Buddy and I rode 32 miles one day and I rode 52.5 the next day. Buddy and I rode north from Sugarloaf Key and hit every back road we could find, just to see what we could see. One of the roads we took was Blimp Road, which took us back to the landing pad of Fat Albert. Fat Albert is a blimp type thing that you can usually see way up in the sky near our campground, and for miles around. My understanding is that it broadcasts from the U.S. to Cuba. I don't know enough about it to say exactly what it does, but Bud and I saw it when it was on the ground, and got as close as we could without alerting the security guard that manned the entrance road. We took pictures, and got a good view of Albert, which seems to be up in the sky, more than not, suspended by some pretty long cables. Pretty cool.
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Fat Albert before "he" goes up!
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| Way up there! |
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| Buddy |
For dinner, Charlie and Susan took us to The Fish camp at Geiger Key, which is a hidden gem, off the main road, with no signs. It is also a marina and campground, with clear water, where you can see tropical fish, mangrove trees, and beautiful sunsets, all while having great food ( grouper sandwiches), and listening to the locals b s at the bar. Just the type of place that Chas and Susan want to show off, but really don't want everyone to know about, so it won't ever lose its 'hidden'appeal.
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| Pam's attempt at a Geiger Key sunset! |
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| Buddy's masterpiece! |
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| Enlarge this picture and look at Buddy's shirt! |
The third 'find' of the day was the Howard Livingston Band that played at the KOA that evening. He played mostly original tunes, singing about the locals, and he could have been Jimmy Buffet if he wanted to leave the local scene in his prime. We all built a fire at our camp sight, and sat around listening, until we shut the place down, at 10 o'clock! Charlie was doing the Joey Shuffle by the end of the night, and we all enjoyed the atmosphere of a 75 degree evening in the keys at the end of December.
The next day I did my ride into Key West and explored some areas that I hadn't seen yet, and got a good workout. There really hasn't been a lot of bicycle riding going on, and not a lot in the foreseeable future. I'm worried about losing conditioning, because when I leave here, I'll be riding I to the northerly wind, until we make a left in north Florida, just to ride into the west wind for a few thousand miles.
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| Fire at our campsite. |
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Howard Livingston Band
A little PS on the end of these gems.......go to next post!
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