To Key West

March 24, 2024

The punch list of things to do before departure is all checked off. One item I worried about finding in time was a hook to replace the one that was missing from my pannier. While I googled away hunting for a solution, Barry went to the hardware store for a $3 steel rod, then proceeded to cut and pound it into shape to match the other one. Et voila!

Hard to say which one is the original. Nice work honey!

Friday morning we picked up a Chrysler Pacifica from the Budget place 10 minutes from our house. It's just big enough for three people, three bikes and all the touring accoutrements.

The van swallowed both recumbents whole, no need for disassembly. We just had to take the front wheel off Mike's bike. Easy peasy.

Two days on the road got us to Gainesville Florida to see Alex Funk, Barry's friend from 40 years ago when they lived in Durham/Chapel Hill North Carolina. Alex is a retired electronics ace who loves to tinker. All around his house are solar devices he has built to power his van, lights and assorted gizmos. He was kind enough to host us for the night and we spent an enjoyable evening covering all sorts of topics - nutrition, virtual reality, AI, the singularity, and more stuff that sailed over my head.

It was Alex who connected Barry with a job opening as an electronics technician at Duke University. He took the job working for Dr. James Cox, a cardiothoracic surgeon who developed the Maze procedure to treat atrial fibrillation. When Dr. Cox moved to Washington University in St. Louis to lead the cardiothoracic surgery department, Barry moved with him to set up his lab.

A few years later Barry and I met in St. Louis and he lured me out on my first bike tour across the state of Missouri. So I credit Alex with my eventual conversion to the cycle touring junkie sitting here pounding out this journal, not to mention other life-changing butterfly effects, like our two boys.

Dinner at the original 1968 flagship location for Sonny's BBQ. Thanks to Alex for putting us up, and setting the wheels in motion.

The third day of the the drive was the longest. I've never seen so many wrecks in one day, and traffic slowdowns off and on all day.

At long last we reached the bridge to Key Largo and had a chance to look over the route we'll be biking back on in two days. Looks like a mix of off-road path and other parts when we'll be on the shoulder of the road, per usual.

At 6:30 we landed at Key West, set up camp, showered and set off for the harbor to find dinner.

A blessed break in traffic on the bridge

Tiny, breezy campsite by the water at Boyd's campground. There are plenty of open sites here on a Sunday night.

In a hurry to find an unobstructed view of the vestiges of sunset I passed up the docks with the pretty boats and jogged out past the fueling station through a cloud of diesel fumes.

All kinds of boats in the old harbor - yachts, party boats, cruise ships, battleships, cigar boats, catamarans

I was worried it might be getting hot but the weather here looks perfect this week, in the 70s to low 80s and mostly dry. Should be a great day tomorrow to buzz around Key West.

Strong vote for the Lobster Fritters and the Yellowfin Snapper at the Boathouse Bar & Grill

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Bob DistelbergSome number of years ago, during a long, cold Vermont winter, my wife and I had this running gag where every morning she would check the weather in Key West, and report, "Hey, it's going to be 80 degrees and sunny in Key West today." And I would say something like, "Well, let's go." We didn't. It went on for months.
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