Skip to main content

2017 Southeast Trip Part 15; The road back to the Tampa area and epilogue

After departing FL 997 on northbound US 27 there wasn't much left to do other than get back to the Tampa Area.  I'm not a big fan of taking I-75 or Florida's Turnpike due to the traffic and often found that US 27 through the center of the state is much viable for a quiet/somewhat scenic drive.












Immediately after I took this FL 822 picture on northbound US 27 the truck on the left blew out a tire and the trailer caught on fire.  The driver kept rolling on a flat for about a mile before noticing his trailer was falling apart and combusting.



Northbound on US 27 it wasn't too long until the Andytown Interchange with I-75 came into view.  Andytown was a small community on FL 84 that was demolished in the late 1970s when Alligator Alley was expanded to make way for I-75.




There isn't much in the Everglades along US 27.  US 27 passes through dredge cut canals through Miami-Dade and Broward Counties before entering Palm Beach County.  The shield for CR 827 caught my eye with it's almost black coloring.






US 27 picks up FL 80 and multiplexes it on the south shore of Lake Okeechobee before it splits away again west of Clewiston.






In Moore Haven US 27 rises high above the waters of the Caloosahatchee Canal.







I stayed on US 27 north until the junction with FL 66 in Highlands County where I decided to try a route I had never been on before.  FL 66 is only 25 miles long and doesn't really pass through much westward to US 17.  There was some significant truck traffic but nothing that I couldn't get past on the two-lane FL 66.






I followed US 17 north from FL 66 to Bartow.  I followed US 98 north to the FL 570 tollroad get past Lake Land.






I followed FL 570 northwest to the terminus at I-4.  Despite my reservations about I-4 I took it briefly west to FL 39 in Plant City.  I believe FL 39 has been realigned fairly recently and the current route was possibly FL 39a if memory serves correct?






I didn't want to take a primary road to Brooksville so I stayed on FL 39 and merged onto US 301.





I pulled off of US 301 and followed CR 54 west.





Essentially I zig-zagged northward to Hernando County along the back roads.  I used CR 579 north, CR 577 north, CR 578a west, CR 581 north, and CR 576 to reach US 41 south of Brooksville.







At the time I did take a full tally on my trip mileage and it was just over 3,000 miles.  As nice as it was to be back in the Southeast I was really left with the feeling I made the correction decision moving back to the western states.  Florida in particular is a state that I really seemed to got the most out of it (hence the endless well of Florida Friday's to come) and I really can't think of what else there is to do other than visit family or on occasion revisit something interesting.  I did manage to get a huge amount of shield pictures and way better highway photo albums on the big stuff.  But with all that in mind, Florida essentially is a state of straight lines and it was a good decision to flesh out the trip with a northward jaunt through the Carolinas.  I had one more day in the Southeast Region but it was mainly used resting up for a visit to Washington State the day after I returned to California. 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tulare Lake returns

During the winter of 2023 California experienced one of the wettest seasons in recent decades.  Enough snow and water were deposited into the Sierra Nevada Mountains that the runoff was enough to partially reform Tulare Lake within San Joaquin Valley.  Tulare Lake was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi River by surface area.  Tulare Lake has been largely dried for the past century due to irrigation divisions and upstream impoundments.  This blog will examine the history of Tulare Lake and its recent return.  Pictured as the blog cover is Tulare Lake from 19th Avenue in Kings County during early May 2023.  Tulare Lake can be seen near its maximum extent below on the 1876 P.Y. Baker Map of Tulare County .   Part 1; the history of Tulare Lake Tulare Lake is the largest remnant of Lake Corcoran.  Lake Corcoran once covered much of the entire Central Valley due to being it being located at a in natural low point from where mountain run-off would accumulate.  Lake Corcoran is thou

Former US Route 101 through Sargent

  Sargent is a ghost town and siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad located in southern Santa Clara County.  The original alignment of US Route 101 was aligned through Sargent via what is now known as Old Monterey Road.  Sargent was bypassed gradually due to shifts of the alignment of US Route 101 which occurred during 1941 and 1950.  Pictured as the blog cover is a view on Old Monterey Road which is now no longer accessible to the general public.  Below is a scan of the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Santa Clara County which depicts the original alignment US Route 101 through Sargent.   Part 1; the history of US Route 101 in Sargent Sargent lies on land which was once part of Rancho Juristac.  During 1856 James P. Sargent purchased Rancho Juristac and plotted what was known as Sargent Ranch.  By 1869 the Southern Pacific Railroad coast line reached the relocated town site of Gilroy.  The Southern Pacific Railroad coast line would be constructed through Chittenden Pass by 1871 whic

California State Route 60/Former US Route 60/70 through the Moreno Valley Badlands west to Riverside

This past month I drove California State Route 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands westward towards the City of Riverside.  CA 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands was once part of the corridors of US Route 60 and US Route 70. The present route of CA 60 is a 70 mile (76 counting multiplex) slice of former US 60 between downtown Los Angeles east to I-10 near Beaumont.  The vast majority of CA 60 aside from a small section in the Moreno Valley Badlands is presently a freeway grade. For me CA 60 holds some personal history as it was the route I used most frequently accessing work sites in the Inland Empire circa 2011-2013.  Despite what many others probably would say I always really enjoyed the Moreno Valley Badlands portion of CA 60.  Considering I frequently worked on US 60 through Arizona and New Mexico the route holds even more appeal.  I even have a CA 60 shield hanging up in my garage. Part 1; History of Roadways in the Moreno Valley Badlands CA 60 between B