Putnam
County, Florida. The next morning, I worried about traffic, but we had good luck
with back roads and paved shoulders on the busy ones. We rode first to Blue
Spring State Park, a place to see Manatees when the water gets cold. Over a
million gallons a day of water at 72 degrees flows from the spring which allows
the creatures to escape the cold. As we approached the park we saw signs warning
of possible road blockage due to traffic backed up from the park. Several other
things indicated that it gets crowded there so the "no manatees" sign
might have been good news for crowd-phobic travelers. like us. From the shore we
had a view of the St. John's river and some cormorants hanging out like 
teenagers. We parked our bikes and walked along the boardwalk which took
us along a river of clear water and through a hammock of grand tall trees. We
could see fish in the water including long nosed gar and catfish. Trees draped
with moss hung out over the water keeping it shaded and cool. We left the park and headed north trying to avoid the heavy traffic on the main road. That led us to follow a paved road that turned to sand and soon dumped us into an uncharted mess of four-wheeler trails under a power line and through a thick woods. We weren't sure where we were or in whose backyard we might suddenly find ourselves. We came out in a neighborhood and made our way to the only way north: highway 17/92. It had a shoulder much of the way and a
grocery
store and Subway for picnic supplies. We made our way west of town where we
turned on to Old New York Avenue, an inviting country road with light traffic.
Out in the middle of nowhere we passed the Deland Amtrak station which was in
use, like the one in Palatka. It made us wish we could have come by train
but the entire car trip of 934 miles would cost only about $50 for gas and the
railroad would charge more than that just for the bikes. We passed cattle and
horse ranches and came upon some beautifully landscaped homes with palms and
oaks and an abundance of azaleas. The road ran along the river and dropped us at
Hontoon Island State Park. This delightful and unique park is an island accessible
only by boat. We simply pushed our bikes out onto the dock and a pontoon 
boat
came over and gave us a ride. The ride was free and admission to the park only a
buck apiece. The boat ride was slow as the area is a no wake zone to protect
manatees. We found a picnic table on the edge of the river and began to
eat as hungry if we'd ridden 30 miles before lunch. As we ate we heard some
grunting over in the weeds and Paula said that sounded like an alligator. I got
my binoculars and scanned the water and saw one of them. It was the first time
I've ever watched an alligator at lunch.After lunch we pedaled some of the miles of sodden trails going to the far end of the island. At
one
point we were very close by boat to Blue Spring where we'd been a long
bike ride earlier. The trail took us to a pretty spot on a tributary of the
river with lots of green vegetation. (We
thought it pretty but has since learned that it is called water lettuce and is a
noxious pest that can grow so thick as to close waters to boats and fishing.) We
enjoyed a wonderful feeling of solitude. On the way back we startled an
armadillo, the first Paula had ever seen. I tried to get a picture of it, but
they move a lot faster than they look capable of. We felt tired after pedaling
on the soft trails but once we got back on the tarmac we revived and cruised
easily the last of our 58 miles back to our hotel. We passed Canal Street on the
way. It's an inviting area of restaurants and shops and we later went back to
Tony's New York Style Pizza for dinner. 
And then we went to New Smyrna Beach.