Another foggy and windy dawn. It had rained overnight, so our sandy campsite was still wet. It is a challenge to avoid tracking sand into Speedy.
After coffee, Ellen decided to walk the campground road, having not done a decent morning walk since Fort Clinch, while I checked the weather forecast and caught up on email (primarily the morning selection from Go Comics). She was back before I finished the comics. It turns out the road is quite short and the damp, dripping, wooded nature trail was a little too uninviting for an early morning walk.
Since the forecast was most likely rain-free, I decided to take a bike ride. The route was a loop: south on A1A to Ormand Beach; west across the Intra-coastal Waterway; north along the secondary roads on the other side to Flagler Beach; returning across the waterway; finally south on A1A back to Gamble Rodgers—about 36 miles in all. The winds were still northerly and brisk so this meant nearly half the ride would be directly into the wind...my favorite. Hey, what's the challenge of coasting downwind?
I figured that it wouldn't be too bad. It is 11 miles to Ormand Beach. That would be downwind, so I'd still be fresh when I turned around, then it would be upwind for about 16 miles, but the road curves so it shouldn't all be directly into the wind. From Flagler Beach, it would be a three mile coast back to Speedy.
It went almost to plan. The ride to Ormand Beach was fast. I was going over 20 mph, about twice as fast as my normal speed and was so warm that I had to take off a layer. The road was straight down the coast and pretty featureless.
When I turned back on the other side, it was surprising how windy it was. It looked like it was not going to be pleasant. I had to put that extra layer back on. North Beach St., which ran along the waterway was quite exposed, had no shoulder and was rather busy. I ducked down an inland side street and was able to go a couple of miles on residential streets, which were a little more sheltered and traffic-free. By the time I had to come back out onto N. Beach, it had veered away from the waterway and was not as open. When I reached the border of Tomoka State Park, things changed.
The road runs right through the park, then through what seems to be state forest land and Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park. In this section, the forest comes right up to the road and even overhangs it in some places. This cut the wind considerably.
I stopped into Tomoka State park and chatted a bit with the ranger in the entry office. It has a fairly large campground in a live oak hammock. It is often the alternative to Gamble Rogers, which is small and almost always full. Local campers also tend to move to Tomoka when the the weather along the beach is bad (like now?). Like most Florida parks, the campground is always fully-booked on weekends. It is a pretty good-sized park, with trails and 165 recorded species of birds.
It was back on the road. On the way to Bulow Plantation Ruins Historical State Park, I passed the ruins of a large stone building. It was the Dummett Sugar Mill and Rum Factory.
It looked pretty burnt out, so I looked up the story when I got back. It is part of Bulow Creek State Park. I was hoping for something like the stills exploding, but it was destroyed by the Seminoles during the second Seminole War in 1836.
Continuing along the road, now called the Old Dixie Highway, I reached Bulow Plantation Ruins Historical State Park, which seems to be part of Bulow Creek State Park?? It is the site, as you would expect, of the Bulow Plantation, a 2,200 acre sugar plantation from the early part of the 19th century. Its buildings were also destroyed and burnt by the Seminoles in 1836. The park does not have any facilities beyond a set of restrooms, but does have miles of hiking and biking trails. When you enter the park, the parking lot is at a lawn on which stands the Fairchild Oak.
This is a live oak, 300-500 years old, purported to be the largest in the south. It is definitely a survivor as live oaks were extensively timbered as they were an excellent wood for the curved knees and braces for wooden sailing vessels. The USS Constitution, the Navy's oldest vessel was built with live oak.
Across from the entrance to the park, was the entrance to Halifax Plantation. There was actually an historic Halifax Plantation, but this wasn't it. This one is a large housing development with a thousand homes, a golf course and such. A model home was open in a new subdivision, so I stopped in. Interesting layout, small lots and many rules. Not my taste (nor Ellen's) and it is in Florida—the cold part, it seems.
Back on the road, the route turned east onto Boardman Lane into dense woods through the Bulow Creek Park and over Bulow Creek and the Bulow Creek Marsh. It looks like good birding in this area. At the end of Boardman Lane was the final turn north and the last five miles to windward. It all turned to custard. Rather than riding in the woods, the John Anderson Highway is a two lane road with gras shoulders which were also each two lanes wide. I was now in a six lane wind tunnel and had already ridden nearly 30 miles. It was a long last slog. No 20 mph riding here, more like 7-8 mph on a flat road.
After what seemed an interminable ride, I reached Rt 100 and the Flagler Beach Publix Market. I stopped for a couple of essentials—milk and biscotti. A nice hot cafe latte would be needed when I got back to Speedy. It was back over the Intracoastal Waterway and a quick downwind jaunt to Speedy and Ellen.
Ellen took a more laid-back approach to the day. With the damp and cold wind, it seemed prudent to just stay inside Speedy, catch up on email, post the previous few days of bird sitings to eBird, read a trashy novel and generally relax in the warmth of our little electric heater.
A challenging ride and a relaxing day—a pretty good combination.
While I was making coffee, Ellen looked up through Speedy's skylight windows just as a hawk flew right over. She looked out the door and there it was, perched on a TV antenna in the next site. We had some really good looks at our first Red-shouldered hawk of the year.
It is supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow, but showers are predicted. We have one more night here at Gamble Rodgers and head further south on Friday. The weather is supposed to improve and be dry and sunny for the next week...maybe even a little warmer.
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