Wednesday morning we were on the road heading north. A1A actually begins (or ends) in
Key West
at
Whitehead Street
and
Truman Avenue
which is US 1. From there it angles southeastward to the Southernmost Point at
Whitehead Street
and
South Street
. It then turns northeastward and skirts the Atlantic shoreline before turning to the north and intersecting US 1. After this 5 mile section of A1A the next section is not for another 164 miles to the north at the intersection of US 41 and
Collins Avenue
on
Miami Beach
.
Riding up the Keys one almost gets tired of the nearly constant views of straight roadway/bridges, greenish/blue waters and tropical islands.
Nancy and I were hoping for a curve … just one good sweeper. A group of fighters swooped up from the Naval Base as we passed seemingly giving us a military send-off as we headed up the
Overseas Highway
(
US
1).
We made a stop at the
Seven
Mile
Bridge
(actually 6.76 miles long) which was constructed in 1982 replacing the older railroad bridge built in 1912 and converted to car traffic after the 1935 hurricane. The old bridge is still there used as a fishing pier. It was partially blown-up in the movie True Lies. The
Seven
Mile
Bridge
marks the transition form the Lower Keys to the Middle Keys.
Our next stop was Channel 5 Bridge where I used to fish in the 1970s. This too has a new bridge much wider than the older. When we fished the bridges we would have to stand on the narrow 6 inch concrete ledge and balance against the crumbling concrete rail. We were always on the watch for trucks and buses in our lane that would sometime come so close that we’d have to lean out over the water to avoid their mirrors. We fished with live mullet or large plugs for tarpon up to 200 pounds or even more. It was quite a dangerous sport when you were fighting one of these monsters and traffic was coming. Just up the road we entered the Upper Keys at
Lower Matecumbe
.
My parents used to vacation in the Keys and it was legal to use lobster traps from the bridges. We’d return to the motel after a couple of hours fishing with huge red snappers and a dozen lobster. Times have changed …. the fish are not as plentiful and regulations are mind boggling.
We motored past
Long
Key
State Park
which looked like an excellent place to camp (mm 67). All of the sites are located directly on the waters of the
Atlantic
. Camping fees are $26 a night and you can make reservations on line.
We passed the now boarded-up Papa Joes Lounge and Restaurant on Tavernier. This used to be the best place to eat in the Keys and I once met Ted Williams there in the 70s. Wonder what happened?
We spotted the huge lobster at Plantation Key and stopped for a quick pict. It was getting to be lunch time as we entered
Key Largo
. We figured we had better stop before hitting the 20 miles of no-mans land on the way to
Homestead
. A big sign for fresh fish caught our eye and we stopped at the Fish House which looked to be fairly busy with locals, usually a good sign. We both ordered fried grouper with black beans and rice. It was terrible. The fish was tough, the beans and rice blah. The fish was not fresh and it was overdone to the point of being hard to chew. Oh well, at least this was the first bad meal of the trip.
Heading up US 1 we encountered the Florida Highway Patrol once again shooting radar where the construction began. Thankfully they didn’t spot us.
We hit heavy traffic when we reached
Homestead
and it would get progressively worse. We had to stop at the
Coral
Castle
. This is a small but amazing piece of local lore. The mostly open fort type structure was built over a 28 year period beginning in 1923 by a single man without the use of heavy machinery. He was 5 feet tall and weighed only 100 pounds but single handedly he constructed this American Stonehenge. Ed Leedskalnin carved more than 1,100 tons of coral from bedrock using only hand tools. Each single block of coral in the outer walls weigh in at 58 tons. One nine ton door swivels on a center mounted shaft and can be turned with the pressure from one finger. He arranged and placed the pieces with uncanny precision and skill. He was a very private person and no one ever witnessed him at work. Much of his labor was done at night by lantern light. His only mode of transportation was a bicycle which he rode 3.5 miles to get food and supplies. There is much more here to wonder at.
Back on the road we hit more traffic before turning onto
Old Cutler Road
. We passed a mobile TV set-up and a house lined with POLICE TAPE and realized it was the home of Washington Redskin’s defensive back Sean Taylor who had been shot and killed only a few days before. It reminded us on the dangers we might encounter in the city.
The scenery suddenly became much more interesting as we entered
Coral Gables
. The 100 foot tall Banyan trees with branches reaching the ground and forming ever larger trunks defy description here. The roadway is a virtual tunnel through the think canopy of branches. We then reached our destination for the next few days, the Doubletree Hotel in Coconut Grove. We picked this place because it is kind of off the beaten track yet near
Biscayne Bay
and had a reasonable nightly rate. We splurged and took a high room with bay view. The bellhop was a motorcycle rider and allowed us to park the bike right at the front door which made us much more comfortable.
Nancy
is a long distance runner, not a long distance rider. Sitting almost still on the back of the CapoNorde for 200 miles on straight roads is not her idea of a great day. By the time we hit
Miami
she wanted off bad.
After resting-up a bit we wandered across the street to the Fresh Market. WOW ….. talk about an overload on you senses after living in the mountains for so long! This bustling market had fresh fruit, vegetables, breads, cheeses, meats and seafood that had us salivating down the front of our Dragon shirts. We were actually a little disappointed that we were heading over to
Versailles
for dinner. We grabbed some fruit, cheese and crackers for breakfast and a six-pack for a night cap. Then we dodged the speeding cars as we crossed
South Bayshore Drive
to get back to the hotel. It almost seemed like a reality show where the drivers got points for hitting pedestrians. We couldn’t watch as a handicapped woman in a wheelchair attempted to cross with her dog on a leash. We didn’t hear any tires squealing or crunching of metal so she must have made it.
Leaving our helmets in the room we were off to
Versailles
. Once again the Garmin GPS unit proved to be worth every penny. There is no way we could have navigated through
Miami
without it. The safety factor alone, being able to plan for turns ahead of time, is more than enough to sell us.
Versailles
was hopping as always but we were able to pull right into the small parking lot and find a place. This restaurant has the Cuban feel and community flavor as nearly everyone is speaking Spanish and seems to know each other. It is clean, always open, and service is good. We always come here to eat when we are in
Miami
even if we have to travel out of our way.
Nancy
had a sampler with rice, black beans, yucca and plantains. I ordered the braised beef, moros rice (rice cooked with black beans), cream of malanga soup, plantains, and a Presidente beer. We were somewhat disappointed as the seasonings didn’t seem to be as strong as we like. Normally the yucca was smothered in garlic and onions, but they were rather bland as were the black beans. Our Cuban lunch at the street side café in
Key West
was actually better. Oh well, all things change. We dodged traffic and other dangers as we zipped back to the hotel to get some rest.
