Florida Fridays; The Great 2012 Florida Trip Part 4 (US 41 Tamiami Trail, Everglades National Park, and Shark Valley Loop Road)

Continuing on with the story of the late 2012 Florida Trip. Despite having family in Florida my entire life I had never been down to the Everglades or Florida Keys. That being the case I took I-75 south to the Naples Area and jumped onto US 41 as it turned east towards Miami along the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades.

Suffice to say I found the journey through the slow moving water lands to be quite the hoot given that I was living in Arizona at the time. I did a much more historic break down the Tamiami Trail back in May of 2017, so I'll be sure to notate more on the subject when it comes time to upload that particular blog.

The main objective of the day was to complete a circuit on the Shark Valley Loop Road of Everglade National Park. The Shark Valley Loop Road is a 15 mile loop on a former quarry road in the Everglades. My understanding is that it was once thought that there was actual sharks in the Shark River and Shark Valley in the Everglades wet season, neither proved ultimately be true. The Shark Valley Loop Road can be biked on and has open access to alligators, snakes, and all sorts of water fowl. The Shark Valley Observation Tower offers excellent view of the Everglades in all directions and apparently is the location of a trailhead.

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California State Route 232

This past month I drove the entirety of California State Route 232 in Ventura County. CA 232 is an approximately 4 miles State Highway aligned on Vineland Avenye which begins near Saticoy at CA 118 and traverses southwest to US Route 101 in Oxnard. The alignment of CA 232 was first adopted into the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 154 according to CAhighways.org. CAhighways.org on LRN 154 As originally defined LRN 154 was aligned from LRN 9 (future CA 118) southwest to LRN 2/US 101 in El Rio. This configuration of LRN 154 between CA 118/LRN 9 and US 101/LRN 2 can be seen on the 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Ventura County. 1935 Ventura County Highway Map According to CAhighways.org the route of LRN 154 was extended west from US 101/LRN 2 to US 101A/LRN 60 in 1951. Unfortunately State Highway Maps do not show this extension due to it being extremely small. During the 1964 State Highway Renumbering LRN 154 was assigned CA 232. Of n

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