Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 9

Bob got up a little earlier than we did.

He caught the sunrise, the moon, and one of the planets, not sure which one it is.  He deserves full credit for the photo on the right.

 I got it a little later just as the sun was coming up over our tents.

Nice spot!

We rode down toward mile 0 in Key West.  We had until 5 p.m. when we had to get on the ferry for the ride back to Ft. Myers.

Here's a commuter in Key West, complete with dog and bicycle.

We stopped at the Key West Garden Club, and wandered about a very nice garden planted on an old fort site.  Plus, we got a preview of a orchid show that started the next day.  Amazing orchids, to say the least.

I like these hackneyed photos of receding doorways. 

We rode by the "Southernmost Point" in the contiguous U.S., but didn't stop.  After all, there might be a coffee shop or bakery nearby!

We made it to Mile 0 of U.S. Route 1!!

OK, that's done.  Let's get to the bakery around the corner!

Hmmm.  The process of getting on the ferry was pretty miserable.  But we did it.

Plus, we got to talk with Waldron, who emigrated to Canada from Germany when he was 20 years old and eventually started his own elevator company.  His story helped make the ferry trip go faster and Bob got to talk with him in German.

 I'll leave you with another of Bob's photos, taken from the ferry.  Maybe it's the shrimper I took a photo of on the first day of the trip.  And maybe not.

Another day leaves us and another successful trip.

Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 8

Part of what I like about camping is "returning" to the rhythms of nature.  Although we use headlamps to read in the evening, for the most part we went to bed early and got up early.

So we were up early on another sunny and warm day for our 29 miles. 

But then I went back and looked at the time of this photo and it's a sunset photo!  Pretend it's a sunrise. . .

Two miles down the road took us to a breakfast place.

Sugarloaf Food Company provided some great baked goods and an iced latte.

Glenda had some great Key Lime pie.  She had been looking for the best all during the trip and she judged this mid-morning pie snack as the "Best of the Trip."

By now the riding was getting "old hat."  The worst part of the whole ride was trying to cross the road.  Here we are impatiently waiting for enough of a gap in the traffic to get across.  Sometimes it was a bit harrowing.

It was fall in the Keys!  These Sea Grapes were in glorious fall colors.

Sometimes it's a small world.  At another coffee stop (?), ML and Glenda said, "Doesn't that look like Joyce getting into that car."  And yes, it was!

Joyce and her sister Mona are from Hoonah, Alaska, where ML and I used to live and Bob and Glenda currently live.  It's 4,582 miles away - not including the ferry ride. 

Pretty amazing.

"Gee whiz, where should we put our tents here at Boyd's RV and Campground?"

The decision looks good.

Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 6 & 7

Our biggest day yet at 38 miles.   Luckily, our butts were conditioned (to a degree) and we were getting in a little better bicycle riding shape.  Plus, although there wasn't a lot of wind, what little we had was blowing us in the right direction.

We took off without breakfast and it was an hour and a half before we found The Outpost.  I guess it could have been we were hungry, but it was the best breakfast yet.  ML had Challah French Toast.  Mmmmm.  Plus, the coffee was good and it kept coming.

Pelicans are always fun to watch.  Plus, they like to "hang out," which is what these were doing.

We watched a V-22 Osprey do practice run after practice run: up, down, around, and again.

We stopped at Crane Point Nature Preserve.  The bronze doors into the museum part were amazing.

We went for part of a tour - very interesting but so long that we made our excuses and skedaddled.  It was great to see the way the Keys looked before volumes of people showed up.

ML dressed for the occasion when she parked her bike at a lunch stop next to the bougainvillea.

Our campsite at Big Pine Key Fishing Resort.  It had been reviewed well and deserved the good reviews.  It was clean and the people were very pleasant. 

"Key Deer" visited us from time to time.  Not a very good photo, but they were definitely small.

There was no restaurant very close, so Bob and I rode up a mile or two to a bar/restaurant.  It was crowded but we ordered food "to go" as well as a beer to help us with the wait.

No food, no food, no food.  Finally, Bob asked the owner and in another 10 minutes we finally got the food and bicycled back in the dark.  We were happy for the food, though, even if we had to wait over an hour.


The next day, 2/24, was a layover day.   I can't say we did much but it was nice to have a break from breaking camp and loading and unloading gear. 

Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 5

We awoke to another tough day in the Keys.  Although it seemed to continue to get warmer, or for some of us, hot.  As long as a person was riding and created his or her own wind, it was fine.  Just don't stop.  Today was one of our longest mileage days: 32.  We turned around and pointed our bikes south. 

 Luckily, it was Saturday and there was a HUGE NAUTICAL FLEA MARKET in Islamorada!  Yay!  And yes, there were lots of people and cars.  For awhile, there was so much traffic that we were going as fast as the cars.

Oops, had to stop for a bridge raising.

A U.S. Coast Guard tender needed to go through.  It's always kind of fun to see the difference in locations.  This buoy tender has its own pilings to set down so it can work.  The Sitka buoy tender doesn't have that luxury, with nothing but deep water to work in.

 
Back over one of the longer and higher bridges.  Not much shoulder and here's the hill!  Lots of traffic whizzing by at 55 mph.

I saw two turtles come up for air this time.  Plus, we weren't fighting the wind and it was much easier!

Fiesta Key Campground was a little more packed in and wasn't as clean and nice as some of the other ones.  But, the location was very nice.

 Bob found an empty chair.  Even he doesn't haul a plastic chair around.  But sometimes he tows the dog, but it was good that Haagu stayed behind.  I don't think he would have liked the heat.

We were off the beaten path at Fiesta Key, with no restaurants close by.  Luckily there was a cafe at the campground.  It was a great setting and they had draft beer.  Sweet.

Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 4

The day dawned with less wind and climbing temperatures.  Today was a 27 mile day, and much of it was in more populated areas such as Islamorada and Key Largo.  The goal was to ride to the end of the trail at mile 106.5, but alas, it was not to be!

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  First off, it was time for breakfast.  I asked to use ML's Iphone and checked the app "Around Me."  Super!  There's a breakfast place just a mile and a half up the road.  After 1.5 mile, no place.  Oops, it was going the other way!  Not so fast!  People say the Iphones are user friendly, but I guess you have to have some intelligence as a user.  Luckily, we happened on a place and ended up full and happy anyway.


After 25 miles or so, we found our destination, the Key Largo Kampground/Rv Park.  It was very pleasant and had a nice pool to cool off in.

ML and Glenda got a real kick out of the loudspeaker system where someone would get on and say, "ATTENTION CAMPERS: TONIGHT IS BINGO AT 7 P.M. IN THE LOUNGE.   GOOD LUCK!!" 

ML and I opted for the Bingo and I won $8.50.  There were people there operating 6 or 8 boards.  I could only manage one, but I showed them!!!

 We took off our gear and were excited to ride to the end of the trail, but we were met with construction and traffic. 

We opted for ice cream instead, in order to garner enough energy to propel our bicycles south the next day.

Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 3

 35 Miles on the bike.

The day dawned sunny and windy.  A half mile down the road we ate breakfast at the Mile 7 Grill.  As Bob noticed the day before, the "7 Mile Bridge" was actually only 6.5 miles.  Mile 7 Grill was where the bridge would have ended if it had really been 7 miles long!

Many of the restaurants have signs that they'll cook your own catch.  Sitka restaurants should do that.

Whew, off the road - a relief of eyes and ears.

Hmmm.  When I'm fishing, I usually don't choose to do it right next to the sound of cars and trucks. 

I just like the photo.

Some people fish.  Others relax in the sun.

Wow, a great bicycle trail and some shade, too.

Feeding the pelicans after the charter fishing boat comes in.  Not sure what I think of that.

Our only "inside night" this trip at the Blue Fin Inn and Key Lantern Motel.  The reviews were accurate: clean and funky. 

Lorelei's Cabana Bar and Restaurant was OK food and the band was good, too.

Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 2

The day dawned sunny and became windy pretty quick!  Of course, it was in our faces the whole 27 miles.

A fair portion of the trail is currently under construction.  This looks like it's pretty close to being ready - luckily, we're going the other way.  It was one of the nicest portions of the trail since it was actually off the road with trees and vegetation between us and the road.

This was an interesting bridge.  A highway bridge had been built on top of a railway bridge.  The whole thing was closed.

This view is typical of most of the riding: bicycling on the shoulder, but at least the shoulder is reasonably wide.  Still, in most cases, the traffic is moving at 55 mph and there was quite a few cars, trucks, and construction traffic on the road.

Scene along the way.

Creative bridge artistry: using train tracks as a railing.  Many of the short railroad bridges have been renovated as bicycle, walking, and fishing bridges.  It's nice when we could use one of those bridges rather than ride beside traffic.

For us, 27 miles on day 2 with a loaded bike is a long day in the saddle.

Our last challenge of the day was "7 Mile Bridge."  The wind was blowing us back, the sun was fierce, and the middle span was a nice little hill, but we made it at a torrid 6 miles an hour - give or take a mile an hour.

Not only that, but you can see in this photo that the shoulder isn't that wide.  In fact, we saw a car on the opposite side with a flat tire.  It was parked right against the concrete barrier and the inside tires were on the white line.  And it was a very small car.  It's a good thing people have cell phones.

Luckily, I can see over the concrete barrier.  I saw a sea turtle come up and grab a breath of air.  Neat.

Knight's Bridge RV Resort - whew! - it was just on the other side of the 7 Mile Bridge.  We got another nice shaded campsite with the "Sunset Bar and Grille" a block away for dinner.   We even got there just in time to see the sun set over the 7 mile bridge.

When I was leaving the showers, a guy started talking to me.  He and his wife had come down from Sarasota to get away from their busy retired life!  

Bicycling the "Florida Overseas Heritage Trail" - Day 1

The Florida Overseas Heritage Trail is a 106.5 miles bicycle trail in very southern Florida from Key Largo to Key West.  ML and I had read about it a number of times and we planned to go - but never seemed to set a date.  When Glenda said she and brother Bob were coming to Florida in February and wanted to bike some, we said sure and convinced them of the Keys adventure.

The other three tripsters let me do some of the planning.  I figured that we wouldn't be able to stuff one car with all 4 bikes and gear, but there was a ferry to Key West from Ft. Myers, near where Bob and Glenda were based.

All trips have some time when you're "getting ready to get ready and then getting ready."  We're loading the bikes for the ferry.

The early morning light looked nice on these shrimpers.  I'm a sucker for commercial fishing boats anyway.

One of the best parts of the whole trip was being by the water almost all the time.  The water is clear and a variety of shades of blue that makes it just pretty to look at.

The ferry was fast, but crowded.  It took about 4  hours to get to Key West.

We did have to get up early, so a nap was in order.

The sidewalk was also a bicycle trail right beside the ocean.

Ironically, we made a wrong turn and rode another 6 miles than we wanted to.  This is headed south and we were going north!!!  Should have brought a compass.

 Lunch at the "Lime Tree Food Mart."  Key West has such bright colors.

Yep, that's a bike lane.  Doesn't look too wide to me, but ML is cruising right along.

I was trying to catch our shadows on the road without getting killed by a car.

There are some outstanding Florida State Parks in the Keys but there were NO available campsites at any of them.  The hotel rates were outrageous at the time of year, so we mostly camped in RV Campgrounds.  Here's our first one.  Not bad, some shade and not too close to anyone else.

We were supposed to ride 15 miles but it turned into 25 by the time we arrived.  Seemed like a lot to me for the first day!