Day 3: To O'Leno State Park
Wednesday February 3, 2010, 74 miles (119 km) - Total so far: 148 miles (238 km)
Today was awesome! Woke up this morning bright and early, before the sun was up. It was very chilly. Forecast looked good so we headed out by 8:30 hoping to get here to camp for the night.
We rode from Melrose into Hawthorne, where the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail starts. Man, I wish I knew where some trails like this were in NJ. It was about 16 miles of paved pathway, winding through trees, over creeks. And it was flat, for the first 12 miles. When we started getting to the Gainesville end of the trail it started to get hilly and curvy. The hills weren't to bad, but coming down with the curves was great, I wasn't sure how the fully loaded bike would handle stuff like this but it was solid.
Fact: LTJ is from Gainesville...rock city!
Allen wasn't feeling up to the challenge of what we thought was gonna be 60 or so miles to the campground, so he's stayin in a hostel in Gainesville. Me and Carol kept pressing on. Around mile 40, we stopped and split a brick oven pizza. Amazing. 4 slices each, and we probably coulda had another 4. By now it was about 2, and the campground office closes at 530, and we still had at least 20 miles to go. We start hammering. 34 miles later, we pull in around 5. It probably should have only been about 30, but I'm not good at reading directions. Well, I'm not good at FULLY readding directions.
Me:"we need Santa Fe Drive."
Carol:"ok, that says 441."
Me:"ok, let's keep going."
....2ish miles later..
Me:"umm, I think we needed 441"
Carol:"uh, why?"
Me:"well after it says santa fe drive, it says 441 joins the route."
Hahah, my bad. Maybe I should read ahead a bit.
Anyway, we made it. Real campground, got electricity hookup, showers(felt good), restrooms.
Heard rain for tmrw, so well see what happens.
