After a hot Floridian breakfast I hit the road. There were a few more miles of the trail left, I passed a cluster of chain hotels right off the trail. The last mile of the South Dade Trail was the most pleasant. It was tree lined. When the trail ended I had a choice: the AAC route via Highway 1 South Dixie Highway, or the ECG route via Card Sound Road. I took Card Sound, a two-lane, flat straight road with no shoulder, no services, mangroves, seas of grass, fast cars and groups of motorcycles. The traffic wasn’t terrible since it was Sunday morning. The low clouds blocked the sun for the first hours. It was a bit shocking how few man-made things, besides the road, were out here in South Florida. At one point my knees started aching, I dropped one gear and the pain left. Card Sound Road intersected 905 in North Key Largo. 905 had bike lanes. I rode on the wrong side of the road to stay in the shade. On 905 there was an entrance to a path into a botanical garden. I rode a bit to have a snack and took another path that headed toward the ocean. There was a ton of plastic flotsam and jetsam but a path to the ocean through the mangroves. I didn’t want to get all wet and salted in the ocean with more miles to ride, but I should have swam out to the beached sailboat.

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    905 ended when Highway 1 entered Key Largo. I stopped at a gas station to rehydrate and eat some carbs. While I was there a fire truck pulled up and attended to a man in the back seat of an SUV. An ambulance arrived and took him away. I am not liking this trend. I was hoping the guy was just flummoxed by the hotel prices. The Mrs. nabbed a Holiday Inn that was only twice as much as it should have been. I pedaled seven miles to it. A long, hot day, I was a little beat up and glad to be out of the saddle.