Spring Break 2022 Bike Tour Day 3 - Gainesville to Cross City

 It was another super nice day of riding. 53 flat miles, tailwinds the whole way, nice roads, little traffic, and 20 miles of rail trail at the end.

Gainesville has a fantastic bike trail network. We had no problem getting around town. Most of it was riding several miles through the massive campus of the University of Florida. Max says there is no way he is going to college in Florida. 

Here is the scenic back road we rode for 7 miles outside of Gainesville. It was like this the whole way.

Our biggest challenge of the day was food. Not many things are open on Mondays, especially in rural areas.

Here is a sad young man waiting for his Hungry Howie pizza at the Marathon gas station in Trenton, Florida. 

Twenty miles later, we were at our finish town of Cross City. Since it was barely after 2:00, we got some ice cream at the DQ, and sat around eating it for awhile.

Our lodging for the nigh was an actual lodge. The Putnam Lodge, which was built 100 years ago by lumber barons.

This place was really cool. It's a beautiful historic building with a restaurant (not open on Mondays, of course), and a huge yard with gardens out back.

Even though the restaurant was not open, they did make me a nice Bloody Mary to replenish my electrolytes.

I sat in the garden, and made friends.

And I visited with the peacocks and chickens wandering about.

Debra had nothing to do with choosing this place. She is in Tallahassee, and we have been left to our own devices. The lodge choice does not reflect any brilliance on my part though, there is only one other choice, and this one is across the street from a restaurant which is open, and the other one is by McDonalds.

So we walked across the street for dinner to the Cypress Inn Restaurant, which was every bit as bad as every other restaurant in Florida. Ribeyes ordered medium rare and served well done. Max said his pizza at the gas station was much better. We have survived the Monday Food Desert though.

Here is the Strava track.