We took backroads to Crystal River, Florida. It is the last place we would stay until we arrived in Sarasota. Crystal River became a destination when we planned our next rails-to-trails ride in Florida: the Withlacoochee Trail.
Continue reading Stop number 12 Tallahassee, Florida to Crystal River, Florida: 3421 Miles
Fortunately for me, it was a relatively short trip to Tallahassee. Our plan was to ride the Tallahassee-St. Marks trail.
Continue reading Stop number 11: Destin, Florida to Tallahassee, Florida: 3247 Miles
Ok, how do we get to Destin, either back through Mississippi or through Alabama? We decided to go through Alabama and stop for breakfast in downtown Birmingham.
Continue reading Stop Number 10: Oxford, Mississippi to Destin, Florida 3081 miles
We had a great time riding the Longleaf Trace. We decided we would ride the Tanglefoot trail in Northern Mississippi. Needless to say, it was in the middle of nowhere so we planned various places to stay (and there weren’t many) at the trail. Then came weather. The forecast called for rain for a couple of days so we decided to go to Oxford, Mississippi, home of Ole Miss. The truth of it is that Oxford is a wonderful town. You almost don’t know you are in Mississippi. What a difference from Hattiesburg where there was every crummy chain restaurant that exists. Oxford has so many good restaurants and places to see considering how small it is. We really had a good time.
Continue reading Stop Number 9: Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Oxford Mississippi 2639 miles
Why on earth would we drive to Mississippi? We planned to ride another famous bike trail: the Longleaf Trace. It was an exciting to have the time to just go there.
As we found out, Sunday is definitely not the day to drive into Mississippi. Basically, it closes on that day. The entire state basically shuts down with nothing to do except find the hotel and see which McDonalds or Hooter’s is open so we could get something to eat. We did find every fast food or pseudo fast food restaurant that exists is in Hattiesburg. We also found a couple of local gems along the way.
Continue reading Stop number 8: Covington, Louisiana to Hattiesburg, Mississippi 2639 miles
We are finally getting to one of the famous rail to trail biking destinations: The Tammany Trace! We were so excited and hopeful it wouldn’t rain. It was cloudy but beautiful .
The Tammany Trace is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. It is a beautiful trail going through five St. Tammany Parish (counties to us) communities. The trail is 27.5-miles with just beautiful views of woods and wetlands and runs through wonderful little towns like Covington, Abita Springs and Mandeville.
Continue reading Stop number 7: New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana 2302 Miles
Somewhere along the way, we decided to have an extended stay in New Orleans and ride some of the trails around the city. We were so excited to really spend time in that city. I have been there many times for work but never had the opportunity to explore the different areas of this colorful city. We were always working and partying (after work, of course) in the French Quarter so who knew there was more? As it turns out there is lots more to the city than just the French Quarter (but I love it anyway).
Continue reading Stop number 6: The Woodlands, Texas to New Orleans, La. 2261 miles
Initial plan was to ride the bike trails in Austin and San Antonio. Unfortunately, we finally ran into rain. We haven’t seen rain in 14 years so it was a bit of a shock to our systems. We decided to bag those towns and drive directly to The Woodlands (just outside of Houston). We were so happy to visit Mike’s family (Kathy and Peter Adey) in their beautiful home. For the first time in a couple of days, we were back in civilization again. By this time, the car was in serious need of cleaning plus it needed an oil change. We were able to take care of those small things before going on the road again. Plus, after riding in the car for a couple of weeks, we needed a break.
Continue reading Stop number 5: The Woodlands, Texas (1886 miles)
In our original plan, we were going to visit some close friends in Taos, New Mexico, but winter reared its ugly head and it was snowing. We really weren’t prepared for snow so we decided to skip Taos and drive across Texas.
The good thing about this part of our trip was that it was only two hours away from Scottsdale, the not so good thing was we were on our way to Tucson. We weren’t in California anymore.
Continue reading Stop three on our trip across the US, Tucson, Arizona (807 miles)
