Bicycling the Timpoochee Trail in NW Florida

Thursday dawned cool but not freezing.  In fact, it was a great weather day - cool but not cold and without too much wind.

The Timpoochee Trail runs 19 miles along route 30A, along a number of "lowrise" beach communities and a couple of State Parks.

We parked at Inlet Beach, about a quarter mile from the eastern end of the trail.  Inlet Beach was a nice looking beach town.

But when we looked at the real estate bulletin board, we decided we might not want to buy here.  It was a bit tony for us: the cheapest listed was 1.995 million.

The bicycle trail ran beside the road for the whole 19 miles.  This part was closer to the road than typical, but traffic was definitely a part of the ride.

We stopped at Amavida's Coffee and Tea in the town of Seaside for a coffee and a rest.  ML's latte was beautiful!

Seaside is famous for being a planned community in the early 1980's and the setting for the movie "The Truman Show."

We liked it, but not enough to check real estate prices.

The town square had a variation of the recent "Food Truck" courts - a row of airstream campers that served food. 

An interesting ecological tidbit was that the trail (and road) passed a number of unique "dune" lakes that were just above the tide range.  When the lake floods, it releases water into the gulf. When the lakes go down, the outlet closes and the lake water stays fresh.

Plus, they were pretty!

And then . . . the trail ended.  Like right now.  No sign, no nothing.  It turns into the road with a stop sign.

It did have mileage markers, but there was no identification of beginning or end - nor was the trail labeled "Timpoochee" at any point that we could find.

So we turned around and headed back!

We rode just a couple hundred yards to take a lunch break at the Hurricane Oyster Bar.  I had lightly fried oysters with some sauce stuff on taco chips.  It was great - and not too much food.

ML had fried green tomatoes which weren't bad either!

Most of the trail and road are very close to the beach.  The sand is very white and pure.

There was very little bicycle traffic - but November is a slow month for the area.  Plus, it was cold by Florida standards.

This was only one of four or six bicycle rental places.

We were glad that we did it when we did.

Plus, after 38 miles, we were beat.  Time to get in the car and mosey down the road.