Day 8: Key West to Sugarloaf Key

February 10, 2015

Michel and Gaetane agreed to cycle in to Key West with us today and guide us around a bit. Though from Quebec they have been coming here each year for many years, and know the place very well.

Michel and Gaetane regularly cycle all over Key West

Michel points out a sight - in this case, the lack of houseboats, which were disallowed because of pollution.

When US 1 arrives at Key West the traveller gets the choice of heading down the north or south side of the island. The south side is where the nice beaches are, and Michel brought us down that way first. Riding here with Michel and Gaetane gives expression to our ideal situation, where one can get on a bicycle from home and cruise quietly and effortlessly by restaurants, historical sites, churches, and the like. Key West is cycle friendly, and the cruising is easy. The quietly part is always true of bicycles, though here it seems traffic is very noisy.

We could quickly see that Michel not only knows this place, but he loves and appreciates it. Most days he and Gaetane cycle this same route, though Michel is also known to run, either this way or up to 30 km north. As we proceeded along the south side beach, Michel greeted people that we encountered. In most cases, I think he was just being generally friendly, but in many other cases the people knew him. We stopped and chatted with a beach artist, for example, and a lady tending a waterside bar.

Michel took us to some stops that probably are not on the Hop On Hop Off circuit. For example there was the Key West Aids Memorial. This is not exactly well signed or documented, so there was no indication of when it was created. There sure were a lot of names inscribed there, though. Perhaps Key West was especially hard hit? We will later see if Google has an idea.

Another memorial we touched was for some illegally enslaved and mistreated Africans who had been rescued by the US navy. Many died anyway, and they are buried at a beachside cemetery.

Finally (in this list of the slightly off beat), Michel brought us to a hockey arena. Apparently the game is played here with full equipment, except the skates are in line rollers. And then there was the large baseball/soccer complex. Michel pointed out that these facilities are unusually good for a town whose resident population is fairly small.

From the end of the main beach area we entered the heart of downtown Key West. Much of Florida is not really "tropical", but way down here it looks suitably Carribean. That is, it is more lush than further north, and features more of Traveller's Palm, Bougainvillea, and such like. Then there is the architecture. It reminds us most of old town New Orleans, with many small wooden houses and many larger ones of two or three stories, with balconies, also all wood. Probably this style is most properly identified as Caribbean, and can be found in Jamaica, Bahamas, maybe Cuba, and so forth. In any event, when mixed with the foliage it looks great.

This beach artist, known to Michel, had a Florida accent but also could speak French

Travellers palms - look the most tropical to us

Key West downtown has streets that are in some cases just like a peaceful small town, with the small wooden houses and little traffic. Other streets are similar, and also have little traffic, but they are given over to tourist stuff like restaurants, clothing stores, souvenir shops, and like New Orleans, bars.

The buoy that a marks the southernmost point in the continental US always has a line up for the photo op.

As before, we did not go in to the Hemmingway House. This nearby cafe is names the six toed cat because of Hemmingway's fondness for such cats. Several live at the house even today.

This is the mandatory shot at the end of US 1.

A tourist train. There are also hop on hop off trolleys.

At the museum of art. Note the real life couple also in the shot.

These apparent local denizen men actually all are tourists from Leo's campground, where we stayed.

This original theatre is now a pharmacy.

Really a lot of tropical foliage around a house

Michel had listened to me whining about bakeries the evening before, and so had duly researched the matter. He came up with a place he had not been to before, called Croissants de France. This turned out to be an absolutely no fooling French bakery, identical to what you find in France. The only difference was that the server behind the counter was Cuban, and at least one label was in English, saying something like "raisin bun" instead of "pain au raisin". So I tried it out on the Cuban lady, asking for "pain au raisin". She smoothly went for the correct bun, prompting me to ask how she knew which I had been talking about. "After eight years here", she replied, "I know". She also told me that the baker was from Bretonne, and other workers were from Normandie and Paris. They sure knew what they were doing! Even the Kougin Aman, a rather esoteric croissant variant, was spot on, terrific, just as good or better than at the bakery named Kougin Aman, in Montreal.

We hoped their name was accurate, it was!

Key lime pie, but again we failed to try it.

Look at how lovely this Kougin Aman is. Taste and texture were right on.

Needless to say, I was pretty darn pleased. That is, until it occurred to me that a perfect clone of a bakery style from a foreign country was not exactly an example of local cuisine. I put this problem to Michel, and we determined that something from Cuba, just 90 1/2 miles distant, could probably qualify as local. So off we went to Sandy's Cafe, advertising itself as the home of the original Cuban sandwich. According to Wikipedia, though the origin of the Cuban Sandwich may be murky, and though there may be claims from Tampa or Little Cuba in Miami, Key West is the first place mentioned. So hey Sandy's here we come. The Cuban man behind the counter, with the "Original Cuban Sandwich" tee shirt, said that the "mixed" would be the most original. This turned out to be a bun of Cuban bread with lots of roast pork bits, and cold cuts of beef and turkey. And.. it was great! Flavourful as can be, juicy, just totally yummy. For any French or German readers (and for the Alstons) I would say the closest thing is European Kabap. Anyway, another score for Key West!

The original Cuban sandwich, or at least, a really good one.

Michel next led us past several properties he had his eye on. These were detached houses that he felt he could live in part time and rent out on a weekly basis. There was one where he had actually put in an offer, and was waiting to hear back. It looked great to us, and we hoped the deal would go through. That way we could come back as one of those weekly renters. We also suggested that he should open up the back yard for camping!

The time came to say goodbye (for this year) to this lovely couple, and to head back off north. The head wind that we had expected gave us a break by onlybeing a side wind. But it did blow rather briskly. Still we had set it up for only a short distance needed, to reach the KOA on Sugarloaf Key.

The KOA contained the usual array of hundreds of bus like RVs, but they did have a choice of tent camping spots as well. The choice was for a wildly overpriced spot with no services, or an insanely overpriced spot with a raised gravel pad and electricity. We chose the wildly overpriced spot. $76. For Canadians who might find that unbelievable, that is $CAN 95 - got the picture?

p.s. Dodie points out for accuracy that there was also a possible "primitive" spot, with absolutely nothing, for $62. She says the spot we have has a table, a fire pit, and a plug somewhere, making it actually quite luxurious!

Gaetane gave us some homemade spaghetti sauce, so we went and bought this. We could name this tour "Powered by Pasta" now.

On the way back North - this looks really Caribbean.

This tethered blimp, like the one in Texas, is looking for drug dealers and/or illegal immigrants.

Sorry hundreds of readers, this shot is for Josh.

Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 347 km (215 miles)

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