Vacation in Florida Keys!

This is the unofficial story of my trip in the Keys of southern Florida with Adventure Cycling - www.adventurecycling.org.

Day 1 – Hollywood Beach near Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Today I meet all the other trip participants after flying to Ford Lauderdale and taking a taxi ride to Hollywood Beach Hostel. A big difference from home is that there are lots of palm trees, and it's warm. On the wall of the hostel is a paddle with “live, love, laugh” written on it above a picture of 2 chairs on the beach.

First, I meet Tammi and Larry assembling their bicycles on the porch of the Hostel. They are friends from other trips. Soon I meet Leo, a trip co-leader, and later meet Sue, the other co-leader. Right now, as I write my diary, I'm feeling THE BEAT, in this bedroom in the hostel as there's Latin music with loud bass in the attached bar. We ate there. I had a mixed dish of Mexican food – corn, three soft tortillas, beans, rice. Dinner chatter points out most people are well off and interesting. Many are retired or into second careers.

As for my bicycle, whoops, where's the lower bearing for my headset. Hmm, looks like it is in some airport inspection station? Maybe? The solution is to go to Lee's bicycle shop just down the street. I'm in luck. They just happen to have one in their junk box and charge me $5.

Day 2 – About 100 km from Hollywood Beach to Florida City – about 100 km

The day starts with taking a picture of the group on the beach. We almost get flooded out. At first, it looks like the source of the problem is that the remnants of Hurricane Sandy are creating large waves in the ocean this morning. As the day progresses, it looks like high tides may be the problem. Are these higher due to global warming? The high tide is noticeable when the ride gets to Miami Beach. The road on the shore side of the peninsula (the sand bank that is Miami Beach?) is flooded more than a foot in places. At first, we ride through flooding as we see those other road beasts, cars, driving through the flooding. Then I find that the road down the ocean side of Miami Beach is a bit higher. Instead, it's flooded with tourists, even at this early hour in the morning.

My bike tells me that the free bath in salt water was somewhat of a new experience. It reminds the bike of winter travels when there's salt and sand on the road. The bike likes Miami Beach better. It's warmer! The verdict: at home after the ride: my bike has a pebbled, grainy feeling all over. Some other riders report water in the bottom bracket when they get home. In the end, my sealed bearings in bottom bracket appear OK so it's staying set on the bike for now. The sealed bearings in the rear derailleur now have more grease, and maybe have shortened lives? They were inundated more by the ocean - fought off the sea monsters behind the bike, eh?

Other than almost swimming with the bike in the morning, the day turns out to be a great one for riding. There's lots of sun, the temperature is warm, the scenery is the seaside, the plants, ah the plants, are green and there are lots of them. It's quite a contrast from the north country where I live where fall weather has long passed and it's almost winter. The only hindrance is a strong wind from the west, particularly late in the day when we are riding right into it! It's great to see lots of other cyclists on the roads, lots of other people in parks. There were huge clubs out on Sunday morning rides. There were many between Miami Beach and Miami on the Biscayne Causeway – a popular bike route? Passage is free for cyclists; cars pay. One rider tells me that we're lucky that it's cooler today – in the 70s. The last few weeks were so hot that she had to get up at 6 am to ride.

There are lots of bike trails along today's route. Only some are ride-able; the others once were, but are now old and wrinkled, much too rough for speedy travel. At one point I walk on a trail through a busy park. Somehow it is very soft and bouncy, even with all the crowds? There's some hidden magic?

Almost all cars are courteous to cyclists today. Most cars wait behind cyclists until there is definitely room to pass. On the other hand, I do see one cyclist almost get run over by a car that is turning into a small park on Rickenbacker Causeway – probably a tourist, eh? Hmm, one in a rush to see Miami Sea World.

This does look like the land of the rich. Dade County lives up to it's TV. Image: condo towers in Miami Beach and gated communities and gated estates south of Miami. The houses that I do see are gorgeous and in matching scenery. Oh yah, and, there seems to be a police car on almost every corner?

Tonight's camp is at Everglades Hostel in Florida City. We camp in the yard. I first put my tent on sand, have a shower; then get talking to Jim who rents canoes and find there is grass out back near the vans. I move my tent. I talk to a lizard and take it's picture. Dinner is pizza from a pizzeria along with salad and Avocados. The cheese and shrimp pizza is good – mm, yummy.

Day 3 – Adventure Tour of Everglades National Park

This is a bicycle tour with a difference. Today, day 2, we leave the bikes behind, and travel in vans to Everglades National Park where we:

1. Walk a boardwalk where we see lots of birds and look for alligators

2. Hike through an Everglades swamp looking for alligators; maybe they are lurking? Alex, the tour guide, claims to have seen one yesterday in a gator hole – a deeper part of swamp that the alligators have dug out. We hike to the gator hole. One person almost falls in. No gators in view today. Guided tours have their mysterious moments. We basically start this hike by stopping in the middle of nowhere and head-off into the swamp at the side of the road.

3. Kayak through a mangrove swamp – one participant manages to capsize in first 5 minutes! Otherwise, it's a great way to get to know the swamp better.

The tour guide, Alex, is quite chatty and tells us about the ecological needs of the area and Everglades Park in particular. We see many dogs running on the roads in the county on the route to Everglades Park. Alex tells us that these are a few of the many wild stray dogs. The conversation then gets to other dangerous, wild animals. There are also cougars. Most are tagged with electronic collars. Some tracks show visits in Florida City where we're staying.

Alex stops the van at a few other interesting places in Everglades Park. And, once when there's a turtle lost on the road. We look at turtle, then guide it to the side. It quickly moves into the swamp when we leave.

After the Everglades tour, I walk down main street in Florida City. These are real people with real jobs and unemployment periods. There's poorer housing in north-west part. I stay on main street where there's lots of traffic. It's relatively safe as there are many cars picking up children at school and others lined up at the city hall to vote.

Day 4 – 60 km from Florida City to Key Largo

Wow, again, a day in paradise while reading about stormy weather at home due to the tail end of Hurricane Sandy. Today's trip is relatively short, at 60 km, just to Key Largo. At the start this morning, the road is very busy and very narrow. Most cars and trucks are polite and slow down and wait when there is a car approaching, but, at one point, I do stop at side of road for two vans when they appear to not be slowing down. All the country is very flat, almost at sea level.; Most of time the road is the only dry part. Many roads were built from the earth from the ditches that were dug beside them. Before The Keys (the islands off south Florida are all called Keys) I can see out on both sides of road as it's swamp; in The Keys, road is through middle of tropical forest. The route goes over a high bridge where bikes are free; monsters and cars pay!

On the first Key, North Key Largo, I stop at Crocodile Lake National Refuge Butterfly Trail and read the signs about crocodiles and butterflies. When I'm about to leave, I encounter a man who shares the office. His job is ridding the area, or at least controlling it, of python snakes. There's a big problem of pythons being released in The Everglades and on Florida Keys, where they are not natural.

I do another 36 km riding around Key Largo in afternoon looking at houses and scenery. There are many single roads and short loops jutting off the main highway all through Key Largo. Many homes are built on stilts with balconies on the second floor. Housing in the Florida Keys is just for the rich, and temporary vacations of some middle class. My afternoon ride starts with a visit Coral Reef State Park in afternoon. It's almost next-door. There's a big beach and large recreational dock. I walk the boardwalk trail through mangrove trees. The trail used to be a loop with an elevated lookout, but is now 2 single trails, neither of which makes it to the elevated lookout due to storm damage.

There's a posh resort of Marriott hotels just across the street for anyone who finds the posh camping at Key Largo Kampgroud too rough, eh? Dinner tastes good: mixed pot of turkey stuffing and canned chicken plus chopped onions and green peppers mixed in.

In the evening, I talk to a member of our group who has been here before many times. We talk about the hippies and bums in the area, some of whom worked at Everglades Hostel. I learn that southern Florida is an area that attracts bums and hippies. They get hired since there is no one else to do low wage jobs. My source tells of seeing some hippies this evening coming out of bushes just south of current campground.

Day 5 - Key Largo to Marathon

The great weather continues with sunny skies, warm temperatures, low humidity. It's paradise. What else should one expect? I ride 90 km; the Adventure Cycling map says 50 miles to camp at Knights Campground in Marathon. Just another campground in a large grass field that looks like it was flooded during Hurricane Sandy. As usual, there are lots of retired people in mobile homes in the campground which is somewhat empty as prime winter tourist time is just beginning.

The bike paths are great when you can find 'em: some sections of road have bicycle paths on the bridges between the Keys and good bicycle paths on the Keys between the bridges, and others parts where the bike path suddenly ends when it's bridge stops abruptly. It's a bit mysterious at first, but gets resolved when one learns that bicycle paths between the Keys are on the bridges of the original road that was built over an old railroad track on the old railroad bridges. Somehow, people drove car monsters on these old bridges. Now they are great bicycle paths when they are still complete between the Keys, but, otherwise, there's a cyclist cemetery? Well, no there are signs and barricades. Most of the time there are paved shoulders on the road when the bicycle path disappears. The quality of the paved shoulders and bicycle paths varies. Some of the bike paths are new and smooth; other parts are so old and wrinkled that they are hard to ride on.

The highlight of today's ride is a visit to Long Key State Park. It's an adventure. I talk to the woman at the gate. She lets me in free and recommends taking the boardwalk trail. I go there, leave my bike and walk the boardwalk through mangrove forests. At about the half mile point, the boardwalk has a T-junction at a beach by the ocean. I explore around and find that the boardwalk continues along the beach on the right with walk-in campsites built into the boardwalk. There's one good looking person camping at one site and doing yoga at the next!

To the left at this point is a trail around a small peninsula with natural beaches, sand, and some flooding on the trail (aka, Miami beach, eh?). Wow, what a trail through a natural environment. There's lots of greenery, plants, shrubs, and flowers of many tropical varieties. It's a tropical paradise like I've only seen before in movies. I spend over an hour at this park. Eventually the trail returns to my bike. I decide to walk the bike along the boardwalk, go by the walk-in campsites on the right, and then look around. I find a lightly used trail along the shore which I take, walking the bike beside me, and stopping to take pictures. The trail gets back to “civilization” after a bit.

I then follow a park road along the shoreline, going away from the entrance. This becomes a campground road that is separated from the highway by a fence. There are these gorgeous sites and new washrooms. It's a well-kept campground as are all the Florida State Parks that I've seen (and will see) on this trip. Now, the road ends, and there's this fence between my part of paradise and the highway I want to be on. What to do? One option is to go back 2 to 5 miles to the Park's entrance. An much better emergent solution pops up. I'm inspecting the fence to see if there's any way to go under or over. Hmm? Almost emerging out of the bike path on the other side of the fence is this married couple on bicycles without gear. Are they real. That doesn't matter. We get talking. They explain to me that they are camping in Long Key State Park on my side of the fence and there is a gate just 100 metres back. The clincher: they tell me the combination for the lock on the gate before they disappear down the bike path or back into it. And, I find the combination works and continue along the route of the tour.

What a day, I also see on decoration for Hallowe'en. That's today, eh? And, see commercial lobster fishing. Along the way I see some other parks:. At times it's almost one park or nature preserve after another with views of luxury homes in between or other areas of tropical fauna, shoreline, and beach. I take lots of pictures. A few are below. The parks that I remember are:

• Harris park. I go off route about a mile to see early on ride in morning. It's a recreational park of the county that looks a bit run down. On the way back to the highway, my route includes a diversion down a short side street where there are luxurious yachts and a private, 2 masted schooner.

• Plantation tropical preserve memorial park: at this point I stop at side of Highway to investigate a botanical reserve of tropical plants. I find a memorial reserve for dead children, from a prior hurricane.

• Indian Key historical state park - an island that is now a sanctuary though at one time it was populated

• Lignumvitae Key Botanical state park: I stop and read signs about this park that are in small parking lot and boat launch area. I can see the Key in the distance. It is a nature preserve.

• Anne's beach: where I walk the boardwalk along the ocean shore. I talk to female tourist from New Hampshire who is riding a rickety bicycle. Was her name Anne? I do see her later a few times on this trip.

Day 6 – Bahia Honda State Park - Marathon to Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge

Today I ride 65 km though the map distance is 15 miles.

Long Key State Park is the best so far, but most of today is spent at Bahia Honda State Park. There are miles of beaches. Before the best scenery yet at Bahia Honda, is Seven Mile Bridge. In the middle of the bridge is a plaque to the man who operated swing bridge on old bridge. This man's story is told to me by man at beginning of bridge – the old swing-bridge-operator was killed on last day of his job. It is true, but bizarre. Ah yes, there's now a society that wants to renovate the old bridge for cycling and walking. One can now walk and cycle out to first break in old bridge but that's a bit short of 7 miles – at a bit over 1 mile?

I spend over 4 hours at Bahia Honda state park. I start by taking pictures from the next small part of the old bridge looking back to Bahia Honda Key where one can see far as the bridge is high and the land is flat. There are long beaches that seem to go forever and many shore birds. Are these the best beaches in the world? Well, at least in the Florida Keys where natural beaches are rare. There are a few people here today, though I'm told it's relatively uncrowded compared to the crowds that are expected in a few weeks. Today, one can find a private moment. I swim a bit in the ocean and take off the bike shoes so I can walk along the beach a bit in bare feet. At this point, I meet up with the same female tourist that I talked to 2 days ago; she encourages me to take a trip to a reef on a boat. She's from New Hampshire and looks familiar, from way back?

I go into the small nature centre. It is jammed with specimens of local animals and lots of information presented in fashion that I can understand. I have a long conversation with a volunteer staff person about having real things in an exhibit like here vs push-button exhibits at some nature centres that are just like life back in “the city.” She points out that many items here are from staff like the Palm bark in the corner which has a birds nest in a Palm tree that was originally in the yard of one staff member. Near the nature exhibit is a beach covered in seaweed. It is mushy and soft.

Today the campsite is at Big Pine Key Fish Camp Lodge. There are lots of “Key deer” wandering around campsite this evening. The Lodge within a nature preserve – Coupon Bight Aquatic Preserve. There are fences separating the reserve from the highway and “cattle guards” on the roads to keep the animals in the reserve and off the highway. The “Key deer” is very small, the same size as a medium large dog. These deer are endangered so people cannot harm them even when they are annoying by digging into anything edible around campsite - food, garbage? The campers a continually scaring them away. They are persistent.

Day 7 - To Key West

Wow, another lovely day. We're headed 65 km down the road to Key West – a historic place in English literature – the end of the road. I explore residences near highway on the way. There are many luxury homes on stilts and lots of greenery.

In Key West, the most southern point in the United Sates is just down the street from the Seashell Hostel where we're staying. The hostel has a court yard with lots of plants, artificial green turf, and lots of chairs. I talking to a hosteler from Japan who is about to go home after visiting much of US.

During the afternoon, I jog and walk 3 miles around a few streets of historic Key West. I stumble upon the Hemingway residence and the Little White House where various US presidents have stayed, and important talks with foreign leaders have occurred.

Our group dines at Blue Heaven. While on my walk to the restaurant with Gary, I talk to the keeper at the community pool. It is free. I may go swimming tomorrow? Tonight, I sample local beer.

Day 8 - In Key West

Ah, a day in Key West. The boat leaves at 5 or 6 in the late afternoon for Port Myers. I start with a run and jog of 8 or 9 miles on a route that goes around the airport. It's a town of the well-off. There are lots of single family homes, the stores of suburbia, and numerous athletic facilities. There are large parks with sports fields and numerous marinas crammed with large boats. My return route is along the long beach that we road along yesterday. It's all set up just right with the beach on 1 side of the road and the resorts on the other – so we can all enjoy the beach! I speed up when a young couple passes so that I keep up with them – other tourists who are staying at one of the resorts along the beach? Running with them ensures that I return to the hostel in time for the 11 am check-out time from the rooms – we're allowed to sit in the courtyard until we leave. I have other plans for the afternoon. I visit Fort Taylor State Park which lives up to it's high rating in the guidebook. There are historic fort buildings that have played an essential role in guarding the United States. There's also yet another beach where many families are absorbing the sun and swimming. And, I see these lizards that add to my appreciation of southern fauna. And, all on a tropical island that lives up to it's image of almost-paradise, particularly on the beach with tropical trees near by.

Many thanks to Leo our trip leader who drives a van to Port Myers with most of our equipment as we're each allowed to take very little on the ferry.

Day 9 - Fort Myers Beach to Labelle

Now, this trip has left many tropical islands behind it, but the trip is still interesting. It's still warm with great weather. Today's 120 km ride leaves our motel in a fog. The fog gets a bit heavier, then rises. There are lots of groups of cyclists whizzing up and down the roads in Fort Myers Beach this morning. It's a cycling haven.

The day is filled with surprises. After a bit it almost gets boring. There are lots of relatively new, broad streets through a suburban area with many single family, look-alike homes. It's Sunday morning so, I guess, there are fewer cars though there is an amazing amount of traffic. It's no bother to cyclists, though, as almost all roads have bicycle paths beside them. It's just starting to get the feeling of 1 suburb after another, and, then, life starts to change. First I see a sign for a stadium, turn off the trip route, and find the winter training camp for the Minnesota Twins baseball team. There are lots of people, mostly men, running around in baseball uniforms. Is there a tournament on? There are many practice fields and a huge stadium with an artistic fountain out front.

Shortly thereafter, there's a sign for the Six Mile Cypress Slough – Lee County Slough – a swamp that gathers water from the surrounding area – a difficult task in this relatively flat landscape? I start off by walking around all of a lengthy boardwalk trails. It's an interesting swamp with a few mosquitoes and there are lots of interpretive signs telling me what is sometimes seen. There are also animal tracks painted on the boardwalk. The whole area is well kept as well as a large interpretive centre that I visit after my walk. I'm almost at the end of the walk and on a side trail. There's one knowledgeable tourist, or local expert, who first notices an alligator which he points out to his friends. It is impressive. One suddenly appreciates why the boardwalk is over a metre above the swamp. I stay around a bit appreciating the alligator – my first lifetime view of a wild alligator in a natural setting. This man looks around some more and notices a black snake. It looks like a stick, at first. I finally see the snake, the snake moves, I take another picture. What a great nature-moment I've had at the Lee County Slough – an alligator, and, a black snake? Both are deadly?

Reality strikes when the effects of mortgage crisis become visible in suburban Fort Myers. There are walls for a shopping mall with grass between them, and a number of abandoned houses. I guess the shopping centre was never completed? I've heard of people walking away from houses and now I see the result. It's not just one house. There are lots.

Today's trip leaves greater metropolitan Fort Myers after quite some time. We're finally back in a rural area. There are fruit farms. Tonight's stay is at a religious retreat in Labell. There's no drinking allowed. Otherwise, it's quite tranquil and quiet. Perhaps the quietest campsite of this trip! We make dinner in the kitchen of their pavilion and clean up afterwards. It's a fully equipped kitchen. It's great to have a pavilion like this on a fall trip when it gets dark real early in a rustic campsite like this one with very few outdoor lights other than the stars. Great for star viewing.

Day 10 – Lake Okeechobee – Labelle to South Bay

The highlight of today's 108 km ride is seeing Lake Okeechobee and riding little bits of the recreation trail that runs beside it. I rode 120 km in total including a ride to get food at the end of the day. The great weather continues: sunny, a few clouds. It is a bit chilly for summer when first get up, but t-shirt weather by the time start riding. I take a much simpler route than on Adventure Cycling's map in the morning by following River Road that campground is on and going directly to Highway 29. The instructions provided, and discussed thoroughly last night at camp, are much more confusing and take cyclists onto very busy roads with narrow shoulders. My route avoids contact with Florida drivers - many are polite and move over for cyclists, but others are inconsiderate and drive very close to cyclists. One can feel the wind as they pass.

Unfortunately, Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail (LOST) is officially closed right now for renovations. It is on a dike and runs beside main road between Clewiston and South Bay. It is much pleasanter on trail than on road with today's heavy traffic. The trail is paved. Lake Okeechobee is very shallow. Near shore is a cleared waterway then a swamp with thick plants. In some places there is clear water far off in the distance. I do see lots of wildlife and birds. When on the dike in Clewiston, I talk to conservation commission supervisor who is waiting for her crew to return from lake. She points out the small commercial fishing boats. She encourages me to use the trail, though I need to immediately go back to main road so I can go across a canal that enters the Lake at this point from the south. As it is, the more direct route, across a canal lock is hardly ever available to anyone as the lock is almost always open, and there's lots of barbed wire barricades all over the place at this point.

Today, I see lots of the working man's side of Florida farming. There are lots of crops – oranges, sugar cane, cattle. There are unemployed men roaming around in Clewiston where I buy pop in a Spanish speaking corner store that caters to ethnic farm-workers. Later I take pictures of plebeian neighbourhoods when going to a grocery store in Belle Glade.

Camping today is in South Bay RV Campground. Ed and myself are responsible for cooking this evening. There is confusion at first. The original plan is to get pizza from a local provider. We go with trip leader Sue bringing along the money and find it closed. Instead, we decide to ride 3 or 4 miles to a grocery store in Belle Glade. The meal chosen is macaroni and cheese with sausages and wieners. There's salad, too, that trip-leader Leo purchased earlier.

One person reports seeing a crocodile in the drainage ditch beside tonight's campsite. The group wards off contact with the beast by putting food away in a small enclosed area near the washrooms.

Day 11 – Return to Hollywood Beach

I start off the 125 km last day of riding on this trip in Florida, with one last visit to Lake Okeechobee. Today's route starts off with 40+ miles on Highway 27. The first bit is through South Bay. The route is through poor neighbourhoods in South Bay where farm-workers live. At one corner, many are waiting to be picked up for work. After South Bay, the view beside Highway 27 is of almost continuous sugar cane plantations. At one point is a processing plant with lots of trucks going in and out. There are lots of trucks using Highway 27 – almost more trucks than cars. Traffic is a bit mild level for road of this size, at least today? There are 2 lanes in each direction with often a third lane for trucks turning into cane fields, plus paved shoulders most of the time. Many cyclists in our group complain that the road is boring and long. Well, it is flat and straight with absolutely no corner stores. One feature is the continuous, very flat landscape of the same crop, sugar cane. All are relieved to find a picnic area with covered picnic tables, in the shade, about 10 miles from the end. This is also an access point for people fishing in local streams and irrigation canals as some are doing when we are there.

Soon, the route goes under an expressway and turns left into greater Fort Lauderdale. The first part is called Hammond. As on the sea-side of the city – as we saw on our outbound trip to the Keys – there are miles and miles of gated communities. Again, this trip is in the land of the well-off with lots of landscaping on the roads and around the homes. This is definitely into the land of the rich. At one point I follow Orange Drive as far as possible since there's less traffic than on the main road, Griffin Road, on other side of a drainage ditch, which is the “correct” route on the map of Adventure Cycling.

As usual, I pass Larry and Tammi at about this point, after going into a Publix grocery store to buy a banana. This IS a cycling trip, eh? I am the phantom who shows up magically out of nowhere from time to time according to Tammi and Larry?

The group goes for dinner at Taverna Opa, across the street from Hollywood Beach Hostel where we stay again. I get the Superman award for the way that I took numerous side routes on many days and explored around – had extra, superman adventures, eh?

Day 12 – One Last Time in Hollywood Beach

Ah, the Last day of vacation. I get one last taste of Florida by jogging the boardwalk along Hollywood Beach's ocean side as the sun rises.