It rained overnight and a front passed through, so today was much cooler and drier than yesterday. The perfect day for a ride. Today's destination is Lake Louisa State Park, nearly 40 miles by my routing for the bike. I was going to wend my way through the back roads of Apopka, over a county road to Winter Garden and then via more county and back roads to the park.
View Wekiwa Springs to Lake Louisa in a larger map
Ellen's route in Speedy was to be much simpler: onto the nearby toll highway and Interstate, get off at Rt. 50, take a left at US 27. The park entrance was couple of miles south on 27. All went well, aside from some heavy traffic, until she got to the entrance for Rt. 27 and it was no longer there, having been torn up for reconstruction. Ellen continued on 50 until she could turn off onto a side street and re-evaluate the situation. The Zumo was no help. No matter what she did, it kept telling her to go back to 27.
Time to call tech support. He was only about 20 miles away on a county road, luckily phone service was good. Looking at maps on the eTrex and Zumo, we were able to determine that she could continue south on the road she was on, until it reached a lake, Lake Minnehaha (really), turn left onto Lakeshore Drive, then left again a mile or so further onto Lake Louisa Road (also Rt. 27), which went almost to the entrance to the park. Interesting ride number one.
Even considering Ellen's detour, my ride was about three hours longer. It started by zigzagging through some of the suburban neighborhoods of Apopka, including some nice older areas. The first one I passed through had mostly small ranches from 50s or 60s with lush yards and gardens on shady streets. After a stretch which took me past a 19th century cemetery, I went through a neighborhood of small bungalows which must have dated to the 70s or 80s as they were each fronted with two-car garages making up most of the width of the house.
After that it was out of town along a county road that wiggled southwesterly back and forth under the toll road, past plant nurseries and occasional sub-divisons and then into Winter Garden. The road came into town through an industrial area. As soon as it neared the town itself, a bike path appeared, so I hopped on that. The path went straight into the center of town. The old center of Winter Garden has been made pedestrian and bicycle friendly, with lots of small shops along the main road. The road itself has wide sidewalks, a park-like median strip down the center and a brick roadway on each side of the median. The bike path ran down the median strip through the town center, then went on well away from the main road as it headed west out of town.
I had to abandon the bike path not far from downtown as it went northwest and I was going southwest. It was onto the main street and then south on another county road. This one passed through some new giant subdivisons with large houses, all packed together.
These were big-box houses, devoid of any charm, just stucco boxes with lots of volume and almost no windows on the back and sides. But then again, what was there to look at ... your neighbor's wall? It may have been an efficient use of land but what a waste of space. The houses were being sold in "the low 200s" and they must have been about 4,000 square feet. A sign advertising the homes said $57 per square foot "granite included". (For reference, when I recently researched house construction, the price for an Ecologic home was $160 per square foot, and that was considered to be very economical.) I can only imagine that the subdivision entrance, with its stone walls and divided roads with palms down middle, was better constructed than the houses. I can't imagine the cost of cooling one of these boxes in the summer.
There seemed to be a dozen of these subdivisons, completed, being built out or just starting construction, along this strip of road in the middle of farmland, enough that I passed a mall with a Publix supermarket, Walgreens, a bank and other stores and restaurants, which could only have been built for these new sub-divisons. Who lives in them?
After this it was back into the open countryside with a rolling road along a series of small hills. It certainly wasn't a flat ride. While I was plugging along going up one of these hills, I met the first bicycle tourists of the trip. The couple was coming down the hill on the opposite side, so we only exchanged the briefest of greetings. The woman who was leading the descent was riding a bike with just a handlebar bag and a tail bag, much like my setup for this trip. The man following her had handlebar bag, tail bag, panniers front and rear and was towing BOB trailer with two large dry bags lashed onto it. When I later described this to Ellen, she wanted to know how she could get that contract.
I was now into the final 10 miles of the ride and turned onto a side road that almost went straight to the park, except to a four mile U-shaped section at the end. I just assumed this was some obstacle that had to be routed around. It was an ordinary two-lane paved road with no traffic. It ran through open farmland where I saw another flock of Sandhill Cranes and a couple of herds of cattle. There were also large orange groves appearing. I'd passed several small ones earlier along the way.
At about halfway down the road, it had a sharp curve where I couldn't see the road ahead. As I went around the curve, there was a sign that said I was now entering Lake County ... and the road turned to dirt as far as the eye could see. Just a dirt road, I thought. But it wasn't. It was a sand road. I suppose that shouldn't be unexpected as the state seems to be made of sand. It was a fine road for cars and trucks as the base was hard-packed, but there was a film of loose sand on top, sometimes 2-3 inches of it. Fine if you are a car not so fine if you are a bike with 34 mm (road) tires.
There really was no option other than to continue down the road. Any detour would mean turning around and going at least 20 miles out of the way. I was only about seven miles from the park. It was tough going, particularly on the uphills and curves, where the sand had been loosened by other vehicles and I had to walk up several. Finally I crested a hill and below me was a lake, US 27 and the park directly across from me. I just had to turn right at bottom of the hill and ride a four-mile U and I'd be there.
I slowly went down and around the curve, then the road went up and it was very sandy. I got about halfway up the hill before it became too soft to ride, another walk. At the top I could see that the road went downhill and then back up, over and over, probably until it turned left and then came back the opposite way. This did not look promising. I was in the middle of huge orange groves on both sides of the road and there was no traffic.
About halfway up the second hill, it dawned on me that the orange grove on my left probably went all the way to the road coming back. It was what this road was circling around. I continued on to the next gate, went through the gate and rode up a grove rode, which although sandy, was somewhat grassy. Sure enough, at the top was the road going the other way. There were also several large semi-trailers full of just picked oranges, so this must be an active part of the grove. The road at the top went right through the middle of the grove.
I headed south again. The road wasn't any firmer, but was mostly downhill. Soon I spotted the lake I'd seen earlier and knew US 27 was close. On the way down, I also noticed at least two other grove roads that, had I been more perceptive earlier, would have saved me a lot of time and effort. Finally, the road curved west and came out onto US 27. It is a four-lane highway with a wide median strip, lots of traffic and has actual exits and entrances in some places. Here was this little dirt road popping out directly onto it.
It also has a good shoulder and the exit to the park, a turning lane across the median strip, was only about 2,000 yards away. I was quickly at the gate. Once again, the ranger was expecting me, the guy on a bike with a white beard. Once again, the campground was three miles into the park. But it was paved, had views and a nice ride. I was only an hour late for lunch.
A few of photos today
View Wekiwa Springs to Lake Louisa in a larger map
Ellen's route in Speedy was to be much simpler: onto the nearby toll highway and Interstate, get off at Rt. 50, take a left at US 27. The park entrance was couple of miles south on 27. All went well, aside from some heavy traffic, until she got to the entrance for Rt. 27 and it was no longer there, having been torn up for reconstruction. Ellen continued on 50 until she could turn off onto a side street and re-evaluate the situation. The Zumo was no help. No matter what she did, it kept telling her to go back to 27.
Time to call tech support. He was only about 20 miles away on a county road, luckily phone service was good. Looking at maps on the eTrex and Zumo, we were able to determine that she could continue south on the road she was on, until it reached a lake, Lake Minnehaha (really), turn left onto Lakeshore Drive, then left again a mile or so further onto Lake Louisa Road (also Rt. 27), which went almost to the entrance to the park. Interesting ride number one.
Even considering Ellen's detour, my ride was about three hours longer. It started by zigzagging through some of the suburban neighborhoods of Apopka, including some nice older areas. The first one I passed through had mostly small ranches from 50s or 60s with lush yards and gardens on shady streets. After a stretch which took me past a 19th century cemetery, I went through a neighborhood of small bungalows which must have dated to the 70s or 80s as they were each fronted with two-car garages making up most of the width of the house.
After that it was out of town along a county road that wiggled southwesterly back and forth under the toll road, past plant nurseries and occasional sub-divisons and then into Winter Garden. The road came into town through an industrial area. As soon as it neared the town itself, a bike path appeared, so I hopped on that. The path went straight into the center of town. The old center of Winter Garden has been made pedestrian and bicycle friendly, with lots of small shops along the main road. The road itself has wide sidewalks, a park-like median strip down the center and a brick roadway on each side of the median. The bike path ran down the median strip through the town center, then went on well away from the main road as it headed west out of town.
I had to abandon the bike path not far from downtown as it went northwest and I was going southwest. It was onto the main street and then south on another county road. This one passed through some new giant subdivisons with large houses, all packed together.
These were big-box houses, devoid of any charm, just stucco boxes with lots of volume and almost no windows on the back and sides. But then again, what was there to look at ... your neighbor's wall? It may have been an efficient use of land but what a waste of space. The houses were being sold in "the low 200s" and they must have been about 4,000 square feet. A sign advertising the homes said $57 per square foot "granite included". (For reference, when I recently researched house construction, the price for an Ecologic home was $160 per square foot, and that was considered to be very economical.) I can only imagine that the subdivision entrance, with its stone walls and divided roads with palms down middle, was better constructed than the houses. I can't imagine the cost of cooling one of these boxes in the summer.
There seemed to be a dozen of these subdivisons, completed, being built out or just starting construction, along this strip of road in the middle of farmland, enough that I passed a mall with a Publix supermarket, Walgreens, a bank and other stores and restaurants, which could only have been built for these new sub-divisons. Who lives in them?
After this it was back into the open countryside with a rolling road along a series of small hills. It certainly wasn't a flat ride. While I was plugging along going up one of these hills, I met the first bicycle tourists of the trip. The couple was coming down the hill on the opposite side, so we only exchanged the briefest of greetings. The woman who was leading the descent was riding a bike with just a handlebar bag and a tail bag, much like my setup for this trip. The man following her had handlebar bag, tail bag, panniers front and rear and was towing BOB trailer with two large dry bags lashed onto it. When I later described this to Ellen, she wanted to know how she could get that contract.
I was now into the final 10 miles of the ride and turned onto a side road that almost went straight to the park, except to a four mile U-shaped section at the end. I just assumed this was some obstacle that had to be routed around. It was an ordinary two-lane paved road with no traffic. It ran through open farmland where I saw another flock of Sandhill Cranes and a couple of herds of cattle. There were also large orange groves appearing. I'd passed several small ones earlier along the way.
At about halfway down the road, it had a sharp curve where I couldn't see the road ahead. As I went around the curve, there was a sign that said I was now entering Lake County ... and the road turned to dirt as far as the eye could see. Just a dirt road, I thought. But it wasn't. It was a sand road. I suppose that shouldn't be unexpected as the state seems to be made of sand. It was a fine road for cars and trucks as the base was hard-packed, but there was a film of loose sand on top, sometimes 2-3 inches of it. Fine if you are a car not so fine if you are a bike with 34 mm (road) tires.
There really was no option other than to continue down the road. Any detour would mean turning around and going at least 20 miles out of the way. I was only about seven miles from the park. It was tough going, particularly on the uphills and curves, where the sand had been loosened by other vehicles and I had to walk up several. Finally I crested a hill and below me was a lake, US 27 and the park directly across from me. I just had to turn right at bottom of the hill and ride a four-mile U and I'd be there.
I slowly went down and around the curve, then the road went up and it was very sandy. I got about halfway up the hill before it became too soft to ride, another walk. At the top I could see that the road went downhill and then back up, over and over, probably until it turned left and then came back the opposite way. This did not look promising. I was in the middle of huge orange groves on both sides of the road and there was no traffic.
About halfway up the second hill, it dawned on me that the orange grove on my left probably went all the way to the road coming back. It was what this road was circling around. I continued on to the next gate, went through the gate and rode up a grove rode, which although sandy, was somewhat grassy. Sure enough, at the top was the road going the other way. There were also several large semi-trailers full of just picked oranges, so this must be an active part of the grove. The road at the top went right through the middle of the grove.
I headed south again. The road wasn't any firmer, but was mostly downhill. Soon I spotted the lake I'd seen earlier and knew US 27 was close. On the way down, I also noticed at least two other grove roads that, had I been more perceptive earlier, would have saved me a lot of time and effort. Finally, the road curved west and came out onto US 27. It is a four-lane highway with a wide median strip, lots of traffic and has actual exits and entrances in some places. Here was this little dirt road popping out directly onto it.
It also has a good shoulder and the exit to the park, a turning lane across the median strip, was only about 2,000 yards away. I was quickly at the gate. Once again, the ranger was expecting me, the guy on a bike with a white beard. Once again, the campground was three miles into the park. But it was paved, had views and a nice ride. I was only an hour late for lunch.
A few of photos today
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