearing her life vest, but had it snapped to her boat. She flipped once, whihc for me would be more than enough incentive to put the jacket on, but still it stayed on the boat. On her second flip we were in very deep and fast water on a bend in the river with lots of overhanging branches straining the water. It was quite an effort by the entire group to get her, and her boat, out of the water,the right way up, and back on the river. Amazingly, she still didn't put the jacket on! We werealmost to the takeout point by then, so I just figured the best idea was to pull ahead and get off the water. If she had no concern or respect for the water,I no longer wanted any part of it.

As a result of grounding my boat and wading round in the high brush on the last rescue I must have upset some displaced ants. Shortly after putting back in the water I realised my boat was full of them. The first sign waswhen they swarmed around my legs and ass and started biting. Ants in the pants, and in a kayak in deep, swift water too. That was fun!

New Toy

Well, new toy, vehicle, home, storage shed, etc.

Today I bacame the new owner of a used RV. It's 25' and though it officially sleeps 6 I think it's just about big enough for me to live in. It has a tiny bathroom with shower and toilet, a seperate sink, queen bed in the rear, small kitchen with microwave, 3 burners, fridge/freezer, dinette that seats 4, and an oversize king cabover bed. The cabover is soon to become my storage closet,the bed will stay made up as a bed, and the dinette as a table. That was a basic requirement for me in the selection process. I wanted to be able to live in the RV without having to collapse a bed into table and vice versa.

I still have a couple of months to wrok, but shortly after that will set off to start seeing some of the US. The RV will literally be my mobile home.

The sun finally came out!

...on the day I flew home!

It hadn't occurred to me when I booked the flight, but today is 07/07/07. As well as the symmetry in the digits, it is also the anniversary of the London Underground bombings, the first day of the Tour de France, and there have been several car bomb and airport car attacks in the weeks I have been in England. Needless to say, once I realised all this, I expected airport security to be a little tight. It was, but knowing what to expect I made sure I was very early arriving at the airport, and carried the smallest carryon I could with as little in as possible. It was pretty smooth going through, all things considered.

Waiting outside the terminal after dropping off my rental car I felt something very strange. The sun! It'sthe first time I'd felt it during my trip I think.

But aside from the rain it was a great vacation. Spent equal time with Mum and Dad and Kathy. Really enjoyed seiing the kids again, but didn't get any photos due to the whole "busted the camera" thing. Stupid!

Whenever I spend time at home I wish I had more time to spend, but it's hard to sacrifice hiking and rafting trips to spend time in the cold and rain, even if it is with my family. I've got to figure out a way to do more of both.