A Trip to the Keys

 September 14 2020

Jim and I took a five day trip ( which turned into 4 days because of Isaias) to Tavernier, FL.  It is part of Key Largo area of the Keys.  We were there last year but this year we brought the boat with us.  We stayed at the same place as last year because we were able to dock the boat at the marina that was part of the resort.

 

This is the sign on the entrance road to the resort

 

 Once we were settled we decided to try a new restaurant, Marker 88.  It was located on the Gulf side of the island which provided a nice sunset as well as great food. It is located at mile marker 88. I would highly recommend this restaurant but suggest getting there early to get a table to see the sunset.

 

 

                       

My entree was spiral zucchini with shrimp

Jim enjoying the restaurant

On Friday we decided to ride south on A1A.  We first took a warmup ride to the local park before heading towards Islamorada.  

 

 

 

We turned around at Bud and Mary's and stopped for a break.

 

 

These are tarpon fish swimming in the water at the dock at Bud and Mary's

I thought this bird as well as the one below were fake until they moved their heads

We cycled back to the resort and after lunch decided to take the boat out in the Atlantic. 

This is a photo of our resort hotel from the boat

We headed towards the cut through to the Gulf side and were surprised to encounter the following in the channel

Can you guess what these photos are showing?  The photos are showing toilet seats decorated and lining the channel.  If you are able to zoom in you will see various decorations on the toilet seats.  The last photo.....and the best.....is a skeleton sitting on a toilet seat.  You have to see it to believe it!

 

For dinner that evening we dined at Lazy Day's..... a favorite of Jim's.  There is a deck overlooking the Atlantic.  The food was good but the service needed improvement for sure.

 

We shared a seafood combo of scallops, shrimp and lobster.   Yum.  Jim had a hogfish dinner.  I had never heard of that fish before so he shared some of his dinner with me.  Hogfish is a mild fish.  It was great to try it but I don't think it would be my first choice for a future dinner.

 

On Friday  we decided to relax and walk instead of cycle.  We walked almost four miles and enjoyed looking at "key styled homes along the walking route.

 We decided to go out to a light lunch at Loreli restaurant on the gulf side.  I had a margarita and Jim has some specialty rum drink.   We shared a tuna appetizer that came with seaweed salad and  another appetizer that I can't remember.  It was a lot to eat and we ended up eating a light dinner in that evening.

On Saturday we decided to go north on the bikes.  We again did a warmup on the side road going to Harry Harris Park before heading on A1A north.  There was a shoulder/sidewalk for the first part of the ride but we ran out of both and ended up riding in the slow lane with the cars.  It was pretty scary.  We turned around at John Pennycamp State Pak.  There was plenty of sidewalk on the shoulder and sidewalk to get us back to the turn off of A1A heading back to the resort.   Days later we realized there was a sidewalk in the grassy part int he middle of the roadway between the north and southbound traffic that we could have used to avoid the dangerous part of road.  We will know for next time.   

On Saturday we decided to walk before taking the boat out in the Atlantic.  Once on the water we anchored on a sandbar and spent some time swimming in the Atlantic.  We had plenty of company with other boats.....some with load Latin music and others with toys....waverunners, etc attached to the back of the boat.....so that they would maximize their fun.

This is the view from the water when we were swimming on the sandbar.  

 

For dinner we went to the local fish store and bought some spiny tailed lobster which is a lobster specific to the Key waters.  Jim added some grouper and we had another delicious seafood dinner.....this time back home at the condo.

Here are some other photos of  Jim's boat.  It was fun to have to boat with us this trip but it is a lot of work.  Jim loves to do it so he did most of the work!

It was a great trip.  We hope to go back again next year. 

 

A Five Week Summer Getaway in Wake Forest, NC with Family

 8/11/2020

 

It's hard enough living with myself for five weeks but it was good to spend time with my sister and her mini farm! ( 4 cats and 2 dogs)   Here are my two best buddies.....the dogs....and one of the four cats.

 

 

 

This is Ruby.  I call her Ruby Dooby.  Her shirt says that she loves her human!

This is the Queen of the house......Belle.  She is 12 yrs old.

This is Charlie....aka Big Boy.   Wonder why?

My sister declined to be photographed.

Jim and I had driven over 14 hours to get to Wake Forest.  It prevented us from having to stay in a motel and with my two dogs now gone it made the trip achievable.

Our first day we explored the local park that has a lake and a boat ramp.  My sister, Doreen, Jim and I took the dogs for a walk and then hiked down to the lake which was a very short walk.

 

 Jim stayed for a few more days.  We drove to Chapel Hill and saw the University of NC as well as had a tasty lunch before heading back to my sister's house.  

My sister has a mountain bike so Jim used that so that we could ride on the Greenway as well as through a development called The Plantation.  It was hilly and even had a horse farm!

This is the bike that Jim used to ride hills.  He is a trooper!

Horse farms in The Plantation

On day 5 Jim flew back to Florida and I was now on my own as far as cycling was concerned.   I was doing great until the third day when the bike chain jammed between the derailleur and the cassette.  Luckily I didn't fall when the pedals wouldn't move.   Yikes.  Now what was I going to do??  I was less than a week into the trip and I had a broken bike.  It was Sunday morning and all the bike shops were closed.   Luckily I googled Mobile Bike Mechanics and one name came up.....and he was only 5 miles away.  Now the question was if he was open at 9L30 AM on Sunday morning.   I left a message and within 10 minutes I received a call back from Robert.   He was such a good find!  He was able to take a look at the bike at 2 PM that day and fix the jam.   He also turned out to be a valuable resource for routes on the local roads and an eventual connection to a riding companion.  He told m that it would have taken 3 weeks to get in to any bike shop for a repair.   I felt very lucky that day.

I continued to ride a few more days and then the chain dropped.   Ugh.....  What was going on??  I called him and he adjusted to shifting so that wouldn't happen again.   He also gave me the name of several local biking groups that maybe I could ride with during my stay.   Me being a flatlander stopped that from happening.  Most of the riders were averaging 19+mph .....on hills while I was only averaging 13 mph.  He mentioned that there were many inexperienced riders on the Greenway and that there were many bike accidents so I decided to venture on some of the roads on my own that had large mult-use paths and get some mileage that way.  Funny....I thought that the Greenway was a safe place to ride but I was incorrect.

Robert also gave me the number of a gal, Mia, who he knew rode at my speed.  So I called her and we rode for the next three rides in the country hills.   It was great to have a companion and we were very much alike.   Too bad I didn't connect with her earlier.

A side trail on the Greenway

On my first ride on the multi-use pathway I decided to stay on the road and explore.  I ended up going into the town of Wake Forest but first stopping at a local roaster for coffee.

It was a very simplistic shop....much like The Pig coffee shop which my NJ riding buddy, Perpetual Headwinds, refers to in many of her blogs.  The coffee shop had an outdoor deck and an umbrella which made it a great rest stop.   The weather had been much cooler than usual the past days...and for most of my stay..... which made it great for riding in the hills.

I continued on into the historic part of the town.  Here are some photos of some of the houses that lined the street.....which coincidentally was very near Southern Baptist Theological Seminary ( used to be Wake Forest University until it became too small and moved to Winston Salem in 1956)

Here are a few photos of the seminary

I continued to alternate my routes from The Plantation to the downtown area of Wake Forest.  Both were hilly and I needed to find another route to give my legs a break. 

One day I decided to explore Oak Grove Church Road which turned out to be the find of the trip.   That road took me out to the country with horse farms and rolling hills and strangely named roads.

Moody intersected with Last Date Road.   Any guess why?

Finding these roads and riding through some of the exclusive communities made the route more interesting.   

Here is one of the entrances to a nice community which I rode through often.

There was also a horse farm on this route as well.

This was a welcome site on this route.

There were some other interesting photo ops on this route.

Tobacco fields

This one needs no explanation.  

I often met cyclists at the Country Line Deli and they would give me suggestions for new roads to try.  It was the right place to stop to meet other cyclists and learn more about the roads.   On my last....and longest trip to the deli....I talked with a cyclist who decided to ride on his own as his group had planned a 60 mile ride with a 5 mile climb.   That was not the route for a flatlander!  Maybe next year.

My last ride was through the Plantation and surrounding area.  I wasn't feeling that great so I decided to ride solo.  I said goodbye to Mia via text and promised that I would stay in touch.  Hopefully we can ride together next year.....if I go back for a few weeks in the summer months.

 For my rest stop I found Starbucks's at a Harris Teeter grocery store.   There were two cyclists who were sipping on their coffee....with a bottle of bourbon next to their coffee.  I asked one of them, Tony, if he chased the coffee with the bourbon and he said it was too early.  He asked if I rode out in the country off of Oak Church Road on Sunday.  When I said yes he said that he was one of the two cyclists that passed me on that road that day.  Small world.

Tony, the cyclist with the bourbon!

Jim arrived the next day and we packed up the car in anticipation of an early morning start on Saturday. We left Wake Forest at 6:10 AM and arrived home at 8L30 PM.  We had one detour on I95 due to a fatality ( someone had a worse day than me sitting in traffic!) and we avoided the road check coming in to Florida which would have held us up for sure so all was good.

I text Mia the next day to let her know that we arrived home safely.  She asked in my ears were ringing.  I wasn't sure what she meant but the guy with the bourbon is her friend and my name came up in conversation.   It's a tight knit cycling community in Wake Forest.....where everyone knows your name. ( like Cheers!)