Touring - Gainesville Tour Day 6

Day 6 started at near daybreak again and was quite chilly for the first time while the tall trees blocked out the sun.As I warmed my hands with my breath I even noticed the warm air turning frosty by the chilly air.I soon warmed up however and as the sun came out it turned into a brilliant North Fl. day the kind that make you want to move there.I soon came upon an old bridge that arched high across the Ocklawasee River(I know I butchered the spelling)and provided one of the most scenic vistas of the trip.The river was a small slow moving dark body of water near the start of the bridge and at the highest point in the middle was a pond of similar characteristics however at its high point the bridge also paralleled the tops of the tall stands of deciduious trees in a blaze of red,orange and yellow coloring.All I could do is stand there and gwalk for a while as deciduious trees are rare in So.Fl. Outside Ocala I picked up 326 a fairly new looking bypass with good shouldering which went through some scenic horse country with a lot of bales of hay adding to the unique views.At 27 I headed north though more horse country north of Ocala with again good shouldering but the traffic was very intense which I realized was due to the fact that it was the Wed. before Thanksgiving the largest travel day of the year.At the intersection with 301 I stopped at a convenience store and finally changed the rear tire which was well into the treads and would start causing tube failure at any time however it took forever as the levers were worn/overly flexible and thus basically ineffective.I also washed my clothes for the first time and shaved etc. there and felt great heading off on 301 which vears to the east of Gainesville into beautiful cow/horse /lake country on a brilliant No. Fl. day in the 70's with a gentle breeze deciding to go shirtless . I even started thinking why not turn east at Rt 20 and head towards Cresent Bch instead of west to Gainesville because who wants to go there on such a brilliant day as this as I came upon Paynes Prairie an extensive prairie of grasses and wildlife that runs generally east/west to the south of Gainesville.This near euphoria soon gave way to the start of my tube problems as I had a flat at the prairie which I changed again taking too long with no problem and still in a good mood because I got a longer view of the scenary .Without going into too much detail except to say it was mostly negligence on my part this second tube and the third and final tube went flat as well with me failing to even make it out of the prairie.So here I was with a bunch of tubes not holding air ,6 glueless patches which were also ineffective on a loaded bike and some 25 to 30 miles to Gainesville. I hobbled into Hawthorne at the junction of 301 and 20 about 15 miles east of Gville around nightfall riding largely on the rims and stopping every 1/2 mile or so to pump the tires back up which was getting tiring real quick.My original plan was to ride into Gville eat a pizza in celebration and start heading well south by the end of this day but that wasn't happening so I toured the resturants of Hawthorne instead eating first a loaded Subway deli sandwich (where I learned about the Hawthorne-Gville Bike Trail) and then a whole large delectable pepperoni gormet pizza. Then I headed out to find the bike trail which I located with the help of an escort from a state trooper who had been sitting in the middle of the road with his radar gun(funny how troopers and cyclists get along so well a similar situation happened on my 4th of July Keys tour where at a resturant three troopers sat near me while others whispered and generally avoided them).I hobbled about three miles down the 15 mile trail and camped down an unused jeep trail setting up my tent in the woods for the second and final time because again a few bugs were around.