October 10, 2015
Miles today: 66.5
Total Miles So Far: 332.0
I do no sleep well at the DeLand Country Inn. There is no reason, but I toss and turn most of the night. Perhaps I am worrying about today’s ride – I know it will be a long day. I’ve got at least 65 miles to go.
Whatever the reason, I find myself up at 4:30 AM packing up my trike and heading into DeLand to find an early breakfast.
Big Rig Diner
I use my phone to find local restaurants for breakfast. I find the Big Rig Diner – open 24 hours. Perfect. It’s about 2 miles away and I can get there without riding on any big roads.
I guess this place is exactly what you would expect from a 24 hour breakfast diner. I order scrambled eggs and bacon, with OJ and an English muffin. There’s really nothing they could screw up in that order, so the food is OK. The service is prompt. There are a couple of locals in one corner. I’m not sure why they are there at 5:00 on a Saturday morning, but they are probably wondering the same about me.
Riding In The Dark
Breakfast doesn’t last long, and before very long I find myself ready to head out. There is still at least an hour before sunrise. Luckily, the first 5-6 miles of my ride takes me along Grand Avenue north out of DeLand. There is a nice wide bike trail that runs along Grand Avenue, so riding this stretch in the dark will be safe enough.
I love riding in the dark. My headlight casts a nice puddle of light ahead of me, my tail light lights me up from behind. I ride in my own little bubble of light through the darkness. It’s very quiet – no people, no cars, not many lights – just me, the cool morning air, my trike and the dark road.
For a brief stretch the trail disappears, and I ride the road for a mile or so. It works out OK, as not a single car passes me on that stretch. The trail starts up again on the other side of the road and continues into the DeLeon Springs State Park. I’m told this is a fun park to visit. The 625 acre park has a working spring producing 19 million gallons of water a day at 72 degrees year-round. There is a swimming area. Snorkeling is a popular activity. 
It’s only barely getting light when I arrive, and I have a long way still to ride today, so I don’t stop in. Instead I turn on Volusia County Road 3
Volusia County Road 3 – DeLeon Springs to Seville
County Road 3 runs parallel to the 17 freeway through Barberville. It is a perfect cycling road! Flat, flat, flat – I’m back in the Florida Coastal Plain again. Completely quiet – I don’t think there are more than 3 -4 cars for the entire 10-11 miles I spend on this road. Eventually, CR 3 merges into 17. I ride on a nice wide shoulder for a mile or so, to the town of Seville. A convenience store beacons me inside for an orange juice and my morning call to Nancy.
Seville seems like quiet place. The census sign says the population is 614. Looking an my route map, it seems this is the largest town I’m going to see for the next 30 miles or so.
305 & 304 – Cody’s Corner, Dupont, Korona
From Seville I turn east. For 20 miles I run east on country road 305, then county road 304. The are indistinguishable from each other except for the road signs. A few farms, lots of cattle, cows and horses. Not much else to see. Ostensibly there are towns that I pass through – I don’t notice them if there are. No traffic lights, no side streets, just an occasional building.
Somewhere along the way I cross the border between Volusia County and Flagler County.
The cycling is terrific. Flat, straight, empty. The weather is perfect – cool, slightly overcast, a gentle breeze. But honestly, the scenery through here is a little dull – there just isn’t much to look at but fields. I’d offer more photos, but they are just as dull as the scenery was.
County Road 304 eventually leads me into DuPont – where there is another convenience store where I stop for chocolate milk.
Things are getting exciting now! I’m only about 10 miles or so from the beach. Eagerly I continue on.
Bulow Creek State Park
The route takes me out The Old Dixie Highway, across Interstate 95 and into the Bulow Creek State Park. Wow – it’s it really pretty in here!
The park is huge – over 5600 acres. A lot of the park is a protected wetlands – canoeing and kayaking are obviously very popular activities. The park is also the site of several former plantations. Eleven known plantation sites are found in this park. The Dummett Mill Ruins, which is seen from Old Dixie Highway and the nearby Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park, are the most notable sites. British noblemen or military officers that received land grants for their service owned these plantations. They produced rice, cotton, sugar cane and indigo. The sugar cane was processed in mills and yielded molasses and sugar.
The Dummett Mill was also used to produce rum. The mill was in operation from the 1820s until 1836 when it was destroyed during the Second Seminole War.
MS Ride
As I ride into and through the Bulow Creek Park I start to notice cyclists. Lots of cyclists. Cyclists riding in big pace lines. Dozens. Many Dozens. Hundreds. What the heck is going on here?
Turns out that today is the first day of the annual Bike MS: PGA TOUR Cycle to the Shore 2015. This is only one of hundreds of MS rides that are sponsored each year across the US to raise money for multiple sclerosis research. I have participated in a few of these rides myself, and many of my friends and cycling buddies do as well. If a cyclist asks you for support doing one of these rides, please consider giving a donation. It’s a great cause, and the folks who plan and organize these rides work incredibly hard to make them fun and safe for everybody involved.
This particular ride is a two-day event , with riders going along more-or-less the same route I will be riding. I guess I’m going to have a lot of company for the next 50-60 miles!
The Beach and Highway A1A
The ride through Bulow Creek State Park terminates on Ocean Shore Blvd. (Highway A1A) in Flagler Beach. And all of a sudden, really before I have time to think about it, the ocean is in front of me!
Wow – I made it! I rode my trike all the way across Florida! In front of me is the Atlantic Ocean. I cannot remember the last time I saw the Atlantic Ocean – but it has been many years.
Ocean Shore Blvd. is a little busy, but it has a nice bike lane. The only problem is that there are thousands of cyclists trying to use the bike lane, and they are all faster than me. Many of them are spandex-clad roadies, riding in big pace lines, looking to make maximum speed. To them, I am a lumbering tortoise taking up their lane. They either need to pass me – by pulling into the traffic lane – or they need to slow down behind me. Neither is a great option.
Fortunately, I am getting hungry. And I spot a likely looking spot for lunch just ahead on the side of the road. I pull off the road and let the masses of riders go on by.
The Turtle Shack
The Turtle Shack Cafe is a little beach cafe in Flagler Beach. It is truly a shack, with cobbled together walls and plastic windows, wood tables and benches. It’s a popular spot – very busy and crowded on the Saturday afternoon when I walked in. I had to wait a few minutes for a table, but was eventually seated.
The reviews of this place all praise the burgers. I saw a lot of people eating burgers and they did look both tasty and gigantic. I was looking for fish however (I just got to the ocean!). I tried the chowder, and the Mahi tacos. Both were good – not great. Service was pretty slow – but the place was really crowded.
As far as beach burger bars goes – this place seems pretty typical. It’s on the west side of A1A, but does have a view of the ocean across the street. I thought it was kind of expensive for what it was – over $30 for soup and tacos – but it’s a tourist place.
It does not seem like there are many other choices along that stretch of road. If there were, I’d probably give them a try. But as it is, if I stay if Flagler Beach again, I will likely return to the Turtle Shack.
Just south from The Turtle Shack is The Gamble Rodgers State Park. I am intending to camp here tonight, but when I arrive they tell me the campground if full. I had not planned on thousands of MS riders sharing the weekend with me – and they have snatched up all the available camping sites at the park.
Beverly Beach Camp Ground
The trusty smart phone is out again, and I am able to find a camp site up the road just a few miles – the Beverly Beach Camptown RV Resort. I call, and they tell me I can camp there tonight.
It’s about 5-6 miles up the A1A to Beverly Beach. I arrive at the campground and check in. They want to charge me $65+tax to put up a tent for the night! That is just outrageous! Sadly, I don’t have any choice – I’ve seen a few motels and hotels, but most are showing ‘No Vacancy’ signs, and there are no other campgrounds close by. I’m already into this day 65 miles, and I don’t want to ride another 20+miles to find an alternative place to stay. But these folks are definitely taking advantage of my situation, and I let them know I’m not very happy about it.
Grudgingly, I accept their site and let them check me in. They do direct me to a very nice spot – grassy and right next to the beach. I quickly get my campsite set up, then head to the beach for a cooling dip in the ocean. I play in the surf for a little while, then buy a beer at the camp store. I sit in the shade, enjoy my cold beer, and read for an hour or so.
As evening falls, I walk around the place and look at some of the RV’s that have parked here. Why do they call this camping? People pull these palatial RV’s into little tiny parking spots. The hook up sewer, electric and water. Turn on the AC, hook up to satellite TV, cook dinner in their complete kitchens and generally live just like they would in a house. Some of the vehicles even have screened in porches and big decks! It doesn’t seem bad exactly, but it sure isn’t ‘camping’.
Tomorrow I Will See Nancy!
I eat some left-over fruit and begin to make plans for tomorrow. It’s a short ride to St. Augustine, where I’ll be reunited with Nancy at a lovely hotel in the historic down town district. I love doing these trike tours, but I really hate being away from Nancy and getting to share my life with her. Tomorrow we will be together again. I can hardly wait!
As darkness falls, and with tomorrow’s ride on my mind, I crawl into the tent and fall asleep to the sound of the surf lapping gently on the beach below………
Campus Interruptus
I am sleeping very well. It had been a long ride and I am tired. About 1:00 in the morning I wake to what sounds like rain falling on the tent. That’s odd – there was no rain in the forecast. Odder still, this is not just a light rain, it sounds like a torrential rain driven by gale force winds against the sides of the tent. Yikes!
As I begin to wake up, I notice the sound is strangely rhythmic – lashing against the tent every 15-20 seconds or so. Finally I realize what is happening. The sprinklers are on! Heavy duty sprinklers are dousing every inch of the lawn on which I have my tent set up!
Luckily, the tent is waterproof and I stay dry inside. But I have left the vestibule open to enjoy the cool breeze from the ocean, and my equipment and bags are getting soaked. So is the trike, which sits nearby.
I dig through my stuff. In my garbage bag I have an empty OJ bottle and an empty beer can. I get up, go outside, and put the bottle and beer can over a couple of the sprinkler heads. A couple of the other heads I can redirect, away from my campsite and out to the parking lot behind me. Some large rocks from a nearby dumpster I lay on top of other heads to keep them below the ground. That manages to stop the water from pouring all over my tent and my things. However, I am completely soaked. I change into some dry cloths, hang my wet stuff outside, and crawl back into bed.
But the night is basically ruined. I sleep a bit more, but not much. I patiently wait until dawn so I can get away from this awful place………