Yachts, mansions, beaches and a lot of TRAFFIC

Friday, March 15, 2019

Lake Worth, Florida (near Palm Beach) to Dania Beach, Florida
51.8 miles traveled - about 8 of those by city bus

As we are waking up in the very quiet campground it begins to rain. It doesn't seem like it will last long and the temperature is in the 70's so it isn't a big deal.  We ride for quite a ways along a very quiet section of A1A.  The estates and mansions we are passing are enormous.  Some are compounds with multiple mansions.   The homes along Ocean Blvd. are on such a narrow strip of land that the owners can dock their yachts in the intracoastal waterway and walk across the street to their oceanfront estates.  

There is a Swedish bakery which is begging us to stop for coffee.  The pastries are delicious and we also buy some meat and spinich pies for lunch.  The owner is Swedish and she carries a few products in her grocery section that look interesting.  I wish I had room for the sugar beet syrup and some salmon-in-a-tube.

There are pastries from all over Europe - all baked here

Creamed salmon in a tube?  Yes, please.

We reach Boca Raton and the rain stops but the traffic is getting heavy.  There is a lot of congestion and it is tiring being on high alert for so long.  A car turns right across two lanes of traffic and across the bike lane which I am in.  I avoid getting hit by a few feet at most.  Tom is ahead of me and doesn't witness this excitement.  At Hillsboro Beach route A1A is closed and the detour takes us to Route 1 where the trafic and congestion only get worse.  By the time we are back around we decide to take the city bus south as far as possible to avoid some of the traffic near Pompano, and Fort Lauderdale.

Those are our bikes on front of the bus!  The fare is the best $4 I ever spent --
(total - for 2 riders plus 2 bikes)

We rode the bus about eight miles south on route A1A

After we leave the bus we need to find our way around the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport.  The Adventure Cycling maps did a good job of making this possible.  While riding around the airport we saw four parrots and two monkeys.  Really!  The monkeys were just sitting on a side street watching us ride by.  https://www.local10.com/news/wild-monkeys-live-near-fort-lauderdale-airport_20151128122529101This has been a weird day.

We have a reservation for a Motel 6 tonight, thankfully.  While we were checking in the desk agent was turning away all the walk-in's.  It's a busy time in Florida!