Day 24 - August 29 R-E-L-A-X - It's the Keys

It's hard to believe today is our last day off of this trip.  Cowden's went to Duval Street to pick up a few items they spotted last night when we were there.  They also stopped by the post office and picked up flat rate boxes for all of us.  Laundry is always a priority on our days off and I headed to the nearby laundromat to throw in a couple of loads. When I returned I worked on the blog. Torrey and Alan laid low and hung out at the B&B.

When Cowdens' returned we all started packing the boxes with items we'd decided we could finish the ride without.  The walk to the post office felt longer than it was due to the weight and awkwardness of the boxes and the high humidity.  On the way there we saw the Key West Lighthouse, walked past Ernest Hemmingway's home and ran across a number of roosters that freely roam the island.  Thankfully the walk home was easier as we were free from the load.

Pool time was next on the agenda and it was great weather for it.  It hadn't rained over night and when it has rained here, it only lasts a few minutes.  Although on the way back from the post office there was a downpour that lasted about 10 minutes.  Which was just long enough to get everything wet.

In the early evening we headed toward the Square for dinner and then the Sunset Party.  Our sunset pics were interrupted by the clouds that filled the sky. 

The community party was still fun.  It was an easy stroll back to the room where preparations for the morning started.

Total Miles traveled today: 0 on the bikes.  We walked enough to get our step count goals for the day
Time to travel that distance: all day
Total Cumulative miles: 8517.2 still
Tomorrow: Back on the bikes, North and West

Day 23 - August 28 The Southern Most

We set out from Vero Beach at 7:50am for a breakfast date with our friend Stumpy in Port Lucie.  It was a beautiful morning.  Despite the weather reports that were calling for rain, we opted for no rain gear in part because what Torrey said yesterday was true.  The humidity make the moisture on the inside of the rain gear make you as wet as you would get in the rain anyway. The locals are a good frame of reference for us as well and nobody was wearing rain gear yesterday.

Our visit with Stumpy was brief. The dark gray clouds were so large that they grabbed our attention.  Luckily for us the road turned away from the dark clouds and we continued on with our sunny day.  The Florida turnpike was our route to get to South Florida.  As we approached the toll gate at Miami we hit a little sprinkle of rain, but it didn't warrant busting out the rain gear.  It was actually the second sprinkling of the day.  Our plan to follow the lead of the locals and skip the rain gear worked well. Before leaving the mainland for the Florida Keys, we stopped at the Southern Most HD of the contiguous 48 states. This makes the third of four parts in reaching Torrey's goal.

As we started across the Keys the wind was noticeable.  It thinking back, we hadn't really faced much in the way of wind.  The breeze felt nice as the humidity of the past few days was intense.  There are many bridges that connect the Keys.  The water is a green color in area.  We enjoyed a late lunch in Islamorada, in the middle Keys.

The most notable bridge in the Keys is the 7 Mile Bridge.  After we crossed it, we noticed peacocks and iguanas were the road side animals that we needed to keep an eye out for. 

Following our check-in at the Conch House B&B, the pool was next on the agenda.  We headed out to Duval St to see what there was to see.  We made sure to hit Sloppy Joe's, the HD store, Hog's Breath and Mallory Square. Of course in the process, there was a little bit of pub crawling too.

Total miles traveled today: 325.2 miles;
Time to travel that distance: 9.5 hours;
Total Cumulative miles: 8517.2
Tomorrow: Key West Day of Rest

Day 22 - August 27 Wrap-up 3 and Where's the Water?

Today is the first day of week 4 on the road.  This past week we covered 2231.8 miles touching 12 states.  Our total cumulative mileage is now 7782.6 . We visited two iconic places in NY and two national parks.  We reached another piece of Torrey's quest for the four corners and checked off 3 others' special requests.  The weather has held thus far and in fact moved into the hot and humid range. There were some long days this past week, but with the incredible scenery - it has all been worth it. 

It was like walking into a sauna when we stepped out of the room to go to the bikes this morning.  The moisture made the air seem thick.  Exiting the island went much more quickly than getting there.  We rejoined US 17 south bound for the Georgia line.

Yesterday we rode US 17 all day and never really saw the water, and considering that 17 and I-95 run almost on top of each other, we opted for I-95 through Georgia today.  We stopped off briefly at Golden Isles HD in Brunswick, GA. The roads were wet as if it had just rained.  The skies were grey.  There was a discussion about whether to put on the rain gear or not before we pulled out of the parking lot.  It was decided we would take our chances.  After topping off the tanks we took a curved on ramp up onto the interstate.  A wall of rain came into view and we decided we'd better don the rain gear afterall.  The rain only lasted a few minutes, but we kept the rain gear on just in case as we crossed the Florida line.

The next scheduled stop was going to be the St. Augustine HD store.  As we neared Jacksonville, FL the rain started up again.  A sign on the interstate indicated there was a HD store at the next exit.  We took it.  When we pulled in at Adamec HD in Jacksonville we were the only people wearing rain gear.  All the customers were wearing shorts and were dry.  It was like we had come from a different world.  We peeled off all our wet gear and went inside to check it out.  Latin American Motorcycle Assoc (LAMA) was hosting a BBQ so we opted to support their event and grabbed a bite. While we were there the storm we rode through caught up to us and came down at the dealership.  It passed while we finished our lunch. 

The rain had stopped and we were done lunching, so it we mounted up and headed for St. Augustine where we planned to catch the 1 so we could finally ride along the coast with views of the ocean.  Thirty miles down the road as we pulled into St. Augustine, we were steamed like clams.  We were still in our raingear despite not a drop of rain since we left Jacksonville.  Torrey said the rain gear made us just as wet under the raingear as we were on the outside when it was raining.  We chose not to go to the HD shop after all as it was a t-shirt shop only and it was just off A1A which was crowded with Saturday afternoon visitors.  We did get a brief glimpse of the ocean water.  We ditched the rain gear and headed for a spot down the way.  A1A was way too slow and US 1 didn't really provided the views we were hoping for so we ended up on I-95 again.  The location down the road turned out to the be Daytona, FL HD shop.  It's a huge complex that's a central location during bike week.

Back on I-95 south, we continued on our way.  As we got close to the exits for Orlando and Port Canaveral the clouds were getting very dark again.  We used an overpass bridge as a shelter as we again donned the rain gear.  This time the rain lasted maybe 3-5 minutes. 

For good measure we left the rain gear on, but it was hot and uncomfortable. We noticed that none of the bikers we passed were wearing rain gear.  It was easy to pick out who the tourists were!  We had watched so many weather reports that called for rain that we were half expecting each time to be the time that the rain would last the rest of the day.  It didn't happen that way.

We got to Vero Beach around 4:30pm.  After we checked in and showered, we went to dinner at the resort.  It was fun to have a surprise visitor stop by our table.  Following dinner we walked out to the beach.  Finally!! We made it to the Atlantic Ocean.  Tim went down to meet it.

Total miles today: 412.4;
Time to travel that distance: 9.5 hours;
Total Cumulative miles: 8195
Tomorrow: The Keys