Bound for Margaritaville

February 18, 2022

Moore Haven to Sugarloaf Key, FL

The fog had come in on little alligator feet last night so when I peeked out this morning, you could barely see across the pond. The humidity was so high - 95% - that the thermometer mounted on the trailer said it was raining outside!

We moved quickly, and by 8:30 were packed and out on the road heading further south to the Keys. The fog had mostly burned off by this time leaving sunny skies.

The drive was long - over 6 hours and the first part of it was very monotonous as we traveled through the cane fields and swamps until we reached I-75. South of the interstate we began seeing more homes and then businesses as we continued through Homestead and Florida City to Highway 1.

We had last toured through here about 10 years ago and we remembered biking some of this route. But it appeared that they had widened out Krome Ave between Highway 41 and Homestead to 4 lanes. Plus they added a nice bike trail running along the side along with bike lanes on the highway.

I would have liked to have stopped at one of the roadside produce stands we saw, but there was absolutely no place that we could park the trailer. The watermelons they were selling looked so good! Oh well, maybe we can find a farmer's market some where in the Keys.

When we reached Key Largo, the traffic slowed to a crawl for most of the rest of the way to our destination. There were a few accidents but it appeared to be due to the volume of vehicles heading south.

We did observe that the state hadn't bothered to improve the biking along Highway 1. There still was a "trail" next to the road that went from one side of the highway to the other with no warning of the change and often was nothing more than a sidewalk, crossing many driveways or parking lots. Most of the way there was a bike lane on the road but many cyclists we saw weren't using it. We did see a couple of touring cyclists that were on the road.

By 2:30 we arrived at our next campground - a KOA located on Upper Sugarloaf Key which is north of Key West. This place was completed destroyed in the last hurricane that hit the Keys but has been totally rebuilt and quite nice with lots of space between sites, trees/shrubs and bricked patios for everyone. We have our own table, chairs and a fire pit! Cushy camping! There is also a small beach, pool and cafe/lounge along with bathhouses and laundry.

But this place is VERY expensive and we could only afford to stay a few days. Typical Keys. I don't know what we'll be doing for sure - hopefully some biking and a little sightseeing on Key West.

Ok, Bill - I need some help here as I don't have a book showing woodpeckers in Florida. I was thinking a Ladder Back but maybe not?

Yikes! Our site in the Moore Haven KOA backed up to this pond. I wonder if small dogs qualify as food?! We never saw any gators on our stay here.

The spiders were sure busy last night and with the fog, their webs were all covered with water droplets.

Our camp at the KOA was quite nice with our own table and chairs.

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