17 July 2007
Left just after 8, and wanted to eek a few more miles out of the
current tank, so I'd have enough to get down to Key West, where I need
to get a gas receipt anyway. South Coast is 16 miles away; perfect.
That'll make about 225 to Key West; I can usually do that many miles on
a tank even at 70, and I'm pretty sure US 1 down the keys won't be that
fast.
I didn't fancy out a route; just let MapSource do it, but I
zoomed out to look, and it was going to take me over to I-95, and 27 is
pretty good, and fast, here (unlike yesterday), so I'll stay on that
for a while. Once I got down to 995, there was a sign saying to take it
to Key West, so I did. And it worked pretty well, until I got into more
built-up areas where the traffic picked up. And I got rained on a
little. I was following a couple cars behind a bus that was just poking
along; I looked to my left, at what appeared to be US 1, so at the next
opportunity, I cut the one block over, and got on it. I think I beat
the bus, anyway.
But then I saw a sign that said something to the
effect that US 1 was closed ahead! Sure enough, there's a cop car
pulled across the road, and traffic is turning left onto Card Sound
Road. Well, I guess it must be the way to go. And it was, except there
was construction on that, too; a one-lane bridge
being rebuilt.
And
once we got onto the keys, it seemed like the speed limit was 45 or
under at least half the time. And it was steamy! And there are no
alternate routes--if you're going to Key West, you're taking US 1!
But I got there, looked for the gas station I'd set a waypoint
for--nothing there! S&!^. Well, go find the monument and take a
picture. But the town is just crawling with tourists, and there's
really no good place to stop. (Seems I remember that from 1987,
but we just did it.) I didn't feel like messing with it this time,
though. So I went looking for the post office, and couldn't find that,
either. Eventually I found a Hyatt, with a nice big sign out front, and
I could park my bike right in front of it. I solicited a passer-by to
take the picture, rather than fool around setting up the
tripod--besides, I had to pee, and hadn't found a gas station yet.
So I
punch "gas" into the GPS, and pick one (Circle K), but when I get
there, it's just the convenience store, not the gas station. Then I
drive around some more, and there's the post office, and a place to
park
the bike to take another picture. I grab another passer-by, who manages
to get all the required elements into the frame, and now I feel better
about a legit picture.
So I start heading up 1, and there on the left
is a Chevron. First I pee, then I fill up with gas--and the pump
doesn't give me a receipt. The proprietor is friendly, and gives me
one. And then I look at the address, and the address of the Chevron I'd
been looking for--they had the street wrong! The guy commiserates, he's
seen "Four Corners" bikers before. This is the place! So I correct the
street name on the "corner" map, find the phone and write down the
number, and take it back down to the post office and head back up the
keys.
Same horrible traffic, but it gets worse at the end. US 1 is
still closed, and one of the corners on the detour is so busy there's a
guy directing traffic there. So that takes about 10 minutes, then
there's the queue for the one-lane bridge; that takes another 10
minutes. Traffic moves along fine then, for about nine miles, when it
stops completely. People are getting out of their cars and standing in
the shade at the side of the road. Finally, some cars come the other
way; there's an accident blocking the road ahead. After another 10
minutes, traffic starts flowing the other way, they shout that the
scene has been cleared, and pretty soon we start moving--in fits and
starts; it took another 20 minutes to go five miles. By then, I'm done.
I see a Fairway Inn, and pull in ($60). There's a Wal*Mart down the
street ($12). But the wi-fi's not working.
State: Florida
377 GPS miles (5529 total), 45.1 moving average, 79.8 max (that I
believe).
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