Day 29, Aug. 1-High Springs, FL (O’Leno State Park) to Hawthorne, FL

58.79 miles. N29.35 X W82.05

We left a beautiful, but dripping campground and biked into High Springs, FL and to a restaurant for breakfast. We had a variety of roads and pathways to bike on today. We were briefly on state roads, but mostly on county roads going into Gainsville. Once we made it to Gainsville, as a university town, we found bike lanes on almost all the roads we traveled in the city. We also biked about 2 or 3 miles on the Gainsville-Waldo Rd. Greenway…this led us to the Gainsville-Hawthorne Greenway that would take us 16 miles into Hawthorne via this rails-to-trails conversion. This greenway was pristine. It was paved and in excellent condition. The trail was well marked and made for a very pleasant ride. We did encounter rain about half way across the greenway, but just enough to cause us to put everything under cover. It never rained seriously and we didn’t get soaked. It was just enough to cool us off and cover our bikes with sand…again. We biked on to Hawthorne and stopped at Sonny’s for supper. We had a called the Ranch Motel and Campground earlier and were told that there would be no problem getting a room. With the rain and the threat of more, we decided to spend the night in one of the inexpensive motel rooms. Tomorrow is St. Augustine!

Question of the Day:

Which university, which has won titles in football and basketball this season, is located in Gainsville?