Perry to High Springs

What fools we mortals be, to be out biking on asphalt in the hot afternoon sun.  Even the animals know to relax in the shade.  I sought out and savored each possible bit of shade, but there was little of it.  Having said all that, the day's 77.4 mi ride was much more varied and interesting than the previous day's ride. We started early and had some cloud cover in the morning.  We passed by cattle ranches, dairy and poultry farms, tree farms and logging trucks. In the afternoon we stopped at the Ichetucknee Springs State Park, which was a nice break.  I just waded up to my knees in one of the springs, but several of the riders went swimming to cool off.

The best part of the ride was the wildflower display along the roadsides, mostly a variety of pinks (sweet williams?)--pink, red, lavender, and white--and coreopsis for miles and miles. Undoubtedly they were planted by the highway department, but they had spread into nearby lawns, fields, and woods. Other flowers that I have mentioned before were sprinkled among them, including a lovely blue flower which I have tentatively identified as a wild petunia. I also saw 2 lovely flowers not seen before.  One a pink frilly round (3/4 in diameter) flower (mimosa macrophyla, I think) so delicate and yet thriving in the roadside environment.  The other was a white prickly poppy, the bloom 2-3 inches wide with a yellow center and the foliage was shades of green and white.  I also spied a gopher turtle trying to cross the road in front of me, so I stopped and carried him (her?) across the road.  There was a fair amount of traffic and I was afraid that at its slow pace it might become road kill.

A correction to the Apr 23 blog: I said there were cornflowers, which was not the case.  Cornflowers are blue and these flowers, coltsfoot, are yellow.  Don't know where my head was that day.