Key West, Everglades, Orlando, Gulf Coast

Key West is one of those motorcycle destinations, being one of the four corners of the US, and I was finally riding to it. In fact prior to this trip Florida was the only state I hadn't visited. It was an overcast day with the occasional sprinkle, and I rode along through the small towns and islands that dot the route. I arrived in Key West near midday and followed US 1 to a park at the end of the road.

 I rode around a bit, past the Hemingway house, and parked on Duval St, a few blocks north of the touristy main drag and walked back to the business area. If you ever need a T-shirt, Key West is the place to go. I poked my head into Sloppy Joes, and took a picture of Captain Tony's across the street, the original site of Sloppy Joes. After a good lunch that took too long, I walked back to the bike through the rain and headed out of town.

I hadn't stopped on the way to Key West, but I'd noted the interesting towns along the way, and I made a few stops on the way back since I wouldn't have a problem getting to Florida City before nightfall. Even though I was still full from lunch, I made a point of stopping at Mangrove Mama's for a slice of key lime pie.

Key West being a big tourist destination, the businesses along Highway 1 do their best to stand out.

Since Key West was the turnaround for the trip, I woke up the next morning in a relaxed state of mind and decided to ride through Everglades National Park. This was the off season for the park, and there wasn't much going on - very few vehicles in the parking lot at park headquarters. I was happy to see that someone in the park service has a sense of humor about the flat landscape:

I retraced my route out of the park and headed north on FL 997 to US 41, where I headed east across the swamplands to Naples. Even though I grew up in Ohio, I had never tasted the famous chili at any of the Skyline restaurants in Cincinnati. Fortunately, there was a Skyline in Naples, and I stopped there for a late lunch. (To tell the truth I didn't think it was all that great.) Judging by the vehicles on the streets of Naples,  it must be a very wealthy town. I stayed on US 41 to Fort Myers and then headed north and east on FL 80 to FL 29 to US 27, which is a main north-south route through the center of the state. I looked for a place to stay in the old town of Sebring (home of the historic racetrack) but eventually stopped at a cheap dive along US 27.

The next day I rode north on US 27 until I-4, where I went east into Orlando. After a quick stop at the Orlando BMW dealer to buy a quart of oil (they were out of BMW synthetic), I found my friends' bicycle shop. The rest of the afternoon I had a tour of Orlando, and the following day we went for a bicycle ride on a dedicated bike path in College Park and Winter Garden.

I left my friends' house and went back to US 27, which I followed until just before Chiefland, where I turned north on US 129. US 27 is a major road at this point, and, even though there wasn't that much traffic, I wanted a smaller road. This part of Florida is described as horse country, and it is easy to see why with large pastures and rolling countryside along the road. US 129 joins old US 27, which goes east to Gainesville, but I went west and stopped at Mayo for cookies and a cafe con leche at the Old Florida Coffee Company, a shop that wouldn't look out of place in San Francisco.

Old US 27 joins the new US 27 in Perry, but I went west on US 98. I'd thought about staying on US 98, which goes along the Florida Gulf coast, but I figured that I'd see plenty of the gulf in Alabama and Mississippi, so I cut off on FL 267 and then followed FL to the interestingly named town of Niceville, where I went north to pick up I-10 east to Pensacola, where I found a motel.

The next morning, a Saturday, I was up early and rode to the Pensacola BMW shop  to buy a quart of BMW synthetic oil. My bike uses about a quart every 3000 miles, and my spare quart was down to a half. In the shop I was surprised to see a well-used BMW F650 single in the window - Benka Pulko's bike on which she rode around the world.

Back on I-10 I rode around Mobile and just inside Mississippi went down to US 90, which follows the coast. This is a slow road with many small towns, but it is always interesting to ride along a large body of water. The area suffered a lot of damage from hurricane Katrina, and there were many wooden sculptures along the road that were made from large pieces of driftwood.

Sections of US 90 have beautiful mansions along the road, which apparently survived the hurricane.

A light rain had begun to fall, and I continued through Biloxi and Gulfport to Bay St. Louis, where I turned north and joined I-10. Beyond New Orleans I went south on I-310 and in Raceland I turned north on LA 1, which goes through small towns in bayou country, including Thibodaux and Napoleonville, where much of the movie Because of Winn-Dixie was filmed. Thibodaux is a fairly big town with an interesting few blocks of old downtown area, but Napoleonville seems to be mostly deserted.

That part of Louisiana can't be no more than three feet above sea level anywhere, and the road is never far from the Mississippi River. Every town has a surprising number of churches, and each small town also seems to have a "Gentlemen's Club" just outside the city limits. Strange place, Louisiana. There is the occasional brightly-painted voodoo shack along the road and the graves in the cemeteries, as in New Orleans, are above ground.

LA 1 runs into I-10 just west of Baton Rouge, and I found a cheap motel along the Interstate. Tomorrow - into Texas.