Category: Florida Coast 2013

  This is a followup to our Florida Coast tour from last September.  This story took almost 4 months to unfold. When I got back home in October, I remembered the banged up cell phone I’d picked up on that rainy day riding on US1 from Florida City to Key Largo.  [Recap: The phone had been soaking wet with its back cover off and battery missing, and I had found the battery 100 yards further down the road.] The phone was a Samsung Galaxy Duos model.  Nice size screen and apparently in good condition.  No screen cracks or scratches and

40.2 miles Total this tour:  602.5 Extremely hot and stagnant last night.  The tent fan helped a bunch, but I took a rather desperate shower around 6AM – never been that sticky in my life. Yesterday, while having brunch at the Tiki Bar in Marathon,  Jack and I had set up a little side outing for today.  Way back in 2002, I visited the keys and had done some wonderful diving at the Looe Key Marine Park, so we called a dive shop to see if they’d take us out snorkeling.  Now we’re set to shove off at 8:30AM this

37.7 miles Total so far this tour:  562.3 Jack and I both slept late this morning.  With a short ride day planned, we continued to enjoy this great Long Key SP campsite well into mid-morning. We hit the road by 9AM, but almost immediately stopped south of Long Key to check out some fishermen on the bridge.  They were a group of 6 Latinos and were actively pulling yellowtail snappers, grunts, and porkfish one by one.  When I looked down I learned why.  There on a rope in the water was a whole chicken!  I caught sight of a nice

64.1 miles Total so far this tour:  524.6 A little nibble of free breakfast at the Super 8, and we then saddled up to go.  I was happily leaving Florida City. We jumped onto the shoulder of US1.  A big green sign declared “Key West 122” and it made me smile.  There is something cool about seeing the first sign that declares your destination, well, on a trip like this anyway. Within a mile we encountered a major traffic backup.  When we reached the front of it, flashing signs indicated a wreck ahead.  All southbound traffic was being diverted onto

61.2 miles Total so far this tour:  460.5 More trough breakfast at the Ramada.   Sunday morning around here was much quieter than yesterday, and we retraced the 3 or 4 miles back to A1A, then turn southward again.  Winds changed course, now mildly coming from the south.  Hmm, no hammerheads out here this morning – where did they all go? A dozen more miles south, and the way got more and more congested with traffic.  We passed into Miami-Dade county and cruised in to north Miami Beach.  It is there where we found the Canyon Ranch resort and my

52.1 miles Total so far this tour:  399.3 miles Trough breakfast at the Fairfield this morning – we both had cereal and fruit – then out and down A1A.  Here on Saturday morning there were already tons of cyclists, most of them club hammerheads zipping along in groups.  We headed south with fantastic conditions, including a partial tailwind from the NE. About 12 miles north of Delray Beach we ran into a group of mountain cyclists coming the other way.  One of them immediately turned around and started riding with us.  A nice enough guy, but he reminded me of one or two

58.0 miles Total this tour: 347.2 miles For once, I actually arose and was ready to leave by 7AM this morning.  Linda got up too and the three of us half-packed the SUV before we got underway.  At that hour, temperatures were fantastic and we even had tailwinds from the NE. We rolled 4 miles down Hutchinson Island to its end and stopped at a Publix.  I was looking for some stronger bug repellant, something like 40% DEET.  When I inquired to a Publix employee, the lady thought I said “buckwheat” and gave me a really strange look, and then

0.0 miles Total this tour: 289.2 miles The three of us woke pretty early for golf this morning, and ended up backtracking north up A1A to Fort Pierce again, this time in the SUV.  We looked for a place called Brewes Cafe but found it closed, and instead found the Captain’s Galley.  Their very fine service made up for the ho-hum breakfast fare. Off to Indian Hills Golf Course!   The course has many similarities with my hometown favorite Painted Mountain, i.e. forgiving layout and decent roll.  We paired up with member player Frank, who helped us navigate the fairways. It