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Take a scenic drive that's worth your time
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Location: Blogs Now We're Talking |
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| Posted by: Joe Byrnes |
6/7/2007 12:35 AM |
There is sometimes a certain deep purplish blue in the western sky just after sunset that surprises me and is, to my eyes, a breath-taking hint of the piercing sweetness of heaven.
It has caught me off guard at unexpected places, like the parking lot at Target on State Road 200. I'll be about my business - my busy-ness - and happen to glimpse the sky. Just that color, seen through the power lines and above the headlights and the silhouettes of storefronts, and suddenly I'm back at a campsite in the Smokies, listening to the endless music of a mountain stream.
As I see it, our Marion County sunsets are shot through sometimes with intimations of eternity. Our sunrises, though, bring a feeling of new beginnings and second chances. The early morning, with its foggy grays and misty golden hues, has the best light in which to appreciate the beauty - and the possibilities - that surround our workaday lives.
A young horse romps in a field off Southeast 95th Street at dawn.
Some of those vistas are a short drive away. In fact, the county has a list of 34 scenic roads. The designation was intended to protect them from the wrong kinds of improvement.
The list (online at www.marioncountyfl.org) is worth exploring for the scenery. On Tuesday morning, video camera in hand, I toured a couple my favorites:
No. 18: Redding Lane, a canopied two-lane roadway between County Road 475 and U.S. 441 north of Belleview.
And No. 32: The Southwest 110th Avenue "loop," a set of scenic roads lined by live oaks and gorgeous horse farms just off West State Road 40 in the community of York.
Approaching Redding Lane on Southeast 95th Street, I could see a young horse sprinting and prancing in the early light. Then - and this is what I like about Redding Lane - I entered a long tunnel of green.
Redding Lane is well-known for its canopy.
Drive there when the sun is high and you will really notice the intense shade and the flashes of bright sunlight falling between the trees. Drive slowly. It's far too brief an escape from the clutter of farms and houses and mobile homes.
The "loop" into horse country was especially striking because work crews are still widening SR 40. I came to the entrance at York from a congested highway lined with heavy equipment and orange-and-white barrels.
Immediately upon turning south at Southwest 85th Avenue, I could see an entirely different vision of Marion County stretched out before me: four-board fences, well-tended pastures glistening in the morning sun, horses in the distance, a quiet road that curves and rises and falls on the low hills.
A view of Southwest 85th Avenue just off State Road 40.
The loop - which turns to Southwest Ninth Street Road and Southwest 95th Avenue Road and Southwest 38th Street and back toward SR 40 on Southwest 110th Avenue - borders several farms, including Live Oak Stud and Kinsman Farm.
I paused at a white-railed exercise track, where riders breezed by on thoroughbreds. In one pasture, five young horses crowded together while a flock of cattle egrets followed their every step looking for insects in the grass. In others, cattle spread out on the hillside or milled around small a pond.
Horses can be seen in fields along the Southwest 110 Avenue "loop."
Though I grew up in the country and have driven this road before, I still find these farms astonishingly beautiful.
The next time you're driving on SR 40 west of Ocala, take this detour. It will add five miles to your trip and 10 minutes of delight to your day.
Joe Byrnes may be reached at joe@ocala.com or (352) 867-4112. |
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Re: Take a scenic drive that's worth your time |
By Linda Zanyk on
6/11/2007 9:37 AM |
| I too enjoy sunrises and the quiet that accompanies them. I grew up on a farm and lived most of my life in Miami. Having relocated to Ocala a few years ago one of my most pleasurable times is my drive to and from work. I love seeing the jockies exercising the horses around the track especially in the fog. Thank you for sharing your comments and thoughts. |
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