I’ve been managing my time quite well lately and last Sunday, I wanted to get out and ride my regular bike for the first time in a good month or 2. What prompted me to get out was 2 conversations that I had recently. One was with another pedicab driver who wanted to know about off-road places to bike in the city. Another was a bike shop owner who asked if I was gonna get out and enjoy the weather last weekend. The weather just happened to be perfect but it was too late in the day for me to go hiking along Shingle Creek Trail behind the Rosen hotel of the same name. I found an article on orlandosentinel.com about a new part of the trail that opened up near the Mall at Millenia.
I texted the image of the trail route to myself so I didn’t get lost and went along my merry way. It was a light breeze, overcast, and cool to warm air temperature. That’s perfect for bike riding. I wasn’t gonna go full-on exploring this time around. This was more of a discovery trip for me to see what the trail had to offer because I wouldn’t have time to explore like I usually would. If there were things to see and places and paths to explore, I’d return some other day to do them. In this case, there was plenty of everything but I stuck to the route on the map. I’ve always wanted to ride my bike up the overpass above the Turnpike behind Festival Bay Mall. It’s not as steep or difficult to ride up as it appears if you have a well-geared bike.
Going up Millenia Blvd, the west sidewalk is wide. There’s a retention pond that has a small opening for people to walk into but I passed it by. I’d peep that on my way back. I got a little confused on Vineland because I didn’t know if the trail was before or after Walden Circle. It’s after and the way in is just a little sidewalk cut-off. It turns into what looks more like a biking trail that runs alongside the creek. There are apartments/condos on the right. It’s more citified than the south part of the trail which has nothing but nature surrounding you. There was a large area across the creek that I’ll return to explore in the future.
Once at Conroy Road, I got confused again because the concrete barricades on the street say Shingle Creek and you can continue straight if you want to go off-roading but I wanted to follow the proper route. The map steered me in the right direction again towards a parkway named after our current president. I read about it in the article that had the map and it’s something I had to see for myself. It’s a new road and unlike any road named after Martin Luther King Jr, it wasn’t surrounded by or went through the hood; except towards the end where it turns left away from the Richmond Heights neighborhood. I’ll never understand why new roads are always lacking basic features like a right turn lane. It had a bike lane but if you wanted to turn right in a car, you’d be holding people up behind you. If you’re the person behind, that puts unnecessary wear on your brakes and other components under the hood and also decreases your fuel economy. One really does have to wonder if auto repair shops, oil companies, and car manufacturers have a say in how roads are designed. The way they’re built, it’s to their benefit, not ours.
There are some other off-road paths along our president’s new parkway. Those blend into the warehouses in the LB Mcleod Road area. Northwest of LB Mcleod is an undeveloped area called Eagles Nest that I’ll explore in-depth in the future. It’d be nice if it stayed undeveloped forever. For you environmentalists out there, the smartest thing you can do instead of chaining yourself to trees that are gonna get cut down anyway is to buy up all the available land. You’re saving habitat, trees, reducing environmental impact, and making an investment in the Earth all at the same time. Use your energy, time, and money for the right thing. Purchasing land is how you get the results you want.
To the right of the parkway is the hood. To the north is Eagles Nest Park. I was gonna keep going towards the elementary school but saw a dirt path that led into some mounds that were likely created from the remnants of the parkway’s construction. There appears to be some illegal dumping going on back there too. City workers, do your damn job and keep tabs on these things. Me being the adventurous type, I went to the top of the highest mound I could and there’s a lake (Lake Fran) on the other side. I had a full panoramic view from up there of the surrounding neighborhoods, the school, the Eagles Nest area, and Downtown Orlando. Quite a beautiful discovery. And for those that don’t think leaves change color in Florida, the proof is in the pics.
I didn’t get any higher quality wallpaper shots because the bugs were kicking my ass up there on that mound. I brought my Canon but I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with anymore of those bugs swarming all over me. My nose was running, it started getting hot, and the gnats weren’t helping to unstress me. With such a picturesque scene, I let them win and left. I could see the bike trail that ran through the neighborhood and that was my next destination. There’s also a path that runs along the lake. Lots of loud birds hanging around it and I’ll explore that another day. On the way out, some cats on an ATV and dirt bikes were kicking up dust. That and the noise from their vehicles meant any peace I was having was destroyed. The bike path also runs next to the school where there was a crowd watching some people play cricket. I kicked back under a shade tree on my bike and watched in an attempt to understand the sport. I still don’t.
The lake level was very low and the litter level was very high. I’d love to have something like that (the park, not the litter) in my back yard like some of those people literally do. They have a big lake to swim, fish, and boat in just steps away from their back doors. Lots of off-road areas to get lost in. And they have bike and walking trails that connect throughout the neighborhood. Minus the off-roading, since I live in the heart of tourist town, we don’t have any of that here. No parks, no paved trails, no accessible lakes, none of that. They have a great centerpiece for their neighborhood and the amount of litter in and around it is disgusting. I can understand that some litter comes in through the wind. That happens where I live all the time. Sometimes I can watch things flying right into my yard from afar during storms. But as much as they had there, it’s clear that the residents are the ones responsible for it.
Hood mentality also involves cleanliness. The problem with it is, if it ain’t yours, fuck it. They don’t think that lake is theirs so they don’t give a shit about it. Yet, they’re there adding to the litter problem. Who could possibly like the way that looks? In my neighborhood, there are groups that get together to keep it clean and make it look good. I see church and teen groups picking up litter. I myself do my part by getting rid of the unsightly shit around my house and on my street because I’m a homeowner and I give a shit. The people of Richmond Heights need to get together or there should be some sort of volunteer program to clean up that entire area. It’s nasty. Where’s the adopt-a-highway program when you need it? The hidden side of President Barack Obama Parkway needs your help. You’d never know that Eagles Nest Park is even there if you drove by in a car. You can see parts of the bike path but that’s it. Respect where you live. If you don’t, nobody else will.
My ass was hurting because the padding in my seat is thin. I keep telling myself to replace it with the better spare seat that I have from my other bike but I haven’t done it yet. I don’t ride often enough but damn that. Next time, I’m replacing that seat. Back along Shingle Creek on the way back home, I saw in the distance what looked like a dog chilling next to the apartments/condos. As I got closer, it was actually an otter. First time I’d ever seen one in my life in the wild; especially in Orlando and right smack in the city like that. I got my Canon to zoom in and that’s how I identified what it was. When I tried to get closer for a good pic, it dropped into the water from where it was resting. Oh well, at least I saw it with my own eyes. Just like I saw a bald eagle in the wild along the southern part of Shingle Creek in the past but I don’t have the pic to prove it. That time, I didn’t bring my camera. This time, I needed a cam with better optical zoom. All in due time.
Going back home, I stopped at that little area along the retention pond on Millenia Blvd. Litter everywhere. God damn shame. They could put some benches out there for people to chill but I think I know why that’s never gonna happen. Residents and volunteers picking up litter is one thing. Fining litterbugs is another. None of it ever works. Promoting recycling aside, I think criminals and homeless people are the best solution to the litter problem. I say criminals because rather than keeping them locked up on my dime and doing nothing, we could have them out and about keeping cities clean and being useful. Not the murderers and rapists but those who are on probation, ordered to do community service, and those in jail for non-violent crimes. By using and educating them on what they’re doing, when they get out, they can spread the word about not littering because if they go back in, they’re not gonna wanna be out in Florida weather picking up the shit that we leave behind. I’d even grant those on house arrest a few hours outside but they gotta pick up litter or paint over graffiti which I also saw a lot of on walls and overpasses.
Since creating jobs specifically for cleaning up litter has never happened, let the cons do it. They can send that message about how littering is wrong because they’ll be less inclined to do so, they’re giving back to the world that they took something away from, and believe it or not, it’s a job skill that they could put on their resume for employers that give people like them second chances. There are other positives too. As for homeless people, they don’t contribute a damn thing to anyone. As a condition for them being homeless in any city, they have to contribute something. Cleaning up after themselves and others will be a requirement. I’d round them up and say, “Hey, you wanna keep sleeping in these woods? You wanna be able to keep panhandling at this intersection? Come with me and let’s get to work.” When cities and towns start doing that, you’ll see the visible homeless population drop significantly or for those that wanna stay, they’ll have a greater respect for living clean. If they or anyone else leaves shit behind, they’ll be the ones cleaning it up with the cons.
Not only does that make them productive citizens, it keeps them active, and just like the cons, they’ll promote the message of not littering to those who may be more well off than them but have a lesser sense of social responsibility. And that’d also be a job skill they can put on their resume for those who are ready to stop being homeless and wasting money on drugs and alcohol. We can fix this world, we just gotta take the initiative to do it and it starts with the people. The environment belongs to every living thing on the planet and we affect it negatively more than anything else. Let’s keep shit clean for ourselves, animals, the environment, and the Earth that allows us to live. I’d even allow homeless people to keep the valuables they pick up. Some of them already raid trash cans for aluminum cans and glass containers. I’d keep that momentum going. Finders keepers.
As beautiful as a lot of what I saw was, the amount of litter just brought down the experience. I still had a great time sightseeing but I’d rather not see our trash all over the natural world like that. This trip showed me more places to explore within the city. Some people believe when you live in the city, you leave nature behind. That’s not true. It’s there if you know where to look and if you wanna find it. I was certainly surprised to discover the Eagles Nest area and the park and the lake. I don’t know anyone in those areas surrounding it and I don’t hang around there either. A car won’t allow you access to these things. Your feet and a bike will. And you stay active and get fit in the process instead of pressing an accelerator to get you moving. I can honestly say my love for the outdoors has gone up since I moved into my house. With all the hustle and bustle of the tourists, you can easily forget what Orlando used to be. The thing is, Orlando is still that way if you’re adventurous and like to explore.
