St Pete to Immokalee (Dec 4, 5)
Oranges |
This ride was uneventful, we rode in a straight line for about 40 miles, on a busy but well paved road (with shoulder for most of the time) and made it to destination just before sunset. Arcadia had a couple campgrounds... that for some weird reason were outrageously expensive, considering the town is in the middle of nowhere. There was no way we were going to pay 50$ for a tent site, so we slept under a bridge in the city park.
Under the bridge in Arcadia / |
The next day, we rode to Immokalee, 75 miles (120km) further down a similar road. We were doing very good distances, with the wind helping us, no distraction at all to slow us down... and maybe the idea of relaxing in the Florida keys as a very pleasant goal to rush to. We got to the town with the intention of finding a stealthy camp spot, but when we got there we found that Immokalee had a feeling of intense poverty and an air of sketchiness. The town seemed to be strongly segregated, with the not so rich hispanic community on one side, and the even poorer black community on the other. The town being located in the middle of an agricultural area, it is highly populated with migrant workers. As with any low income group, it seems that there is very strong prejudice against the hispanic workers, especially in a town like Immokalee where the white community only represents about 3% of the population: we only saw a few white people, one of which warned us strongly against the bad, bad hispanic people and how they don't know how to drive because they don't have drivers licenses. So in summary, we weren't too sure where a safe place would be to camp in Immokalee, and it was getting dark so we spoiled ourselves and went to sleep in a real bed at the Immokalee Inn, the only motel in town!
Le jour suivant, nous sommes alles a Immokalee, 120 km plus loin. Nous traversions de tres bonnes distances, aides par le vent et aides par le manque de distraction pour nous ralentir... et peut etre l'idee de relaxer dans les 'Florida Keys' comme un but tres motivant! Nous sommes arrives a Immokalee avec l'intention de trouver un coin pour mettre notre tente pour la nuit, but avons trouve une ville tres pauvre, qui vient souvent avec un sentiment d'insecurite. La ville etait fortement separee, avec la communautre hispanique assez pauvre d'un cote, et la communaute noire encore plus pauvre de l'autre. La ville est situee au milieu d'une region agriculturale et est grande peuplee de travailleurs migrants. Comme avec la plupart des groupes moins fortunes, il semble y avoir beaucoup de prejuges envers les hispanophones dans cette region de la Floride, specialement dans une ville comme Immokalee dont la population blanche ne represente qu'un faible 3%. Nous n'avons vu que deux personnes blanches, et l'une d'elles s'est empressee de nous mettre en garde envers les mechant mechant Mexicains et nous avertir d'etre prudent sur la route parce qu'ils n'ont pas de permis de conduire. En bref, nous n'etions pas trop sur ou trouver un coin securitaire ou camper et la nuit approchait alors nous nous sommes gates et avons pris une chambre au Immokalee Inn, le seul motel de la place!
Tamiami Trail
The Tamiami Trail, named after its two end points (Tampa to Miami), is a road that crosses the Big Cypress National Preserve in Southern Florida. As the rumors grew stronger about the HUNDREDS of alligators that hangout on the side of that road, we (well, mostly just Line) got a bit nervous. Timing wise, it wasn't that great either, because at the pace we were going, we would have to camp right in the middle of the preserve.
The ride from Immokalee to Big Cypress was also a huge stress build up for me. It started in a relatively uneventful 20 miles down Highway 29... nice shoulder, no traffic, flat and straight with nothing at all to distract us. We then entered a 20 mile stretch of Florida Panther habitat, with signs every mile or so to remind us of their presence. I (Line) had crazy images in my mind of being attacked by a panther on this road in the middle of nowhere... or of having to pedal for my life, knowing that I could probably not outrun the big cat. This is also where I "decided" it was a good time to hit a huge rock and get a flat tire, which brought me to an even crazier state of mind. No need to say that Jon was getting a bit fed up with my craziness and I'm sure he was just as glad as me to get out of there, just so I would stop freaking out and screaming at him!
La route de Immokalee jusqu`a Big Cypress fut aussi un crescendo de stress pour moi. Tout a commence relativement simplement, avec 20 miles de pas grand chose sur la route 29: bel accotement, pas trop de traffic, plat et droit... rien du tout pour nous distraire. Ensuite, nous sommes entres dans un habitat protege pour la Panthere de la Floride, et des panneaux a tout les miles pour nous rappeler leur presence. Mon imagination est parti en peur et j'avais des images terrifiantes de Jon en train de se faire attaquer par une panthere, ou bien d'avoir a pedaler pour sauver ma vie, en sachant que je ne pourrais probablement pas y arriver. Cet aussi a cet endroit que j'ai "decide" de frapper une enorme roche et de faire un flat, ce qui a amene mon etat d'esprit un peu plus pres de l'histerie. Pas besoin de dire que Jon en avait vraiment marre de moi et de mon histerie, et qu'il etait aussi soulage que moi de sortir de la, pour que j'arrete enfin de paniquer et de crier apres lui!
After this whole freakout over nothing (we did see a couple alligators on the side of the road), we made it to the Tamiami trail (Hwy 41), and headed east into Big Cypress National Preserve. Some park
ranger told me that the alligators aren't that aggressive, which calmed me down a lot. On the ride to our campsite (about 20 miles), we saw 34 alligators lazing in the sun... and literally hundreds of birds flying around. The birds didn't seem to mind the cars passing by, but as soon as we approached by bicycle, they would all take off, meaning that we got to see a lot more birds than probably anyone that day!
Many many birds/ BEAUCOUP d'oiseaux |
Mr Alligator |
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