February 19, 2015
Day 17: Flamingo to Florida City
Woosh, woosh. My sleeping mind wondered how it once again had camped by an Interstate, with cars wooshing by. Then it remembered that we were nowhere near an Interstate, but rather we were by the sea. So it decided this must be the surf. But then it remembered that there is no surf in this region, except in a hurricane. So what was going on? It turned out to be wind, headwind , wooshing through the (two) palm trees in our open 20 acre field by Florida Bay. Returning consciousness also verified that the tent was thrashing around - corroborating evidence that maybe we were going nowhere today.
Dodie had other ideas. By 5:30 a.m., in the pitch dark, she was saying "We need to get out of here", "Now!". Get out of here? This most southerly swing was supposed to be the most warm and relaxing part of our lazy sub-tropical adventure! Yes, but with 30 kph winds from the North, it would take a lot of time to pedal back to Long Pines. Best get going early.
Getting going early could not include any bathroom routines, getting dressed in the bathroom, or anything like that, because the Park Service had paradoxically decided to close and put "under construction" the washroom we had moved to when we encountered the other closed one. On the other hand, any mosquitoes had now been blown toward Key West, and most gratifying of all, our noisy neighbours' camp had been totally flooded out, washing them back to wherever they came from and belonged. Actually, we were pretty much alone in the 20 acres. There must have been a message in that!
We made our way to the still closed marina store and settled in to the cold and windy tables in front to wait for daylight and for the store to open. When it did, we scooped up some more yummy microwave breakfast sandwiches (which would have been despicable if we were at home!), and some anti-bonk chocolate bars (our fav is the "100 Grand"). Then we set off into the stiff headwind.
Dodie did extremely well in the rather extreme conditions. We covered the first 20 km quite well. But a continuing strong headwind is always hard to cope with. We started trying to have Dodie draft behind me. But the wind and the road kept changing direction, and I myself was being buffeted, making it hard to maintain a constant speed and a straight line. Still, it did help a lot.
Possibly an even bigger bug than the wind on this road was the stupid behaviour of the drivers. The road is inherently unsafe, being narrow and having no shoulder. When drivers would approach us from behind (and there were lots - it's a busy road) they would normally pull over, to a greater or lesser extent, using the oncoming side of the road. But, but, when cars were coming from the other direction, what would those behind us do? We can tell you one thing, not one in 100 had heard of the idea of taking your foot off the gas pedal and waiting for the road to clear. And of course, none of these cars actually had brakes, apparently. So sometimes we would risk being "dead" right, and would pull out into the centre of the lane, until the oncoming lane would be clear. Then we we swerve over to the road side and let the driver behind pass. It was a tough game, though. If we would move into the lane, but not fast enough or not fully enough, drivers would typically step on the gas and attempt to squeeze by us quickly. If they had to enter the oncoming lane, they would floor it to avoid the head on collision. Overall, we can not recommend the Everglades Park road for cycling!
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As we passed back along the territory we had covered two days earlier, we had another chance to appreciate the landscape. However, we still didn't take any of the 2 km side trips to points of interest. The most spectacular thing going on this route remains the dwarf, white, bald cypress forest. They are only bald and white in Winter, and we already found some that were leafing out. Still the white trees against the clear blue sky was quite a sight.
As we began to draw somewhat near to Long Pine Key, the combination of shifts in the wind and the winding of the road gave us pretty much a tail wind. So we decided to go crazy, and make a run all the way in to Florida City, to the hostel there.
The traffic intensified as we did this, and our tail wind eventually decided it preferred to be a head wind again, but with patience and some courage, we did it. I had had my heart set on stopping again at the famous fruit stand Robert is Here. Dodie was pretty sure she lacked the strength even to stop, so she sent me on ahead. I actually appreciated the chance to fight the wind and the traffic with all my strength, as usually I dawdle behind, just watching Dodie use up all her strength.
At Robert's I ordered their giant milkshake, which you can get in any fruit flavour. I chose mango and banana. Also picked up some bananas and starfruit. I had been banned from buying a 10 pound papaya, but boy they looked good.
Dodie showed up surprisingly quickly, and I made her eat (not drink - too thick) most of my shake. I may love and order these things, but can not necessarily digest them!
We proceeded through quite poor and run down sections of town, unfamiliar after the days in the wilderness, and finally arrived at the oasis of the hostel. With a bit more experience behind us, we set about swiftly staking out turf where we could put down my sleeping bag, reserving Dodie's easy chair by dumping our junk all over it, grabbing a table for writing this blog at, etc. These precautions were reasonably successful, but we still had to cope with the many other people around. For example, we made place for three or four Quebecers to sit and eat their supper - fine. But then one of the females turned out to be a cackler, and the whole group felt this was party time, rather than supper time. We are just crabby old people, I guess.
Dodie got onto the project of preparing our luxury break for tomorrow. The plan is to go to the Miccosukee Casino and Hotel, just at the start of the Tamiami Trail. Dodie somehow talked them in to a deluxe room, at their rock bottom price for any room tomorrow - $159. They say we are going to get a bottle of wine and a free breakfast with that. We also got a tip from Jim, our "host" at Long Pine, that they have a pretty cheap steak and lobster dinner. Of course, I have my one US dollar ready, and I am prepared to gamble it, if (and only if) I can find a game or machine that seems "fair" and that I can actually understand!
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Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 781 km (485 miles)
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