Chokoloskee and Everglades City

Thursday February 19th

When I woke it I knew it was going to be a chilly ride.  Temps were in the 40's so I dressed in winter gear and headed out to Chokoloskee to meet Bob Smith and one other person who I met a while ago at a solo ride rest stop.

It was an hour ride for me heading across part of Alligator Alley as it is nicknamed ( the section of Interstate 75 between the west coast and east coast)   As I turned off of the interstate I drove down a rural highway that had panther crossing signs on at least seven miles of that roadway.  I was definitely in the middle of nowhere and it was a bit unsettling.  It was Bob's idea to ride out here and all I could think of is where is he taking me!   After all I was in the Everglades and the alligators could eat me and I would never be found.

I arrived at the Big Cypress Visitor Center and there were two smiling faces.....Bob and his wife Meg.  Whew.  Relief.... familiar faces!  Meg knew I wanted to see manatees so she was excited to tell me that there were manatees swimming around the back of the Visitor Center.  Here is what we saw.  These photos are compliments of Bob on an earlier trip as I was not able to get good photos with my IPhone camera.

Here is a photo from the placard in front of the Visitor Center

  Here is a link for more information on the Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/big-cypress-swamp-welcome-center.htm



Bob, Matt and I headed to Everglades City.  I had no idea what to expect except that I still felt in the middle of nowhere.  However in three miles the area started to become populated. 

We stopped for one photo op as we entered the town.

Sooooo Florida.  What a bunch of hams!

Everglades City is an interesting town.  It's primarily a fishing town with airboat rides. 

You have to look closely to see the airboat in the back near the trees.

We stopped at the museum in town and Meg happened to be there.  Here is more information on the museum.

http://www.evergladesmuseum.org/

We continued onward towards Cokoloskee partly on the road and partly on the sidewalk.  There was not a lot of traffic so both were good for road cycling.  We had a tailwind and knew that it would be a tough ride back.   The wind was suppose to pick up as the day progressed.

This was the best link for information on the town.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokoloskee,_Florida

Here is one the sites in Chokoloskee

Located in Chokoloskee is the National Park Visitor Center

This is the ranger station.  Not sure who those people are although they were happy to be in the photo!

We started to head back and saw a cafe that served coffee from Havana.   Ah.....cuban coffee....cafe con leche.  We had just got back on the bikes to head home so we decided to wait until we got back to Everglades City to stop for coffee.   Matt lives not too far from this town and had visited a coffee shop in town where he said the coffee was good so I was satisfied to stop there.   Me and my coffee.

However, first we had to deal with the wind.  Laura (OLPH) .....you were definitely on this ride in spirit and made us work for the ride back.  The winds were gusting up to 30 mph and several times Bob and myself almost got knocked off our bikes. 

Finally ......the rest stop.....and coffee

Sweet Mayberry;s Cafe and it's owner grinding the beans for Cafe Americano.  She was very pleasant and originally from Spain although the coffee beans were Italian expresso roast.   That's Matt who joined us on the ride today.

Matt knew the area and wanted to show us some of the seafood restaurants.  This was one of the sites on the patio at one of the restaurants.

 The wind back to the visitor center was horrific.  I was glad to get back to the start.   I gave Bob a ride back to San Marco Blvd so that he didn't have fight the wind back to Marco Island.

Another great ride!  Thanks to Bob for planning this ride.