   
Thursday, January 3, 2002
60 miles. Little Torch Key, FL to Key West, FL and back to Little Torch
Key
Today Joan and I decided to do our ride to Key West
and back. Today is very windy, windy enough to remind us of the very windy days
we had in west Texas, not a pleasant remembrance. With the wind out of the NW we
had to fight it all the way to Key West. It was slow going but still much easier
than the Pecos River Canyon day because of the level terrain.
It took about three hours to reach Key West and on the
way we had our last flat tire of the trip due to the excessive amount of broken
glass on the bridges. It was impossible to avoid it all. In Key West we stopped
at a Publix grocery store and had what has become one of our favorite meals
since entering Florida, a fresh made Publix submarine sandwich. They taste great
and are a good bargain.
We then cruised down the narrowing U.S. 1 until we
reached its end, keeping an eye out for the numerous inexperienced tourists
cycling on rented one speed "cruiser" bikes. The Keys are good terrain
for cruisers. From there we cut south zigging around until we reached the
southern most point in the contiguous 48 states. It is delineated by a large
marker that looks very much like an ocean buoy.
It was swarming with tourists which apparently had come
ashore from a cruise ship which could be seen at anchor offshore. We awaited our
turn before having our photo taken at the terminus of our trip. When our
volunteer photographer learned of our accomplishment they exclaimed, " But
you don't even look tired." I allowed that we had been at Little Torch for
the last week or so and were well rested up for our Key West excursion.
The return thru Key West took us down some pretty
residential streets past nicely subtropically landscaped homes before swinging
back to the main and only drag, U.S. 1. We burned the return trip with the wind
now helping us, it taking less than half the time while we were outward bound.
This is the last ride of our cross-continental trip. It is nice to rest and
relax after the rigors of the past three months but returning to work is bound
to be anticlimactic. What do you do for an encore?
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