Day 3

Day #3: Marathon-Islamorada (34.3 miles, 88 degrees)

We left Marathon, Florida this morning close to 8 am, and headed north on the Overseas Highway.  We stopped to get some Gatorade at a gas station.  Someone who could obviously tell we were really hot and sweaty, suggested to my dad that we go to the beer room in the back.  My dad laughed and thanked the guy, thinking he was suggesting that we go drink a beer, even though it was probably around 9 am.  When we walked towards the back of the store though, we saw that there was a walk in fridge, strictly for beer.  The man was right, it was a great way to cool off. 

We continued on our way, stopping every couple of miles for water and to enjoy the view.  

While I’m not sure who was the first person to say “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there”, that has been the theme while biking in The Keys.  We went over a ton of small bridges today.  

Most were pretty flat, but at one point we were approaching a bridge which looked like a really big hill.  

Then we noticed a bike path across the street, possibly leading to an older bridge on the side which is now only open to bikes (like many of the other bridges).  I was really praying for that bridge to work out, because I was tired and hot and did not want to go up a steep incline.  I sent my dad to scout it out, and the good news was that there was an old pedestrian bridge on the side of the newer steep bridge.  Unfortunately though, that bridge ended halfway to the other side.  So unless we wanted to swim half way, we needed to go up the hill, but it really wasn’t as bad as it looked.

We decided we were going to stay somewhere in Islamorada for the night.  Although it’s a beautiful place we decided we could never live here since we can’t pronounce that name (Islamorada) the same way twice.    A little while after seeing the first sign for Islamorada, we realized that although we were drinking a lot, all we had eaten for the day was some Oreos and a bag of chips (Lays Lattice Cut Aged Cheddar & Black Pepper Chips),

These are so good!

and we were really hungry.  Luckily, about a mile away was Midway Café.  We made it halfway to Miami! Located at the midway point between Key West and Miami (80 mile marker), this place was really amazing.  Of course, I had just been biking in 88 degree weather for thirty something miles.  I probably would’ve thought anything was good.  However, this place really was an exceptional café and bakery.  They had really good chocolate chip cookies, and they heated them up so the chocolate chips were all melty.  What more could you want?

While we were sitting enjoying the Midway Café, we found ourselves a hotel for the night.  We biked a few more miles, checked in, went to the beach and pool, and relaxed.  Looking back, most of our day was spent on bike paths along the water, with an occasional bridge sprinkled in. 

Were looking forward to a short ride tomorrow (its so painful to move) so we can spend the weekend in Key Largo – not a bad place to hang out.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!