If there is one thing I have learned about completing a long run or in the upcoming case…a 100 mile ride, it’s to be prepared.  A 58 miler should about do it as a warm up as I ventured for the first time on the Van Fleet Trail.  Picture this: a 29.2 mile paved trail that is perfectly straight except for one slight little bend.  That’s it, where ever you take a picture on the trail it’s virtually the same everywhere on the trail.  In the early 1920’s the Seaboard Airline Railroad built and ran on the tracks until 1986 when CSX succeeded Seaboard and finally abandoned the track by 1990.  The rails were removed as part of the “Rails to Trail’s” program providing one of Florida’s longest and best trails to ride.  I started in the town of Mabel and turned around at Polk City while traversing through three counties.  Halfway through was a Biker’s Memorial that I didn’t quite get.  It consisted of several Snow White ‘like’ dwarfs and a few other characters.  Maybe there was more to it some time ago. A couple of stops, water, and restrooms were well appreciated for an enjoyable ride.   Total miles is at 5,764 now with Johnston Atoll only a 31 miles away on my virtual around-the-world trip.