Tour de Florida: Post 4

Saturday, February 17th

Seeing my aunt's Wendy and Kim for the first time in many years, it was an easy choice to spend a few days in Miami catching up with them! I started the morning with a walk around the neighbourhood with my aunt Wendy, which I hadn't seen in almost a decade and was stunned at how much things have changed. We started the day with a visit to the Coconut Grove Arts Walk. An annual event that takes over a large park in the Coconut Grove neighbourhood, hundreds are artists travel from around the United States to exhibit everything from sculptures, paintings, glass work, you name it. There is also live music and food trucks and its located at a park near the water. We spent a few hours taking it all in and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells.

I was enjoying it so much...this was the only picture I took!

After the outing, Skipper and I took a bike ride to the end of Key Biscayne, a barrier island just off of Miami. It sits out on the water, has some beautiful architecture and beaches, and affords some amazing views of Miami. Some pictures from our bike ride:

It's become something of a tradition that Skipper buys an orchid for some of our hosts, we stopped to grab one on the way back.

In the evening we had plans for Cuban food. My aunt's had chosen a place they knew and loved and boy did it deliver! Some of the better known Cuban places in Miami have apparently gone downhill as they've turned into tourist destinations (I'm looking at you La Versailles) If you're ever in Miami I fully endorse a visit to Havana Harry's. The food was incredible.

The deserts were behind a big case, and you could see them coming out as we ate. But we didn't have room for it. This didn't stop Skipper, Wendy, and Kim from stopping to take a look, like kids in a candy store:

We turned in for the night, another incredibly fulfilling day!

Sunday, February 18th

I woke early again and joined Aunt Wendy for another early morning walk, coffee in hand.

The day was largely spent visiting the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Built by a millionaire from the age of the robber barons, the estate is built in the style of an Italian villa and sits on the water. It is surrounded by incredible gardens and landscaping. The entire place is now a museum and event space. It was threatening rain the entire morning, but it was really incredible to see!

I didn't take nearly enough pictures to do the place justice, but it is an incredible place. I'm happy that it's now open for the public to see (if you pay of course), but I can't write enough to describe to you the details. Of particular interest to me was this one corner of the side of the building. It's of no significance to anyone else maybe, but there was a scene from a Jim Carrey movie that was filmed here...and as a kid I watched this movie maybe a thousand times. I recognized it immediately.

The scene:

We had spent a few hours there and left just as the rain was moving in!

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking shelter inside. A very large storm hit and poured rain the entire afternoon and evening. I haven't seen it rain in such an intense and sustained fashion in a long time, and so took the chance to jump into my aunt's swimming pool outside while the rains came down. So much did it rain that I think I was drier in the pool.

We capped the evening off with a wonderful meal at home in one another's company. It had been two days in Miami, and I was so thankful to spend time with my aunt's once again.

Monday, February 19th

But as it must be when cycle touring, so it was time to keep rolling. And today we were scheduled to leave Miami. There was a light rain falling that was scheduled to stop in a few hours and we decided not to push too much distance this day as we had learned how challenging it was to bike through the Miami metro area on our bike ride into town. So we had breakfast, packed, and eventually it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, and I thanked my aunts for hosting us. I'm not sure when our paths will cross again. I hope it's not another 10 years. I hope I get to see them again soon.

I had hoped to visit Little Havana during our time in Miami, but it was decided it was too far out of our way this morning so it will have to wait for another time.

We biked out of Coconut Grove and crossed paths with some peacocks. I'm not sure they were on Skipper's list of birds we was hoping to see. I can't stand peacocks. So I was pretty happy not to get harassed by them, though I did need to stop to let one slowly cross the road. What a useless bird!

We passed out of Coconut Grove and back into downtown Miami. It was just past rush hour, so the cycling wasn't nearly as harrowing as when we had first biked in a week earlier but it was still fraught with uncomfortable roads and having to jump between road and sidewalk in order to stay safe. If I never bike in Miami again, it'll be too soon.

Once we left downtown and found some bike lanes, things went back to usual. We had to cross over some of the bridges that pass over the waterways just off the coast, and at least once had to stop for a drawbridge opening.

The ride was the same route we had biked down on, except backwards! Sometimes this affords for views you had missed going the other way, but this day was largely spent in the metro Miami area north of the city: Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Pampano Beach. The biggest difference though was the headwinds. We were now biking directly north and the winds were coming straight on! If you've never biked into the wind, it's tiring both physically and mentally. The forecast was calling for days of this. The best you can really do is to put your head down, grit your teeth, and get through it.

As if to literally demonstrate the adversity the wind provided, we passed a park where people were out flying kites. Except some of these kites were HUGE. I've never seen anything like it, but there they were!

The one highlight of a stop was at the smoothy place in Pampano Beach that we'd stopped at on the way down: Bambu Juice Bar. If you're ever in the area, I wholeheartedly endorse this place (results may vary if you don't bike all day to get there).

Because we were still in the Miami metro area it was really difficult to find anywhere to camp. Especially since camping outside of campgrounds had been made illegal only days before in Florida (not that we were big on stealth camping). But the bulls don't just roust you if you sleep outside in Florida, they jail ya! So we spent the night in a hotel. It had been a long day, mostly cool and cloudy, but we had made it out of Miami!

Tuesday, February 20th

This was our 20th day of cycling in Florida. We woke up to sunny skies and bright sun! It promised to be another sunny day, though the winds were already blowing up a gale!

There isn't much I can say about the day though. We biked along the coast on the barrier islands. It made for brilliant views of the water, but the wind was a constant struggle! We passed by the compound of a former President of the United States whose name needs no mention, and then through West Palm Beach. North of the city we made a pit stop at the power plant with the manatees that we'd stopped at on the way down. We grabbed lunch at a grocery store and say in a park to eat. This would prove to be the only photo I took this day:

We continued north through Riviera Beach, Juno Beach, Jupiter, and along the barrier islands...fighting the wind the entire way. Eventually we made it back to Stuart, Florida where we would be stopping once more. If you remember, we stayed in Stuart on our way down with a warmshowers host: John and Laura. We had stayed for two nights on our way down and got to know them pretty well. I missed them from the moment we left, so I was happy they had agreed to host us again on our way back up the coast.

Just before arriving in Stuart we stopped at a market and picked up some ocra and fish dip (both callbacks to our earlier stay). It had now been 8 months since that night and I'm afraid I cannot remember many details. I can tell you that we sat in the backyard and enjoyed a beautiful sitting area where John had fought and defeated an overgrown bougainvillea (they're beautiful, but difficult to manage!). I remember dinner was brilliant...but cannot for the life of me remember what it was. The memory of enjoying John and Laura's company again that evening is powerful though and we regaled them with tales of our travels to Key West and back. A big thank you to John and Laura for putting us up once again!

It had been another long and difficult day, but it ended in good company with a happy reunion!

Wednesday, February 21nd

I had gone to bed with a plan. I wanted calories, and there was a local doughnut shop called Jupiter Donuts with several locations we'd passed in the area. I was craving calories and woke just before sunrise to head out and get the freshest doughtnuts from the shop! I walked as I watched the sun heralding the new day and made it just in time for opening. I grabbed two boxes of whatever looked good and headed back to the house.

John and Laura - being sensible people - don't usually eat doughnuts for breakfast. This means they had the benefit of trying these for the first time with us! We cut them up and shared each one. The European craft of pastry and bread may not have made it to America, but the doughnut is their equivalent art form. While the entire thing may have been corporatized in the American fashion, there are still small bastions of mom & pop doughnut shops out there! Jupiter doughnuts was one of them.

After a caloric-ly dense breafast, we packed up to hit the road once more. Again, a big thank to John and Laura for hosting us and being such wonderful company. I miss them still!

The day was bright and warm, but the headwinds were as bad as we'd experienced. We opted for a shorter day of riding because even that was going to be extremely tiring. We started biking out of Stuart and stopped for a few hours at the nearby Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center. Laura recommended it and we spent a few hours exploring and learning about the nearby coastal life and habitats. Of note was an area to pet stingrays, a giant lagoon full of different fish and sharks, and an area for rescued sea turtles!

The rest of the day was spent biking up the barrier island. The winds were ceaseless. It would be best not recorded or remembered!

We stopped for the day in Vero Beach, a mere 70km from where we'd started but maybe the most difficult effort of trip. We spent the night at an Econolodge, and ate at a Chili's.

Thursday, February 22nd

The sun dawned bright and warm, and another day of warm cycling was ahead. Skipper had the continental breakfast at the hotel while I opted to check out a tiny local spot that did smoothies and breakfast foods. I was the only person there, and then one older guy walked in and we got to chatting. Sure enough, he'd cycled across the United States in the 80s back before it was trendy!

I met back up with Skipper and we started north. The winds were easier than the day before, and while it was still difficult it was a bit of a relief from the previous day's ride. The day again spent riding the barrier islands, and we took frequent stops at beaches along the way.

Another highlight of the day was Skipper rescuing a turtle from a very busy road. We'd seen plenty on the trip who hadn't safely made the crossing. This also wasn't the first time Skipper had stopped to save a turtle on one of our rides and I might have to start a counter of the number of turtle population that owes their lives to Skipper's intervention!

We stopped for ice cream at one point during the day and oddly enough the ice cream place was sheltering two tortoises! It was quite a shell filled day.

This brought us up to the area of Cocoa, Florida. The route we were following had us riding on some residential streets in Cocoa along some waterways and/or canals. The streets were tree lined and idyllic. Skipper and I both commented - on the way down and the way back - how pleasant this part of the ride was and after many hundreds of miles of highway riding, it really was a relaxing and beautiful change of pace. We ended the day riding into Cocoa, Florida where a Warmshowers family hosted us. We had dinner with them and ended another long day!

Friday, February 23rd

The decision was made that - after riding against the wind for days - we should take the day off! We'd been offered another night by our hosts and decided to head to Cape Canaveral and visit the NASA headquarters. A sucker, nerd, and enthusiast for all things Space I was excited to finally visit the Kennedy Space Center. I'd once been to the area to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle, one of the last ones to ever occur. It's difficult to describe what that experience was like, but it left an impression.

Our hosts volunteered to drive us to the visitor center and we took our bikes so we could cycle back. Hot Tip: There are no bike racks at the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex...but they landed on the moon. So I'll give them a pass this time.

We spent the day touring the visitor center. The place is a strange mix of museum and theme park. It had been explained to us that it needs to compete with places like Disney World and Universal Studios and so has to lean into simulators and rides. We tried one of the simulators and it was ok, but it wasn't why we were there! We did mange to get to see some of the pieces I'd been wanting to see for years.

First, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Inside this building is where the largest of NASA's rockets are stacked and assembled. Apollo missions, Space Shuttles, and now the Artemis missions (the next generation of NASA rockets) all passed through this building. It's the largest "single story" building in the world because it's completely open from ground to ceiling inside. It's also one of the largest buildings in the world. We didn't get to go inside, but our tour bus drove past it.

After this we went to see a preserved Saturn V rocket! The Saturn V remains the most powerful rocket to have gone to space and be used for human space flight (new rockets are planned that will best it, but they're still in development). It also is the rocket used to carry human beings to the Moon. It's a dream machine. And NASA keeps one preserved for viewing in a giant visitor building.

This building is dedicated to the Saturn V and the Apollo Program and contains many pieces of Apollo history, including the Apollo 14 Command Module!

It also has many pieces of history from the development of space exploration like this gem:

The next highlight was visiting the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit. It contains...get this...the Space Shuttle Atlantis!

This gives you an idea of the tiles underneath. And this thing is HUGE.

From here we explored a few more exhibits. Another highlight was seeing a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inside one of the buildings. Apparently I didn't take a picture of it though. When the day was winding down we grabbed our bikes and started back towards Cocoa.

On the bike ride home we passed many of the newer buildings on the cape that have been built by the private space companies which are the future of space flight. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the many other smaller players. It's easy to say they're the future and NASA is the past, but these companies are riding the coat tails of the pioneers of generations ago who put did things they may never attempt with a fraction of the technology. NASA isn't the past, it's still the future. We're still trying to get back to the dreams they realized generations ago.

On the bike ride back while looking for gators in the ditches and waterways we spotted an armadillo! I didn't even know they lived in this part of the world. It was another fun find!

We rode back to our hosts house as the sun was getting low. It had been a huge day. I haven't said 2% of the stuff I know and can recite about NASA and the space program. I might have talked Skipper's ear off with facts, anecdotes, and errata about the place. A big thanks to him for deciding to go there and enduring my rambling!

Saturday, February 24th

We woke up and prepped for another day on the road. I had done my usual pastry research and found a local doughnut shop that I wanted to try. I had planned to slip out early and come back to thank our hosts, but Skipper left earlier than expected and so I pulled an "Irish goodbye" and still feel bad about it.

We biked out of Cocoa along Highway 1 and in the distance could see the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building). It's presence on the horizon only helps to underscore just how big it is!

This stretch was all highway without much to see. I did manage to snap this shot of a typical American car however:

We rode back into Mims, Florida and found there was a bike ride charity fundraiser happening in the area. Mims was the start of a dedicated bike pathway that we would follow for almost 50km into Dayton Beach. We had spent a night in Mims on the way down and were hosted by Mims Methodist Church. We found all the folks we'd met at the church were again outside and supporting the charity ride. They were giving away food and drinks, and also hosting a BBQ where you could donate to get a burger, We stopped and caught up with some of the folks there, and chatted with several of the cyclists who stopped to have a bite to eat. We spent almost an hour enjoying the sunshine, good company, and some lunch! Of note was a man we met who was a New York City firefighter originally from Long Island and now retired in Florida. He had done quite a bit of cycle touring and was riding a Surly Long Haul Trucker similar to my own. I asked him his name before we left (because I like to try to note and remember then in this blog) but its been so long that I've now forgotten it. Suffice to say it was a fun conversation and I wish him many happy miles of cycling in his future!

We continued North along the pathway and surrounded by everglades, farmland, pastures, and some more wild areas of inland Florida. It was a nice change from the highway. At some point we reached a fork in the pathway to go to Daytona Beach. The original plan had been to go further inland and visit more of my family near Orlando but COVID had just found them and so company was not what they needed. With a heavy heart I stared off and wondered how long it might be before I see them again.

We biked another few hours on our dedicated bike path and enjoyed some comfortable cruising. This bike pathway had taken us off the coast and the headwinds were gentle as we were surrounded by the inland mix of scrub palmetto, palm, and pine. Eventually we rolled back into New Smyrna Beach on the coast and took a break in a park. We didn't have far left, and had a Warmshowers host for the evening. When we arrived however our host wasn't home. And wasn't answering the phone. And as the sun set Skipper decided we weren't going to wait for this person to get home and we peddled further into Daytona Beach. We tried a campground but there was no sign of staff as the sun was almost set. We eventually found a hotel and checked in just as the sun disappeared on the horizon.

We put our feet up, showered, and found a local Mexican restaurant where we ate. On the walk back to the hotel I realized it was our last night in Florida. The moon was full and the entire night seemed to glow. I snapped a few last pictures of the palms in the coastal night breeze.

We tucked in the for the last night of the ride.

Sunday, February 25th

The last day. I woke and quickly scuttled off to a local doughnut shop for coffee and pastry. Skipper opted for the continental breakfast and I met back up with him when I was finished. We packed up and prepared for the last day of riding.

If you remember, I had mechanical problems on the first day of the ride that threatened to completely derail the trip but was saved by a bike shop in Daytona. They didn't charge me for the help and I'd been wanting to thank them for the help by dropping off some beer. I planned to pick it up and drop it off as we passed by but unfortunately they weren't open on Sunday. (Addendum: When I got home to Quebec I managed to find a place that delivered beer and sent them a case of Quebec's finest Unibroue beer!)

Dayton was quiet as we biked through, and eventually we ended up in a neighbourhood on the barrier islands and after fighting local traffic in this pleasant suburb we emerged at the ocean once again.

At this point something was going wrong with Skipper's bike tire. Weirdly, it seemed to be almost the exact same problem I had when we started the trip and I had experienced it in this exact stretch of road. It turns out the issue was different, but the result was nearly the same. And it was a complete coincidence. Skipper had to stop periodically to adjust his front disc brake to stop it from rubbing. Combined with the headwinds from biking along the coast this slowed us a bit, but it was no issue as it was supposed to be a slightly shorter day!

We passed back through Flagler Beach where we had stayed on our first night and made a pit stop at the state park to take a break.

It was a beautiful day. A bit on the colder side now that we were so much further north, but bright and sunny nonetheless! We spent some time looking out over the water and enjoying what might be our final beach stop of the trip.

We biked for hours more along the coast, through small tourist towns that were busy with Sunday visitors, and along the old A1A highway. Occasionally we'd stop to allow Skipper to adjust his front tire but we were getting close to our final destination and the car so as long as the wheel kept on turning we were going to be ok!

Eventually we reached St. Augustine.

We rode back into a busy town. It was Sunday and there were people everywhere!

We eventually got back to the car and this marked the end of the trip! We packed the bikes. It had been 25 days since we left this place and we had managed to bike to Key West and back!

Total distance for the trip: 1820km.

Skipper and I bundled up in the car and started north.

Within about an hour we crossed into Georgia and left Florida in the rear view mirror. It had been 25 spectacular days and I couldn't have asked for better!

We pushed past our original planned stop for the night to get some extra miles in and ended up getting through Georgia and stopped after we crossed into South Carolina (Hardeeville). When you cycle all day, every day, day after day, your metabolism goes into overdrive. We were both hungry and rather than the usual brand name fast food we managed to find a Honduran restaurant named Caracol. I could maybe have told you the very basics of Honduras, but nothing about their food. We were the only "gringos" in the place and our server didn't speak much English. They were very pleasant and patient with us though, and we ordered some killer food! Honduran cuisine is on the map for me now!

Stuffed, we retreated to our hotel.

This marks the end of the posts about the Florida ride! There will be another post however, as we stopped for a few days in Washington, D.C. and I want to catalogue that experience.

But before signing off, I want to thank Skipper for inviting me to tag along on this trip. This was his trip and he invited me to join him. On top of this, he also organized and paid for any of our paid accommodations. It was an excellent chance to spend time with my adventuring buddy and he was nothing but patient and kind to me the entire trip. Thank you Skipper!