Valentine’s Weekend Ride

Ok so, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a nice long trip, so here it goes. This past weekend was a long one with Valentines on Saturday and President’s Day on Monday. My wife & I who had originally planned on having a nice romantic dinner decided to skip the norm and head out on the road. (You gotta love a woman who prefers riding over flowers & chocolates..)

The plan was to head down to the Keys with my wife’s family on Friday and stay till Sunday afternoon. While the family rode in the motor home, my wife and I were going to follow on the bike, so Friday night after work we packed our Tourmaster bag and strapped it on to the bike, but just when we were getting ready to leave, my sister-in-law called to say that they weren’t going to leave till Saturday morning. With the bike all ready to go we decided to ride out to The Pit Bar B Que where a friend of us was DJing. Just as we got there my sister-in law called again saying that they had changed their mind and were going to leave that night after-all. By now it was about 8pm and a heavy fog was setting in, so we decided to wait till the next morning to leave. Besides, “The Pit “was jumping and everyone was having a really good time. As it turned out some of our rider friends that were there had made plans to ride down to the Keys the next day, so we decided to head down with them.

Saturday morning 5 of us met at the Turnpike Service Plaza to find a place to have breakfast before heading down to the Keys. We stopped at the Golden Coral, which IMHO has the best breakfast deal going on in town. For $7.99 you get a buffet-styled breakfast of all you can eat. And we’re not just talking eggs and pancakes. These folks have everything available from pastries to omelets made to your own special request. After pigging out we headed down the road to a gas station in Florida City to wait for a few more bikes to show up.

It wasn’t until 11:30am that we finally got everyone together to leave. I was asked to lead the group of about 12 bikes down US1. I had never been a captain of a ride, so it was some-what of a special treat for me, but it also made me nervous. After-all; as group captain you’re partly responsible for the whole group’s safety.

We rode down to the Tiki Bar at Holiday Isle. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, this is a must stop whenever you’re heading down to the Keys. The Tiki bar has some great burgers as well as some delicious seafood. Some of us sat at the bar to drink their famous “Miami Vice” (Rum Runner mixed with Pina Colada). Those who hadn’t eaten breakfast earlier, sat out by the water to eat. After hanging out for about an hour we decided to continue south to our destination at the Safari Lounge in Islamorada.

The Safari Lounge is a nice sport-bar where the view is awesome and the drink prices are more than reasonable. There’s a pool table, air-hockey table and juke-box to help you pass the time enjoyably. There’s also a lot of parking available for both bikes and cages right by the jetty. Perfect spot for pictures.

Parking at the Safari Lounge

After a few round of air hockey and pool, my wife and I decided to continue south to meet up with the rest of the family. So we said our farewell to everyone and got back on the over-seas highway.

Our new destination now was the KOA campsite in Sugarloaf Key, which is about 20 miles north of Key West. If you’ve read some of my earlier post about our rides down to Key West, you’ll know how much we love this place. After stopping for gas and getting a pizza for the family (can’t just show up empty-handed) we arrived at the camp ground at about 4pm. My brother-in-law and step-son were fishing off the nearby bridge, and caught a small hammerhead shark and some grunts. My wife’s 1 year old grandson was happily trying out something he had just recently discovered. Walking!

Later that night my wife and I walked around the camp ground and came across a small wedding that was taking place on the beach. There were tiki lamps lined up along an arch which was wrapped with colorful flowers. The groom and all the male guests wore white Guayaberas and sandals. Then the bride showed up in a white 4X4 in a simple white dress and beach sandals. My wife and I watched the young couple take their vows and hoped that their lives together will feel as complete as ours has