Long Ride (Key West)

We had planned to wake up early today to get a good head start on our ride to the Keys, however because of my show last night and my wife not feeling too well, we didn’t get out of bed till about 9am. We were a bit worried because of all the rain that had been falling all week long. We believed there was going to be a very good chance we would get stuck in some of it today, and unfortunately we haven’t had the time or money to buy rain gear for riding.

As my wife got a small back-pack together, I went downstairs to check on the bike. I made sure it had enough oil and coolant. I also checked the tires, cables, lights, brakes (and their fluids) and just a general once over of the bike. Everything looked good. I rolled the bike to the front of the building where my wife was already waiting by the front lobby with the backpack. I strapped the backpack to the rear luggage rack, and headed south on the Palmetto Expressway.

The plan was to ride south to Florida City before stopping for breakfast. Florida City is the last populated town before you ride into what’s locally known as “The Stretch”, an 18 mile two lane highway with nothing but everglades on either side. Getting to Florida City meant we would need to navigate from North Miami down to Homestead through either State Road 826 or the Florida Turnpike. 826 is known to most bikers here as a “not too friendly” highway to travel on since people drive so crazy on it, but we figured since it was a holiday and most people either had already left for vacation or were still sleeping, we would be ok.

We cruised down 826 at about 70 to 75mph; amazingly I didn’t feel so nervous about driving this fast as I had before. Seems that the practice I got in the last 2 days of driving on the highway helped out a lot. We got down to Florida City about 30 minutes later, but we really weren’t that hungry. We pulled over to a gas station, filled the bike up and decided to just go right on through the “Stretch” and eventually stop in Key Largo for breakfast instead.

Driving down the “The Stretch” is a lot safer today than it used to be. This piece of highway is famous for the more than usual amount of head-on collisions. That was because many impatient drivers would try to pass slower cars by driving on the on-coming lane. Now they’ve place a barrier between the south and north bound lanes bringing that stunt to a halt. Unfortunately though, if you get caught behind a slow truck hauling a 30 foot boat, you’re going to be riding very slow for a very long time. Fortunately we had better luck and found that “The Stretch” was moving nicely at about 50 mph.

When we got to Key Largo, we began our hunt for someplace to have breakfast. We found a Waffle House but when we pulled into the parking lot we saw there was a line of people waiting to get in. My wife & I looked at each other and said “Lets keep riding”. Breakfast was going to have to wait a bit longer. We decided to keep riding up to Islamorada and stop to eat at the famous Holiday Isle Tiki Bar which is about another 15 miles south.

During our ride south we saw a lot of bikes coming back up north, and most were giving us that famous biker wave. So naturally we expected to see a lot of bikes parked at the Tiki Bar as there usually is, however when we got there, we couldn’t find one. Either everyone was still sleeping or the party was already over (lately that had been happening a lot to us…).

We had a nice full breakfast and then walked to the shore and looked out onto the Ocean, which was so peaceful at this time in the morning. We made plans to stop here again on the way back tomorrow to have a couple of their famous Pina Coladas and Rum Runners. We got back on our bike and continued our way South.

To get a feel of what the Keys are really all about, you need to get out of the tourist joints which you find more of on the upper Keys like Largo, Tavernier, Islamorada and even Marathon. Also the speed limit on these upper Keys is 45mph and are strictly enforced. But once you get to the middle and lower Keys (right after Marathon) everything changes. The feel of the area tends to be way more relaxed even though the speed limit in most of these islands are higher. You see a lot more open spaces, and a lot more water. When you get to the end of Marathon Key you will be face to face with the awesomeness that is the “7 Mile Bridge”.

I have traveled down to the Keys and this bridge more times than I can remember. My wife and I who only been married 2 years have been down here together a good 7 or 8 times, however I have never seen the Keys the way I saw them today. It was absolutely breathtaking. As our bike rolled up that 7 mile bridge, the sun shined on my face with a combination of warmth and gentle ocean breezes. I felt a huge smile come across my face and if anyone was looking at me they would’ve thought I was crazy. I gave out a loud “Yeehaw” as we came down the other side of the bridge’s mid-point which is a 65 foot high clearance for boats.

When I was a kid my father would drive the family down to Key West via the old original bridge. It was very nerve-racking to drive along that bridge because it was so narrow, and the guard rails were so wimpy (check out the picture of the old rails viewed from the new bridge)

The fear of driving over that bridge lasted well until my later years even though the old bridge is no longer open for traffic. The memory of my dad driving so close to the edge of those railing stuck in my mind forever. But today it’s different. I don’t feel a bit scared or nervous. I feel totally alive and blessed.

Once we entered the middle Keys, we started to feel the essence of “Margaritaville”. Here you start to leave behind civilization’s hustle and grind, and you begin to lay-back. There’s nothing but miles of ocean on either side of the highways, and all these little out of the way joints start to pop-up every now and then, and you just know that these places probably serve some mean home-town island cooking. We stopped at one of these little hide-away bars to stretch our legs and get something cold to drink. It was already about 1pm and we only had a little bit more to go, but my wife’s butt needed some time-off.

Two things to keep in mind for new riders when you stop at some of these cool spots.

1) Make sure your kick stand is on a solid ground. A lot of these places have dirt roads in front or loose gravel. A little trick I learned was to put a crushed soda or beer under the stand.

2) Be careful pulling out. That loose gravel could make you drop your bike if you’re not careful.

We finally arrived at our campground at Surgarloaf Key at about 2pm. My brother in-law and step sons had gone fishing on a party boat they rented, but we found my mother in-law and the rest of the family hanging out by the side of their RV cooking up some hotdogs on the BBQ. They had rented another RV for my wife and I which of course the kids had already claimed for themselves, but were kind enough to leave us a couple of spare small beds. We quickly jumped into our bathing suites and went straight to the pool. Later we took a quick dip in the little beach they have right next to the campground.

About 2 hours later my brother in-law, my wife’s two sons and her brother in-law showed up with a cooler filled with fish. Yellowtail, Snappers and even a Barracuda were quickly cleaned up by the pier and prepared for the BBQ. However it would take a few hours before any of it saw the grill, and my wife and I were too hungry to wait. So we dried up, got dressed and got back on the bike. Our next stop was Key West.

Key West is only 20 miles away from our campground, so we knew we would get into downtown Duval Street quickly and find some nice place to munch at. Sure enough we did find a nice bar/ restaurant. This place is about half a block behind the infamous Sloppy Joe’s. We parked our bike next to a couple of Harleys on the curb and went inside to see what they had to offer.

(NOTE: to my regret I didn’t write down the name of the place and have made a promise to myself to get it next time I’m down here as well as keep a little notebook for future excursions).

Every time I go to the Keys I always have to order conch fritters. They’re my favorite. My wife who use to live down here knows an old black lady who fries up some of the best conch fritter you’ll ever have. They call her appropriately enough “The Conch Fritter Lady”. She lives outside of the main streets near Sloppy Joe’s but you’ll eventually have to ask local folks where to find her. Today however we decided to let the “Conch Fritter Lady” rest, and order ourselves a batch here, together with an order of stuffed mushrooms. Mmmmmm! This is good food, and there’s no better way to wash it down than with a cold brew.

By the time we finished eating and headed outside to walk for awhile the skies had darkened really bad. We knew that at some point in our journey we were going to get wet and here it was. My wife and I decided there was no reason to try to walk around Key West knowing we were going to get soaked, so we might as well try to start heading back to the RV.

As we rode out of Key West and back north onto US1 it started to sprinkle. Then about 10 miles out it started to seriously pour. My wife was telling me to pull over under somewhere and waited out, but I wasn’t minding the rain too much. I kept riding slowly about 40 to 45 mph and kept my eyes open for anything out of the ordinary; like a car’s backlight swerving while crossing a bridge or stopping quickly ahead. I kept about a 4 car distance between me and any vehicles in front. About 3 miles before we got to the campground the rain had stopped just as fast as it had started. As a matter of fact, the rest of the family hadn’t even gotten a drop of rain. So you can imagine their surprise when we pulled up soaking wet.

We went into our RV got out of our wet clothed, then grabbed our bathing suites again, grabbed a couple of whiskey shots at the patio bar and went straight for the hot-tub. Ah yeah! A perfect ending to a perfect day.