Heh!

Three days, 150 miles to go

Wheel full 70px After riding yesterday to the very tip of Florida’s Atlantic Coast beaches at the north entrance to Biscayne Bay

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today I will make my way onto the Florida Keys! Here’s a couple of postcards from yesterday’s ride, which somehow managed to include a leaky gas main and a little less than two hours of riding across the Miami metro area at night.

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-oOo-

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Wheel full 70px I’m starting the day in Cutler Bay, a completely unremarkable portion of Miami’s urban sprawl north of the old Homestead Air Force Base, which has been decommissioned and closed.   I’ll head south on minor roads until I run into Card Sound Road, which crosses onto the Keys east of US Highway 1 over the toll bridge shown on the map.   From there I’ll ride to John Pennekamp State Park just outside Key Largo and camp there for the night.

Wheel full 70px Here’s where I am right now in the context of the entire trip

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and of Florida

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and of the Keys.

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Wheel full 70px Margaritaville, here I come!

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Twelve days, six hundred miles

Wheel full 70px I decided at about 2:00 p.m. yesterday that I needed a break, so I stopped for the day early and didn’t proceed on in to Florida as I’d originally planned.  That will now happen this morning about ten minutes into my ride.

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Wheel full 70px No real reason for the short day.  I was just tired of being in the sun and my butt (pardon me, ladies) was sore.  I have really been pushing things the last couple of weeks, and it was just time.  The tipping point came when I discovered that all of my bike route planning apps had routed me a mile off to the west of the direct road I had been riding on to a parallel road that within a short distance turned into fine white sand  that was completely unrideable on a bicycle because it was soft and about four inches/10 cm deep.  So I had to backtrack and was not very happy about that.

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Wheel full 70pxA plus resulting from my decision was the opportunity to eat at a historic southern diner: Steffens, in Kingsland, Georgia where I spent the night.  I had fried chicken livers for dinner and came back for breakfast this morning.  Highly recommended if you are ever down this way.

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Wheel full 70px I’ll camp at the Kathryn Abbey Hanna park east of Jacksonville, Florida tonight. A fifty mile/80 kilometer day. Piece of cake!

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And “pet friendly,” too!

Wheel full 70px One of the more challenging tasks I face each morning before taking off on the bike for the day is trying to find lodging that falls close to the number of miles I project I will travel that day.  I start by looking for campgrounds because they are generally the lowest cost alternative, and if I can’t find one then I start looking at motels. Sometimes I have to adjust the mileage to allow for a longer day in order to reach lodging in a place where choices are few and far between.

Wheel full 70px This morning my Allstays campground finder app showed a campground right on the route I will be traveling and perfectly located at 55 miles/90 km from where I am right now.  There was nothing else for miles going forward past it.  “Perfect!” I thought, and clicked on the “more info” tab.

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Wheel full 70px Somehow, even after the Purgatory Club in Provincetown, I don’t think so.  I’m proud of my newly slimmed down physique…but not that proud.

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Wheel full 70px Today’s ride will take me from Richmond Hill, South Carolina to some budget motel along I-95 near Brunswick, where I will spend the night wondering about the joys of camping in the buff.  Sounds like a good way to OD on DEET to me.  Just sayin’.

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Today’s Plans

Wheel full 70px I biked through Charleston, South Carolina yesterday.

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Wheel full 70px This is one more place that I have just had to suck it up, more or less close my eyes to all the interesting things there are to see, and just ride.  I actually have about half a rant post written about the lamentable incompatibility of long distance bicycle touring and sightseeing.  I’ll tone it down some and put it up before the end of the trip.

Wheel full 70px The bottom line- you tend to see the stuff that is next up down the road.  Like this.

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Wheel full 70px So I’m west of Charleston this morning headed for somewhere near Beaufort (common name in the Carolinas, apparently).

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Wheel full 70px Maybe I’ll spend the night on Parris Island.  In any event, tonight I’ll be about 30 miles/50 kilometers from the South Carolina/Georgia state line, and the next to last state on the trip.

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What?  No anchovies?