If You Want to Go Further SE the Bikes Need Pontoons - Marathon to Key West

In Key West at the Atlantic seawall.

We have reached the end of the journey.  Yesterday’s ride was quite thrilling—crossing a seven mile bridge, and several shorter ones.  The views were spectacular, and with the wind at our backs, we quickly covered the 50 miles.  We reached Key West shortly before 12:30 p.m., turned south to circumnavigate the island and headed to the Atlantic Ocean, where we snapped a self portrait.  We then continued on to the southernmost point in the continental USA, only 90 miles from Cuba.  People were lined up to take pictures at the buoy marking the point, and we joined them.  After that, we headed on downtown for a quick stop at Kermit’s Key West  Key Lime Shoppe and then had lunch at Sandy’s Café.  From there we biked to PakMail, were we dropped off our bikes and gear, which will be shipped to Olympia.  That left us with our partially-loaded panniers, and what we thought was a .3- mile walk to our hotel.   Instead, it was a two-mile walk, but we arrived in fine form.  On the way we picked up a small bottle of Myers’s Rum, which is our Friday night date night drink of choice, and celebrated one day early! 

A series of photos across the 7 mile bridge.

Other views along the way to Key West.

We ARRIVE!

The southernmost point. (Note, Rob is in his parrot-head jersey.)

The end of US 1.

AGO Team want to start the tourist thing.

But the McDaniels opt for lunch!!!!

Then it was off to ship the faithful bikes home. (Diane's drive train was sounding like it was slowly grinding coffee and Rob's bike had been turned into a beach cruiser - but the bikes made it!)

Our ceremonial last biking meal - pork & beans, left-over Cuban lunch, Fritos, cheese and our favorite island rum by Myers!

Our thanks to everyone that helped make this trip of a life-time possible. A special thanks to Dana, Jerry, Erika, Debra, Mike G., Dave the bike mechanic, Judy and Gene and Kent, for finding us on the road to Bliss, and adding to our joy, and to Frank and Angela for their "above and beyond" priceless contributions, and to Nony for her special prayers. And of course another special thanks to the strangers along the way that came to our rescue at times of extreme heat or trouble on the road.

Love to All from Diane and Rob.

End of the Ride -

We’ve arrived, enjoyed our first day in Key West, and are ready to explore more tomorrow, by foot.   We’ll post more in the morning.

Stats Summary

Stat summary:  Of the 70 day trip, we were on the bikes 66 days.  We bicycled 3909 miles, and averaged a little over 59 miles a day.  Our shortest day was 22 miles, and our longest 102.   

Stats - Marathon to Key West

11/03/2011 Marathon to Key West

Mileage:   49.5

Average Speed:  14.5

Maximum Speed:  27.

Time in the saddle: 3 Hr 25 Min

Time on the road:  4 Hr 20 Min

We Will Not be Derailler(ed) - Key Largo to Marathon

A fantastic day!  First, a great breakfast at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen.  Then, we began our ride on the bike trail that connects Key Largo to Islamorada.  The northerly wind moved us at a good pace.  But Rob’s derailleur was threatening to go haywire (again), and his chain was torqued from yesterday’s trouble.  Therefore when we came upon Key Largo Bike and Adventure Tours, we popped in.   Rob conferred with David, the bike mechanic, and the decision was made.  Remove the derailleur, put on a new chain, and run the bike in a single gear.  There were some  adjustments that needed to be made, and David knew exactly what to do.  Before too long, we were up and running (successfully).   The views as we moved south were fantastic, especially on the bridges.  We saw huge sea turtles, pelicans, and bright green iguanas, and of course various waterfowl.  Dinner at the Island Fish Company was superb.  We had grilled hogfish (Diane’s first experience with this fish) and all the fixings, and key lime pie for dessert.  Yum. 

Dave saves the Day!

Old Blue in its new gearing configuration. Sometimes simple is the best solution.

Diane runs the bridges between the keys.

And loves it!

As did the AGO Team.

Through the Keys there is an "on and off again" bike path. In someplaces it is wonderful as shown in this super-highway parelleling one of the many bridges in the keys.

 At other times the bike path is...

...just mediocre. And in one place just weird. It stops in the middle of the bar ditch on the wrong side of the road.

But there are always interesting local sites along the way.

Tomorrow is THE day. 

Stats - Key Largo to Marathon

11/02/2011 Key Largo to Marathon

Mileage:   45.6

Average Speed:  12.5

Maximum Speed:  27.3

Time in the saddle: 3 Hr 38 Min

Time on the road:  6 Hr 02 Min

Atlantic to the Left and the Gulf to the Right, Here We are Together in the Keys - Miccosukee Casino to Key Largo

What a day!  Great beginning, ugly middle, great end.  Knowing we had a short mileage day and a strong tail wind, we slept in a bit, and rolled out at 9:00 a.m.  Krome Avenue south was only a slight improvement over US 41, traffic was heavy, and the air was thick and muggy.   But we moved pretty quickly to and almost through Homestead.  Before we could get though Homestead, however, Diane had two flats on her rear tire about 30 minutes apart.  About one mile after the last flat, we were on the Florida Keys Scenic Highway http://www.floridascenichighways.com/florida-keys-scenic-highway/ which was a great part of the ride.  And then we reached the new bridge just north of Key Largo.  Rob made an ill-fated decision to shift into a lower gear to ascend the bridge, and once again, his rear derailleur did the pretzel trick.  And once again, he did a road-side repair, which survived the next seven miles to our hotel.  He did a little refinement of the repair at the hotel, which we hope will survive the next 100 or so to and around Key West.  We had a wonderful dinner at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen, including a gluten free beer for Diane. 

Getting Checked out at the Casino.... after retrieving our bikes from Valet Parking - shown here with the other Rolls-Royces.

 (Just kidding.)

Headed toward Homestead Fl we passed through a rich agricultural area with vegetable crops, passion fruit orchards and nurseries. The most interesting (to us) was this Palm nursey.

Once on US 1 to the Keys we passed through 20 miles of the lower everglades with its miles of cattails. At the same time a stream of cars zipped by us towards Key Largo.

Rob is shown here trying to recover from bad decision making - first, looking to take a non-existent" easier route" and second, shifting into a gear that was not really needed. Not shown is Diane patiently being helpful and probably thinking - "Did he not learn his lesson the first time?"

After getting back on the road Rob redeems himself by taking Diane to a Key Largo Icon - Mrs Mac's Kitchen. The yellow tail was excellent!

We will head to Marathon tomorrow - sliding down through the Keys. Rob has promised Diane the best Key Lime Pie ever.

Stats - Miccosukee Resort to Key Largo

11/01/2011 Miccosukee Resort to Key Largo

Mileage:   52.9

Average Speed:  11.9

Maximum Speed: 19.3

Time in the saddle: 4 Hr 26 Min

Time on the road:  7 Hr 17 Min