Tour de Florida: Post 2

Monday, February 5th

When last we left our heroes, we'd just arrived in Stuart, Florida.  There we met our WarmShowers hosts: John and Laura.  I've only done WarmShowers a few times, but every experience has been fantastic.  Julian and Jill, Iris, Dannica, and James were all fellow cyclists with whom I had an immediate connection.  Laura and John were just the same, and we hit it off immediately!  I try not to share very much about those who agree to host, and will keep to that rule here.  But the two were such wonderful hosts and such upstanding people that I feel it necessary to tell you a bit about them.  Also they deserve the recognition.

John and Laura have had all kinds of adventures.  Perhaps the one that made for the best connection was their ride across America some years ago.  There were so many more - too many to recount here - but they were seasoned cyclists.  They also have lots of travel under their belts.  But they've hosted so many cyclists through the years that they now have connections all over the world.  They keep guestbook that they have guests sign - actually they have two because one filled up - and through it I realized that they collected friends.  Cyclist friends.  Friends with whom they shared something in common but all of whom had different lives and backgrounds.  It's an amazing way to find and make new friends!

They volunteer in their community.  They are active in groups and societies.  In their guestbook I wrote that we live in a cynical time, but experiences like meeting and staying with people like Laura and John renew my faith in humanity.  They are exactly the kind of person I admire and aspire to one day meet their example.

We had arrived on Sunday and planned to leave this day (Monday) but rain was threatening and John and Laura offered to let us wait it out with them and stay another night.  We started the day with breakfast.  Later in the day John and Laura took us out to explore Stuart, Florida and see a few local sights.  We had lunch at a wonderful local cafe and ran a few errands.  By afternoon the rain had quit and the sun was shinning through.

I never really told anyone, but at this point in the trip my skin was reacting to something and I think it was a new sunscreen I'd bought.  I took a walk to a local pharmacy for something to try to counter the itching, hives, and blisters that were breaking out on my skin.  While walking through the neighbourhood I found the local library and was really happy to see a thriving community hub: makers space, teen section, child section, public lectures, and lots of programming and curating by the library staff.

Hey wouldn't it have been juvenile for me to take a picture with almost every single instance of the name "Stuart" I saw in Stuart, Florida just because it's my last name?  SURE WOULD!

And last but not least...

We finished the evening off with a fine supper that included smoked fish dip (a local thing we were told) and a new favourite of mine: roasted okra.  

The okra was a bit of an inside joke by that point.  While looking through their guestbook of previous visitors someone had written "thank you for my first taste of ocra" and my brain saw the letters o-c-r-a and read orca instead of ocra.  It took me a few seconds to realize they weren't serving killer whale to their guests.  They obliged me by serving some "orca" for dinner.

John and Laura were great company and we spent a lot of time trading stories and experiences.  I loved every minute we spent there.  It's a throwaway line that we commonly use in jest, but I think it's true: The real adventure is the friends we make along the way.

Monday, February 6th

We woke up and it was time to head out.  John and Laura made sure we were well fed before we pakced up and headed out the door.  Like us, they had plenty of experience biking and staying with people and so we all knew the routine.  But it didn't make it any easier.  We snapped one more photo before leaving.  It's never goodbye, just see you somewhere down the road.  I hope our paths cross again one day.  Thank you so much for hosting and everything you do John and Laura!

The day wasn't going to be too long.  We were expecting headwinds, but the distance was easily within our reach.  We would leave Stuart and bike to Lake Worth, Florida just South of West Palm Beach.

We got an early start and the ride out of Stuart was easy and bright.  The headwinds we'd been anticipating weren't as bad as expected and when you're biking along the beach it's tough to get tired or angry.  A few sights as we rolled along in the morning:

Our first stop in the afternoon was at a beach.  We took a few minutes and admired the surf.  There was a gale warning on the ocean between here and the Bahamas and it was kicking up some awesome waves!  We watched surfers bobbing up and down on their boards waiting for the right wave.

Since we didn't have far to go, Skipper had picked out a few stops.  The first was the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Florida.  As the volunteers and staff there explained to us, this place is like a turtle ICU where they treat injured turtles until they're well enough to be released again.  There is no long term stays at this place.  We got to see a lot of turtles up close and learn about how they'd suffered from shark attacks, or boat strikes, or "cold-stunned" turtles (when they get too cold, cannot move, and just float around in the water hitting stuff and getting injured).  It was a really impressive operation and I admired the staff and volunteers for how much effort it took to try to give these gentle creatures a chance to heal but not keep them any longer than they needed.

And now, lots of pictures of sea turtles!!!

The Center also had a few other tanks with sealife for viewing.

We ate lunch here surrounded by turtle tanks and the people helping to care for them.  At some point it time to roll on...

Our next stop was outside of the power station at the border of Riviera Beach and West Palm Beach.  The water coming out of the station is warmer than the surrounding waters and attracts manatees.  Sure enough, we quickly found what we came to see!

There were lots more, but none that my camera picked up this well.  We could see their noses breaking the water's surface ocassionaly as they surfaced to take a deep breath.  Something very soothing as how relaxed the lives of manatees seem to be!

After this we rode though West Palm Beach past yachts of stunning size.  The sun was starting to set and it was golden hour.

We made one last stop before heading to our next WarmShowers host: Lake Worth Beach.  My aunt and uncle had brought me and sisters here many times as kids and it was like a trip down memory lane.

From here it was only a few minutes to our next host: Jean-Marc and Isabelle.  Once again, another wonderful WarmShowers experience!  Jean-Marc welcomed us in and was another warm, engaging, adventerous soul.  We enjoyed a wonderful meal of pasta, stories of adventures and travel, and discussions about the limits of human endurance and tenacity.  Desert included genuine Belgian chocolate they'd brought back with them from a recent trip.  It was such a wonderful treat!  Jean-Marc and Isabelle were wonderful people to get to know.  It took only a few hours and Skipper and Jean-Marc were playing music together.  I won't soon forget the first time I heard Skipper play Uncle Joe's Band by The Grateful dead.  It's become the anthem of the trip!

Fun Fact: Jean-Marc founded a company called Fitly that makes running and exercise accessories.  I loved hearing all about the minutia of the different materials, buckles, straps, and fasteners.  I certainly found a kindred spirit who thinks about these tiny details and obsesses over good design!

A great day full of fun, new friends, animals, and beautiful sights.  We slept soundly.

Tuesday, February 7th

This was a loooooong day.  130km in total, but most of that was riding through the Miami metro area and so it was slow going.  Highlights of the day included a stop at lunch for an almond banana smoothy with small pieces of dates in it, the beaches, and warm ocean breezes.

It was a looong day in every sense.  We were routed through downtown Miami in rush hour.  It is not a place that bikes should go.  I could rant about Miami not being more bike friendly, but I knew it was going to be this way and we did it anyway so the fault is all on our side.  But in case you're thinking about it...don't bike in downtown Miami.

We arrived as the sun was setting.  We arrived at the home of Skipper's niece: Kelli.  After a long day of peddaling, Kelli's place was an oasis of rest and relaxation!  She prepared us a wonderful dinner of salmon, sweet potato, and broccoli (a favourite meal of mine) and we spent the evening eating, telling travel stories (of which Kelli has many!), and enjoying one another's company.  Again, I withhold details out of respect to the privacy of our host, but here's a photo we took shortly after we arrived.

A big thanks to Kelli for hosting us.  It was a real pleasure to meet another adventerous soul!

Wednesday, February 8th

Another day, another adventure!  Kelli made sure we were well fed and knew where we were going.  I also appreciated the strong coffee.  Made the day that much better!

The plan was to ride to Key Largo, and start the Florida Keys section of the ride.  We started riding out of Miami on a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) route that had a bike path paralleling it.  This allowed us to avoid all the mayhem we'd biked through getting into Miami.  It was a MUCH easier ride.  Highlights include lunch at a grocery store on our way out of town, and seeing chickens for the first time (a sign of things to come), and lots of iguanas!

The winds were in our favour.  The skies were bright.  The winds were warm.  It was a perfect day for cycling!

At some point we reached the end of the BRT and had to take Highway 1.  This was the road that goes from the Florida mainland to the start of the Florida Keys.  It involves a long stretch of everglades and then water after which we reached the first of the keys: Key Largo.

Eventually we reached Key Largo.  After almost 25 miles (38km) of pure highway we stopped at a gas station to refuel and take a break!  I took a piece of advice from Laura and tried a Payday bar.  Pure peanuts and calories!  Thanks for the recommendation Laura!

Our first stop was a visitor centre to get the lay of the land.

We then stopped into a grocery store for some food.  We spent the night at John Pennekamp State Park and I turned to my old gotos: instant mashed potatoes and mackerel (hi Joel!).

We ate as the sun set and enjoyed the breeze off the water.  We spent time reflecting on our good fortune at the easy ride (especially compared to the ride INTO Miami!).  We watched the red, orange, and purples of the sky.  Gone were the colder tempearture of Northern Florida.  We were now in the Keys!

Oh!  That night we were visited by 4 raccoons!  I woke up when they knocked over my water bottle and I almost had to wrestle them away from my bags as they tried to steal my food.  Thankfully they didn't get away with anything, and we stashed the food away.  But I lost plenty of sleep anyway!  Add raccoon to our fauna checklist!