Dolly's Bike Blog

Don and I spent Saturday night in Florida City, organizing to begin our self-supported ride south.  We each packed a pannier plus some front packs.  Our ride to Key Largo on Sunday was only 35 miles, but we wanted to get an early start to avoid some of the traffic.  The Card Sound bridge looks ominous, but we were able to spin up it without difficulty.  There were a number of other cyclists out enjoying a Sunday outing.

Only stop along the way was at the Crocodile Lake Preserve – sadly no crocodiles, but did enjoy a butterfly flitting among in the flower garden.

After dropping our panniers at our Key Largo hotel, we went to the John Pennekamp State Park and took a glass-bottom boat trip to the only barrier coral reef in the U.S.  The reef extends 160 miles off the east coast of Florida.

Kent and Anne Ellis from Ft Wayne arrived after 2+ days drive – they will be our companions on this trip.   We walked to dinner nearby at Skipper’s Dockside, passing by the African Queen docked nearby.  And during dinner, a pelican visited on the nearby pylon.

Monday morning, after last minute organizing, we were off to Marathon, deciding to have breakfast in Islamorada.  We enjoyed our food and a friendly waitress Chrissy at Bob’s Bunz.

We arrived in Marathon before noon, dropped off our gear at the hotel, and headed to Burdine’s for lunch, recommended by Ian and Cheryl.

Then we took a tour of the Turtle Hospital, another Ian and Cheryl recommendation.

I’ll continue the post and photos tomorrow.

We were up early this morning, headed to Shark Valley to ride the tandem in the Everglades.  As expected, we saw plenty of alligators, most relaxing in the water or mud, but also lots of birds.  The following pictures don’t need much description.

Ian and Cheryl recommended we eat at Alabama Jack’s near the card Sound bridge – and we enjoyed the conch fritters, crab cakes and fish fingers.

We spent the evening organizing our panniers – tomorrow we start our self-contained adventure, riding from Florida City to Key Largo, to meet up with Kent & Anne Ellis.

On Wednesday, we drove south toward Naples, stopping first in Estero at the Apple Store to get a new battery for my iPhone.  Don wanted to take a swim in the Gulf, so we found a public beach along Gulf Shore Drive and into the blue waters he went.

We called P.E. and Fran MacAllister from Northminster and they generously invited us to dinner at their condo overlooking Vanderbilt Beach.

So much sun, there are spots on the photo.

Don had reserved our hotel in Naples, via Priceline, and it was great.  The breakfast was served at a Tiki Bar and there was statuary throughout the grounds.

Thurs

Thursday we drove to downtown Naples for some business, then decided to head north to explore Gulf beaches.  We swam and walked the beach at Bonita Beach, Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel – lots of fine white sand and shells.

Today we headed east to start exploring in the Everglades.  Our first stop was at Rookery Bay Estuarine Center, learning about the mangrove forest.  Next, at Collier-Seminole State Park, we saw the Bay City Walking Dredge,  used to help build the Tamiami Trail in the 1920’s.  We continued to Marco Island, with beautiful homes and lots of water.  We bought a roasted chicken at Publix and had a picnic lunch off the back of the van, overlooking some of the houses.

At the Oasis Visitor Center, we observed alligators.  Then we took a 10 Thousand Island boat tour from the Gulf Coast Ranger Center of the Everglades National Park and saw dolphin, osprey, and pelicans.  I’m still hoping to spot a manatee.

The boat captain recommended we eat at Camillia State Grill in Everglades City – and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the sunset.