Hank – I woke up in time to see Richard off. He has reservations at a hostel in Key West. We have reservations at the Navy base campground. We traded phone numbers so we can get together again before he heads home.

All of the campsites in our area are primitive. They have no water or electricity. When I walked back from the bathroom a woman was headed there carrying an electric coffee pot. Ya gotta survive, right?

We turned in our site pass and headed west. It was another hot day. We stopped at the Winn-Dixie on Big Pine Key to get some Benadryl to help us sleep tonight. The no see’ums have feasted on us like nobody’s business. The itching is interfering with our sleep. While Kathy was inside I was entertained by a bunch of chickens that were wandering around the parking lot.

We stopped at Baby’s Coffee–billed as the southernmost coffee roasters  in the country–on the Saddleback Keys and had an ice cold smoothie to help fend off the heat. While we were there we met four cyclists who hail from Ohio and Indiana. We chatted with them for a while. It turns out one of them is a Warm Showers host in Cleveland. I don’t think we tried to use Warm Showers there since we wanted to be close to downtown. Maybe next time. The four were riding to Key West as well but they weren’t loaded up like us. We shared the same observations of the trail running alongside Hwy 1. It’s schizophrenic in that it jumps back and forth across the roadway.

Navy jets screamed overhead during the last 15 miles to Key West. I’d almost forgot how loud military fighter jets are.

We rolled into Key West and headed for the buoy marking the southernmost point of the continental U.S. There was a line of people waiting to take pictures next to it. We got in line and then noticed the four riders we met at the coffee roasters were trying to take a group photo. Kathy ran over and took a picture for them. Then we brought our bikes over and they took our pictures for us. They headed out and we looked for a place on Duvall Street to get some food and a drink and celebrate the completion of the second leg of our adventure. We’re going to stay in Key West for 3-4 days.

The folks at the Old Town and Beer Garden thought highly of us after learning how far we have cycled. They very rarely meet people like us. When we left we stopped by mile marker 0 of Hwy 1. There’s a store right there that’s loaded with stuff you can buy to memorialize your visit.

We have campsite reservations on Sigbee Island, the annex to the Key West Naval Station. The guard at the gate checked our IDs and let us pass. The young man could not believe us when he learned we rode from Spokane. Yeah, we get a lot of that.

Rather than tent it tonight I thought we should check the nearby Navy Lodge and see if a room was available. They had one room available for tonight only. We took it. It’ll be worth a good night’s sleep. We showered, did our laundry, and then relaxed all evening. One Benadryl before bed for some relief from the no see’um bites and it was lights out.

Kathy – Our ride was 46 miles. We met more great people along the way today. Temps were in the high 70’s with 100% humidity. We had to push the fluids because of sweating so much. It was hot but the beautiful scenery made up for it as we traveled down to Key West, Florida. Can’t believe we made it this far on bicycles. It’s crazy!! The first leg of our trip took us from Spokane, Washington to Glenburn, Maine. We have now completed the second leg of our journey, Maine to Key West, Florida. Yippee! 🎉

We plan to spend a few days here relaxing and sight seeing before we move on. It will also hopefully give us time to heal our bug bites. Adding to the bug bites I also have a nice amount of heat rash on my arms and legs that could use a few down days. And on top of that, yesterday when I was putting my shower supplies back in my stuff sack I accidentally pushed down into the section where my razor was (in a ziplock bag) and cut my index finger open. Ouch, I did a nice job which probably needs a couple of stitches. No need for that. I pulled out the medical bag. Really just a ziplock bag with a few meds and bandage products if we should need them. Well, lots of pressure to control the bleeding and a few steri-strips to hold it together and I am now okay. Needless to say, today I am going to buy one of those razor covers so that doesn’t happen again.

So, overall another great day of riding, and looking forward to healing/relaxing for a few days. ☀️🌴🌅

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