March 20, 2019
Grassy Key to Big Pine Key
39.5 miles, but 15 of those miles were on the bus
We don't have many miles to ride today and we are going to take a detour to No Name Key. There is a fabled pub there which is papered in thousands of dollar bills.
We have ridden over so many scary bridges already but I do not want to ride the seven mile bridge. It is seven miles of narrow shoulder with fast-moving traffic and lots of tourists gawking at the ocean view. https://kwtransit.com is the way to go. We get on the bus just before the bridge and get off right after the bridge. It feels like the right choice when we are crossing that bridge at 60 mph and looking out at the but the blue-green ocean.
The Big Pine Key fishing campground is full of RV's and tents. The crowd is considerably younger than most of the RV parks we have been in. I think people here fish all day and hang out and eat and drink all night. It is a happy place!
March 21, 2019
The key deer is the smallest subspecies of the North American white-tailed deer. The key deer inhabit 20 - 25 islands in the lower keys from No Name and Big Pine key westward to Sugarloaf key. We see quite a few.
The campground's seasonal residents are streaming toward the recreation building where the free coffee is brewing. I join them and after a quick breakfast our final riding day is off to a great start.
There are 42 bridges on the keys and except for the seven mile bridge we are riding every one. The Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail is made up of annoyingly short sections on the lower keys and a few parts are still hurricane damaged. We ride out a long dead end road on Sugarloaf key in hopes of seeing baby sharks feeding inshore. The tide is high. Tonight’s warm showers host, Chuck, suggested this side trip. It's a peaceful ride out to the end of the key. No sharks are visible because the road ends several yards before the oceanside and we aren’t keen on venturing into the the hammock with all the snakes.
Grassy Key to Big Pine Key
39.5 miles, but 15 of those miles were on the bus
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| The blue-green water is so sparkly and beautiful |
We don't have many miles to ride today and we are going to take a detour to No Name Key. There is a fabled pub there which is papered in thousands of dollar bills.
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| There are purportedly 250K one dollar bills hanging in the pub |
We have ridden over so many scary bridges already but I do not want to ride the seven mile bridge. It is seven miles of narrow shoulder with fast-moving traffic and lots of tourists gawking at the ocean view. https://kwtransit.com is the way to go. We get on the bus just before the bridge and get off right after the bridge. It feels like the right choice when we are crossing that bridge at 60 mph and looking out at the but the blue-green ocean.
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| Here is the view through the windshield |
The Big Pine Key fishing campground is full of RV's and tents. The crowd is considerably younger than most of the RV parks we have been in. I think people here fish all day and hang out and eat and drink all night. It is a happy place!
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| an adequate site |
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| This water is right behind the tent site |
March 21, 2019
Big Pine Key to Key West (!)
48.7 miles
A tiny key west deer is walking around the campground looking for handouts. These deer are endangered and there are NWS signs saying that it’s illegal to feed them, but there is a young man who is choosing to ignore this information.
48.7 miles
A tiny key west deer is walking around the campground looking for handouts. These deer are endangered and there are NWS signs saying that it’s illegal to feed them, but there is a young man who is choosing to ignore this information.
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| The full grown female is very small. |
The key deer is the smallest subspecies of the North American white-tailed deer. The key deer inhabit 20 - 25 islands in the lower keys from No Name and Big Pine key westward to Sugarloaf key. We see quite a few.
The campground's seasonal residents are streaming toward the recreation building where the free coffee is brewing. I join them and after a quick breakfast our final riding day is off to a great start.
There are 42 bridges on the keys and except for the seven mile bridge we are riding every one. The Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail is made up of annoyingly short sections on the lower keys and a few parts are still hurricane damaged. We ride out a long dead end road on Sugarloaf key in hopes of seeing baby sharks feeding inshore. The tide is high. Tonight’s warm showers host, Chuck, suggested this side trip. It's a peaceful ride out to the end of the key. No sharks are visible because the road ends several yards before the oceanside and we aren’t keen on venturing into the the hammock with all the snakes.
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| This is an incomplete section of the trail. We have better luck sticking with Route 1. |
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| One of the 42 bridges |
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| Southernmost Point in the USA, Key West, Florida |
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| The end of the road! |
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| Jambalaya for dinner while we sit on the deck and watch the fishing boats come in at Hurricane Hole |
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| We sleep on the Sea Clusion tonight. We cannot offer enough thanks to our warm showers host, Captain Chuck. We had a very restful night on his beautiful fishing boat. What a perfect end to our trip! |
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