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.