To Key Largo: Comfort Camping

March 28, 2024

This morning Mike finds a calling card from the local rats. They have chewed into his top tube bag to steal a couple of energy bars. Charming.

The flea bites from last night are itchier now. Long Key State Park really is the pits. Let's get out of here. A light rain falls as we're packing up, just enough to make the sand stick to everything.

The middle Keys are not as deserted as where we've been the last couple of days. There's more bike trail now, less riding on the shoulder, and some quieter stretches on old U.S. 1 away from the highway. Just a few photos from today's ride...

Lots of commerce as we ride in to Islamorada

A monument in Islamorada memorializes the hundreds of veterans and citizens who perished in the Great Hurricane of 1935. Sustained winds of 200 miles per hour destroyed most buildings and much of the Florida East Coast Railway.

Palm trees bend in the wind as the sea laps at their trunks on the frieze. Below is a beautiful tile illustration of the Keys.

There haven't been a lot of flowers to see until now. We passed a few of these lovely trees - maybe Golden Trumpet?

Manatees swim around coral reefs in this Key Largo mural by marine life artist Wyland. Completed in 2007, it was the 95th of the "Whaling Wall" murals he painted around the world.

My Lumix camera does not like the humidity here. Yesterday the lens cover would not close and today the lens will not retract when I try to turn off the camera.

The sticky lens cover shadows the corners of several photos. I've had this problem before. Frustrating.

I have a stop to make at the post office in Key Largo to pick up a Quad Lock phone mount for my bike. The big advantage to it is I can get it on and off the handlebar with one hand, making it easy to take photos on the fly. Now that I have a phone with a great camera, a Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, I don't notice a big difference in the quality of the photos it takes compared to the Lumix. So the Lumix is going home in the mail before I ruin it. Unfortunately I forgot to transfer the photos I took today from the camera to the phone before I shipped it. Oh well.

The brand new Publix supermarket is Key Largo has great lunch options - deli, poke bowls, BBQ. There's a nice seating area with plugs and Wifi. Barry and Mike take off to get a site at the campground just a couple miles away. I think I'll sit here for awhile where it's cool and upload some photos before I join them.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is way farther up the comfort camping scale than our campsite last night in Long Key. We get the last available hiker-biker site. It's huge - really a group site, and shady. I wash my stinky clothes in the utility sink and everything is clean and dry now. Heaven.

Barry found a shady spot to string up his hammock.

The bathrooms are the nicest I've seen in a state park. Hooks, benches and shelves for your stuff abound, and the water is hot.

There's plenty to do here - kayaking, SUPing, powerboat rentals and snorkeling/scuba around a reconstruction of a Spanish shipwreck. Not much of a beach though. We haven't seen any decent beaches in the Keys. Should be better as we move north.

We're all doing our own thing for dinner. Mike cooks up some Mahi Mahi. After my big Ahi Tuna Poke bowl for lunch I'm happy with a Chef salad. Barry picks up some takeout Chicken Alfredo nearby in Key Largo.

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Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 106 miles (171 km)

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