January 8, 2014
Day 4: Key West to Sugar Loaf Key
No alligators came out of the slough, and though it was cold and windy, we were snug in our tent, watching Yes Minister on the smartphone. Though we have no fuel, our new friends Michel and Guetanne from Quebec City came up with some hot coffee, which was swell.
We took some extra time to repack, recheck tire pressures, readjust seats, and such like, and tawdled off back in the direction of Key West, around 9:30.
The North side of Key West contains a lot of franchise business. With the addition of the road being torn up, it definitely lacks charm. However once the old town is reached - in the west end of the island - things change dramatically for the better. Key West is described in one guide book we read as an almost Caribbean town. That seems quite apt. The houses are of a classical tropical style, two or three stories, with pillars, and balconies. Many are very weathered, giving them immense character, and many are surrounded by lush tropical landscaping. Amidst this basic framework of houses there are hundreds of restaurants, craft shops, and hotels, plus numerous bars. Everything has a tropical or conch shell or pirate flair, and the many tourists are walking around absorbing the ambiance and as is normal, observing each other absorbing the ambiance.
Despite this being a tourist scene, it also has a lot of authenticity. I mean, this is legitimately the tropics, conch shells and manatees are found right here, slave trade and pirates are part of the history, etc, and even tourism is a venerable institution here. We loved the whole thing.
One bit that was also good, but not quite explicable, is a certain touch of New Orleans, in that we found two French bakeries. It's maybe a little more than that, since we also had the inexplicably high quality dinner rolls at the Double Tree in Miami. How has decent baking made a beach head in Southern Florida? Is it all the snow birds from Quebec?
We took the time to collect the absolutely necessary photos of ourselves at Mile 0 of Hwy 1, and also at the buoy marking the southernmost point in the US. At both spots there was a queue get to stand in front of the landmark. In fact, at the southernmost point the queue was really long. We settled for a kind of oblique shot.
With our required photos safely in the can, we turned our thoughts to actually making some progress towards Tucson. We cycled along the south side beaches and past the airport, retracing our route from in the dark last night. Finally we passed Leo's and could enjoy the thought of actually getting somewhere today. Only thing, the wind continued very strong and basically right in our faces. So that made it a standard headwind slog. It`s ok though, we are patient. At least we until tomorrow. More wind like that would be a bit trying.
With the wind and late start we got nowhere near where we had thought to be, and had not even bothered to mark the map at home with the campgrounds so close in to Key West. This time when Dodie called for the GPS to comment on what might be around as night fell, I had cleverly actually turned the function on. So here we are at KOA Sugar Loaf. The GPS must come from a rich family, because this place it chose is costing us $72 for our patch of grass. We are adjusting our standards. For $72 we are getting turf that we can actually put a peg in. Yesterday's "budget" $63 effort supplied a gravel pad where the gravel had ambitions to someday be as hard as concrete!
Wind and rain notwithstanding, we are having a good time now. Since we know our gear and bodily capabilities so well, we are able with confidence to get on and absorb what this region has to offer. We see the palm trees, the green water, the mangroves, the tourists, the new and the decaying tropical style buildings, even the ripoff KOA, and we say Cool!
Bedtime now - watch for captions soon!
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Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 52 km (32 miles)
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