Day 3: Fort Lauderdale to Coral Gables: Have You Got the Radar on There?

February 5, 2015

Last night Marilyn was carefully checking the weather reports and speculating about what the morning might bring. "Have you got the radar app on there?" she asked, looking skeptically at our tablet.

This morning the reason became clear. Just as we were prepared to leave, the skies opened with a tropical type downpour. This sent us seasoned veterans of the West Coast scurrying back inside. We are now huddled on the sofa, eyeing the radar!

The radar shows the storm moving west to east and mostly north of us. "Any time now" it will taper, we will screw up our courage, maybe remember where we put the raincoats, and be out of here. Right now, though, it's thundering out there and I'm sticking with the nice safe sofa!

Out this screened window we should be able to see the pond. Until we do, we are staying put!

While it is raining, time for some reading:

Repercussions of liberalization with Cuba. Another one could be an increased availability of vintage American cars.

The rain prettymuch dispersed by 10, and so we were off. The way quickly led to the beach at Hollywood, where there is a great car free stretch known as the Broadwalk. The sea, of course, is beautiful. It is greenish here, as opposed to Hawaii, where it is a deep blue.

Car freedom soon evaporated, as we proceeded down A1A. For a while it did have a section with a lane signed as "bicycles may occupy entire lane". This is always nerve wracking, as you must rely on motorists bowling along to spot you. For most of it, though, a young driver got behind us with her flashers on and ran interference.

As we continued on South we passed many tall apartment buildings. Relative to their height they were narrow, as each is built on a scarce piece of waterfront or view property. Typically these buildings are white, but there are some pastels. The architecture is sort of space ship like, but none was so special as to attract a photo.

The next couple of hours is kind of a blur, not because I was delirious, or anything, but because there did not seem to be a clear plan of what kind of area we were in. Some times it was apartments, sometimes sort of low income rentals. Following our maps and GPS we generally wound around the direction of A1A South. Finally we travelled along Venetian Way and over the Venetian Causeway. This bridges (literally) from Miami Beach to Miami City.

Suddenly there was no longer as much doubt about what kind of place we were in. I commented to Dodie that this would be the place to have those automatic door locks on our bikes, to prevent hijacking. It would only work, or course, if the bikes had doors!

Although I could not help this initial reaction to the sketchy people standing around and the abandoned or run down buildings, I must say that those we talked to were perfectly friendly. We always try to acknowledge people that we pass on the street or sidewalk. The sketchy people in this sketchy area were all black. You might call this a kind of racist analysis, but in our experience the black people are the sweetest and most friendly.

The environment changed incredibly quickly from that point. The streets that were empty except for "street people", became populated by yes, poor people, but with viable stores around and lots of foot traffic. Almost instantly this disappeared in favour of a chaotic construction zone. This was terribly dangerous, as cars were zooming in all directions, mostly uncontrolled by the layouts you find with finished streets and buildings.

We survived the construction, though more that once found ourselves facing down a herd of oncoming cars as the street we were on suddenly became one way, the wrong way.

Again almost instantly we were in the upscale, but still chaotic Mary Brickell area, and finally reached the associated M Train station. The M Train is an elevated corridor that has a walking/bike path beneath it.

Although we are grateful for the M path, especially since the alternative is the high speed/no shoulder US 1, we must say they did not make totally easy. There are numerous cross streets, and at each one you are at the mercy of the cross traffic. The M path does, of course, resume at the other side of each intersection, but it is not totally obvious where it picks up again. Still, it worked, and delivered us to the Coral Gables Inn, right on US 1. For $100, the room is standard, but easily big enough to absorb the bikes. There are also a couple of big plusses - the wifi is good, and there is a bath tub.

Dodie's knees were not totally happy, but they did it. And they are making use of big plus number three - an ice machine!