Day 12 - Bike paths, quiet country roads, and real hills.

Today's ride was the highlight of the trip so far. Beautify lakes, lush vegetation, quiet roads, nice towns, and a welcoming warm showers host at the end.

Lake Lousia State Park was very nice as far as parks go. Lots of room, spread out campsites, and great showers. It's 3 miles in from the highway though mostly open pine forest. A little hilly but very plesant. Robert got out a little before I did which was about 9.

Quickly turned of the highway on Lake Louisa road and thats where the real beauty began. Georgeous lake side houses with hugh shade trees (oaks with lots of spanish moss) and lovely landscaping. Ths continued until the town of Clermont where I got on a bike path. The route is pretty clear but I managed to get lost twice, and both times was rescuded by a rider on a trike. Many riders on the bike path which goes for at least 20 miles and has other branches conecting to it. After the bike path it was more quiet lakeside roads, but now the homes were older and smaller, still with lots of large oaks providing shade.

Mount Dora is a hoping town with a lot of history, and a lot of tourist oriented shops and antique stores. There is a large artist prescence which is very aparent by the store fronts and decorations. I rode around a bunch of times trying to find a grocery store and eventually had to ride well out of my way to find one. Did not want to show up at my Warm Showers host empty handed.

Mike and Lucia are very gracious hosts and are preparing to ride the TransAm this summer. So we had lots to talk about. They seem to host a lot of the riders on the Florida Connector route. They have a website at http://twotravelingtrikes.com/