Pedal, Pedal, Pedal!

I promised myself that over the course of the summer I would take breaks from my bmx bike in order to pedal my mountain bike a little more. Yesterday morning, I accidentally set my alarm for 7am, woke up thinking it was 8, and immediately took off to ride through Tampa on what ended up being about a 4 hour ride. For the most part, I followed along the winding Hillsborough River. This is what I saw:

What makes my neighborhood so unique: it's adjacent to the Hillsborough with plenty of really old oak trees. Some are healthy, and some, not so much.

If you can't live within eyeshot of the Sulpher Springs water tower, why not make one yourself?

22nd Street train bridge. I'm not sure why, but this area reminds me of Oregon.

I went to Rowlett Park in hopes to do a little bird watching. On approching the river bank, I heard a Limpkin bellowing its deathly cry and stumbled upon this water mocassin. Needless to say, I couldn't get any closer to the river to snap photos.

Instead, I followed a path and found this tree over hanging the Hillsborough which was a pretty good substitute.


The real Sulpher Springs water Tower.

One of three crack pipes found near the river. Scary.

One of the many springs that feed into the Hillsborough...

...trickling down stream to the river.

Near Lowry Park, I found this pond that warned "Beware of alligator." I thought it funny that the sign announced a single gator. But sure enough, there was only one single 5 footer basking in this unusually murky yet somehow clear sulpher water.

This pretty large gopher tortoise was walking along side the bike path. From my past experiences with these threatened little dudes, they are usually really skiddish. However, this one walked right up to me...on his back I noticed a huge bite mark that was well on its way to healing.

Last monday, some news was floating around about the discovery of a Confederate, Civil War blockade running ship that had been burned and consequently sunk into the river. For 125 plus years, passers by thought it was a piece of an old dock. This past week, the ship got the attention it deserved. Archeologists dug away and decided that its rot was just too bad to even fool with.
So to avoid others digging away at the wreckage, the city left the grave unmarked. The ship lies under these waters.

-He Said