Florida did have warmer temperatures than Tennessee, but we still experienced some unseasonably cold temps for several days. The month started off with a forecast for “Gulf effect snow” in the Tampa area and “watch out for falling iguanas”! Iguanas are easily stunned by temperatures below 45°, causing them to freeze and fall from trees; temps went into the 20’s during several overnights triggering that phenomenon! Green iguanas are considered an invasive species in Florida, and the Florida Wildlife Commission allows humane killing of the species.
It had been four years since we last stayed at Peace River in Wauchula. Hurricane Ian in September of 2022 brought massive flooding in the park and it was closed for several months while they did clean-up and re-did electric and water hookups. We walked around the park on several days.
There was some activity on the Peace Rive one day; kayakers are not a common sight here!
On February 3, we drove over to Venice to meet up with Dennis and Liz for lunch
Afterwards, we rode again on the Legacy Trail; on the southern end from Venice.
Being a rails-to-trails path, it’s interesting to see some railroad tracks along the way.
And wouldn’t you know, there was a pub called Off-Trail Bike and Brew close to the trailhead where we stopped after our ride.
It had had been very windy and cold for a couple of days, so we decided to check out Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center. Cooler temps draw the manatees to seek out warmer water which TECO provides here. The price was right, free entry! In among the mangroves, we spotted a yellow crowned heron.
And there were manatees!
There was a big tank/pool with stingrays swimming around – and an opportunity to touch them!
A window on the side of the pool gave a better view of these creatures!
The winds calmed down some, and on the 7th, we drove up to Bartow to ride on the Fort Fraser trail. There was a covered picnic table where we ate our packed lunch!
We rode this trail several times in the past – and never noticed this sign!
A couple of days later we drove to Auburndale and rode on the TECO Auburndale Trail which connected to the James Van Fleet State Trail. There were nice shady areas on some parts of the trail.
But most of the trail, which follows the power lines, had no shade.
The last time we rode here (January 2021) Linda had her first fall off her bicycle. Her rear wheel didn’t make the turn onto the very narrow sidewalk leading off the trail into the parking lot. They have since fixed that connection!
On the 11th, we left Wauchula about 11am with 109,124.5 miles on Acey and 141,784 on the Jeep. We arrived at the KOA Holiday Davie/Ft. Lauderdale at 2:45. We got set up and headed over to Rob’s place. We passed by a funeral home with an interesting name…
Rob fixed dinner for us while Marlin worked on shredding a box in his “office”.
The next day, we rode from the Conte Bike shop in Boca Raton to Deerfield Beach with Rob. (This store was built and run as Magnuson Schwinn Cyclery from 1973 until 1985 when Rob & Linda’s father retired)
We stopped for a water break at the Boca inlet.
At the Palmetto Park Pavillion we got a nice view of the beach.
After our ride, we had “linner” at Crazy Uncle Mike’s.
Linda enjoyed some tasty fish tacos.
The following day, we rode on the Hollywood Boardwalk and up to Dania Beach with Rob. As Rob rode next to Jim, he heard a noise that Jim had been wondering about; when he put tension on the crank, it made a grinding noise. When we stopped and had dinner on the Boardwalk, Rob said he would look into it.
On Saturday, Rob went to work on Jim’s bike; he got out his rack and tools and took the crank apart.
The crank had not been assembled right – so we went to the nearby bike shop and bought a new crank. How wonderful that Rob had the tools and knowledge to fix the bike!
We drove out to Markham Park and rode on 2 Greenway trails with Rob. No more noise in the crank! The greenways run next to a canal.
We had Valentines Day dinner at the Yard House.
On the 15th we made some preparations for our departure on the 16th. Then we went back to Rob’s place and watched the Daytona 500. Two crashes on the final lap; one close to the finish line gave a surprise finish to Tyler Reddick – you just never know how the race will end up till its over! Rob fixed dinner and we Zoomed with the family. Soon it was time to say our goodbyes.
We left Davie at 9am with 109,295 miles on Acey and 142,060 on Thor and headed for the Keys! As we approached Key Largo, there were a lot of bridges to cross, with the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf on the other. US Highway 1 was mostly a 2-lane road as we headed to our destination.
There was a bike path along much of the highway.
Soon we came to the Seven Mile Bridge.
The bridge to the right was built as a railway and converted to highway and is now used for pedestrians and bikes. More on that in just a bit!
The seven mile bridge is an engineering marvel!
Further down the highway, we saw the old abandoned railway to our left – a roadway had been built on top of the railway- all abandoned due to hurricane damage.
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The Florida Keys are a chain of 1,700 islands extending southwest from the tip of the Florida peninsula. The chain of islands is 202 miles in length, stretching to within 90 miles of Cuba.
There are 113 miles of roadway (the Overseas Highway) from Key Largo to Key West with 42 bridges connecting the Keys along the way. The most famous (and longest) of these bridges is the Seven Mile Bridge, one of the longest bridges in existence when it was built. It connects Knight’s Key (west end of the city of Marathon) in the Middle Keys to Duck Key in the Lower Keys. The original bridge was constructed in the early 1900’s as part of Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway’s Key West Extension. It operated from 1912 to1935 when the Labor Day hurricane devastated the railway system. The railway bridges were converted for vehicular travel by 1938. The new Seven Mile Bridge was finished in 1982. (Here is a timeline)
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We arrived at the KOA Sugarloaf Key/Key West Resort at 2:00. We walked around the park and took a couple of photos.
In the evening, we went over to the pub and played Bingo. An interesting twist; they played country tunes rather than calling numbers!
On the 17th, we crossed over the Seven Mile Bridge again on our way to Marathon. We looked for Fred the Tree! He is at Mile Marker 41… Sure enough, we spotted Fred on the old span!
We visited the Turtle Hospital. The building had been a hotel and is now a place that rescues and rehabs sea turtles. The staff live in the old hotel rooms and are on call for emergencies.
Our guide gave a presentation about the 5 species of sea turtles that they help.
Human impacts on Sea Turtles…
We saw the exam room and surgery room.
Then we went to see the holding tanks and large tidal pool where the turtles were swimming.
The facility received 25 cold stunned turtles and are rehabbing them.
After our visit to the Turtle Hospital, we ate our packed lunch before going for a bike ride.
We rode on a section of the old Seven Mile Bridge from Knights Key to Pigeon Key.
Looking thru the fence, part of the bridge is missing! Some of this bridge was blown up in the movie “True Lies”!
After we shared some of these photos on the family chat, Rob sent a couple of photos. Back in July 1973, there was an epic bike ride from Boca Raton to Key West featuring Rob, Ted, Laura and a few of their friends!
They rode on this narrow 2 lane bridge with basically no shoulder! This photo was taken 53 years ago – right where we were!
We rode down to Pigeon Key.
Driving back to the KOA, we saw the old bridge – it has been painted and fixed up for pedestrian and bicycle use.
The segment missing after Pigeon Key.
And another segment missing – making a channel for boat traffic.
The next day we rode right from the KOA along the bike path by US1. Part of the route took us to the old overseas highway, State Road 4A.
Our route took us to the bridge crossing over from Summerland Key to Ramrod Key where we would have had to ride on the shoulder of US1 – the old bridge had not been improved.
Our ride was scenic with some shade. It paralleled US1 and crossed over it a few times.
And the SS Minnow had washed ashore at the side of the trail!?
Later that day, we drove down to Key West for a sunset cruise on an old racing schooner, the Malabar X . Jim helped to hoist the sails. It was a perfect evening for a sunset cruise!
Another sailboat was nearby and, in the distance, a cruise ship was leaving Key West.
Before long, the sun approached the horizon…
…going , going, gone!
And soon our cruise was over – a pleasant ending to the day!
Jim figured out that there should be no cruise ships at Key West on the 19th so we thought that would be a good day to spend the day there. For $2.00 each round trip, there was a bus we could ride from Sugarloaf Key and not have to pay to park the car.
Our first stop was at the Little White House.
Most well known for Harry S. Truman staying here, 6 other U S Presidents visited here as well. This sign tells more history of the house.
This is where Truman fixed his morning “heart starter” bourbon drink prescribed his doctor!
We went upstairs – here is the First Lady’s room.
The upstairs porch.
One of several framed photos telling of events while the Trumans stayed here.
The President’s bedroom – he had separate sleeping quarters so as not to disturb the First Lady if he had to be woken.
A desk for his personal correspondence.
Back downstairs; Truman loved to play the piano and brought his piano with him when he came to Key West!
The Presidential Desk for official work. The sign says THE BUCK STOPS HERE.
There was a museum of sorts past the gift shop.
Truman was a champion for Civil Rights.
This beauty pulled up while we were touring the Little White House.
We had hoped to cruise to the Dry Tortugas and visit Fort Jefferson, but apparently you need to schedule that several months to a year ahead! We saw a museum that had a model of the fort – so we checked it out.
Of course we had to visit the buoy at the southernmost point.
We had been there a couple of times before in 1983 and 2010!
This cat near the buoy – was it one of Hemmingway’s six toed cats?
We visited The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. One wall featured several species of butterflies.
We went into the glass-domed tropical butterfly habitat. We were surrounded by hundreds of butterflies, some birds and 2 flamingos.
The Blue Morpho butterflies were flying all over the place and hard to capture in a photo!
…and surprise! There was a turtle!
Near the exit, there was a small area full of cocoons.
Another iconic stop – the beginning – or end – of US1 – Mile 0 – we may be at the other end in July when we go to Maine!
We were there with Chuck and Chris in 2010 – Chris must have been the photographer.
Back in the 60’s Jim’s father was a member of Pan Am’s Clipper Club. His job with Ford Motor Company took him all over the world. It was fun to see this sign about the now defunct airline.
We had lunch on the patio at First Flight Brewery, the southernmost brewery.
The next day, on Rob’s suggestion, we rode from KOA again and tried to find the old overseas highway; it used to run near there – we had to turn around after the “road” became too difficult to ride with the trike.
We rode back past the KOA and went on the route we followed the other day. A pelican was on one of the bridges!
We enjoyed riding the next 2 days and spent a little time at the pool. We rode 51 miles while staying in the keys.
The forecast called for high winds on the 23rd; not a good scenario for driving Acey over all those bridges! We changed our plans and left later than usual, pulling out of the KOA at 10:30 with 109,456.8 miles on Acey and Thor, being driven separately by Linda, had 142,221 miles. The winds had calmed down, but it was still a bit windy.
We re-attached Thor at Islamorada and arrived at the KOA Holiday in Davie at 2:45. We got set up and went over to Rob’s for dinner. We weren’t expecting to see him and Marlin again so soon, but it’s a long drive to Eustis from the Keys. We had pizza and salad and played Mexican Train.
We left the Davie KOA at 8:10 on the 24th with 109,614.2 miles on Acey and 142,317 on Thor. We arrived at Southern Palms in Eustis at 3pm. We are expecting a visit from Christopher, so we took some time to move things around to make room for him. Linda worked on updating the blog and Jim washed the coach. On the 27th we drove up to Santos and went for a ride on the Cross Florida Trail. It started to rain, so we only got 10 miles in.
Chris arrived on the 28th. He brought his bike and we hope to do some riding, see manatees and gators and maybe a launch from the Cape! Big plans… we’re hoping Chris finds the bed comfy!
February was a month full of fun adventures in Florida. We are thankful to be in a warmer climate and look forward to our time with Christopher. We plan to be heading back home at the end of March.
Linda, thanks for the newsy update. Thanks for posting. Great shots of turtles, birds bridges, and that savvy bike mechanic.
Wow! Tom Thompson looks like a cool dude!
You gave us a very interesting tour of the Keys. Glad you are having so much fun. We are still in planning mode for this summer. We know we are leaving in May and be back home in September. I dont know if we will ne close to you or not. Keep moving and enjoying yourselves.