The travels of the Rambling Roses: Bicycling from Jupiter/Juno Beach, Fła, to Fort Lauderdale/Davie KOA,Fla (Dec.11 & 12)

76.77 in 5:44....(932.57).....

December 11...we spent the day in Jupiter, resting the wheels, in a beautiful, but expensive RV resort on the Jupiter/Juno Beach border. I took the opportunity to take the bike back to Hobe Beach, and let Village Bikes hook me up with a new drive train. Pam and I drove back along Juniper Island, because I thought Pam might like to see how the other half lives, the rich and famous, that is. Then we stopped for lunch at a little roadside tiki bar and restaurant that John Travanti turned me on to last time we were here, Dune Dog. I had a footlong hot dog with sauerkraut, and Pam had some not so lobstery lobster bisque and a lobster roll, which she said wasn't that impressive. Oh, well. I liked the place last time, but they bombed this time. Then we bought a hose connector and spent way too much time fixing our water hose to the RV, which cramped up, and we weren't getting any water pressure. We had time to then walk a short distance, and check out the Juno Beach Park Pier, which cost a dollar to walk out on, so we didn't walk on it (we didn't bring any money). We did watch a group of surfers catch some pretty good waves (for Florida), and soaked what little warmth there was, on another day that never made it above 65. We then drove 20 miles, back to Hobe Sound, to pick up my bike, which wasn't done. They ordered a wrong part, and were trying to 'harvest' one off of other bikes in the shop. We were told to come back in the morning, and hopefully it would be done. I was hoping things would work out perfectly, but it doesn't always go that way. Then it was off to the Travanti residence, where we had hors dourves ( not even spell check could get that one right), drinks, and NY strip steaks, that John and I cooked on the grill. Pam got to meet John's two boys, David and Jake, and their two dogs. Their house was all lit up on the outside for the holidays, and Christmas music and decorations were all done up, inside. We had a great evening. John and Dorothy always go above and beyond the call of duty when I/we visit, which is two times now. The old roomie did pretty damn well for himself.

Village Bike Shop in Hobe Sound, Florida

Banyan tree "tunnel" in Hobe Sound, heading towards Jupiter Island

Loggerhead sea turtle sculpture

Juno Beach Pier

My old roomie, John Travani

December 12....the day started off with a trip back up to Hobe Sound to pick up the bike, which the mechanic was still trying to get to shift properly. He was finally successful, and I was out of there with pretty much a new drive train, except for the one gear that was causing me problems. I'm happy that the maintenance is done, before bigger problems occurred, and I will find the one gear I need somewhere so I have my big speed gears back again. I got out of there with a really good price, and the mechanics really were conscientious and did a good job. I had them put new brake pads on also, that I had been carrying with me. After almost 25,000 miles, the brake pads were about shot.

I got on the road at about eleven o'clock, (and Pam was able to get the rig out of our little tropical cubby hole!) with about 75 miles to do, on one of the shortest days for daylight of the year. I didn't kill myself, but I didn't dilly dally either. The first 20 miles or so we're on US 1, which is just a business corridor, so it was pretty boring, except for a stretch in Palm Beach, where I went over to the Intercoastal Waterway, and rode along the water for five miles or so. The yachts are getting bigger as I go south, and there is no shortage of money in this stretch either. They also had several huge sand sculptures for Christmas and lots of decorations, which I would have missed if I stayed on US1. The homes and condos are very impressive. There have been bicyclists everywhere since Daytona, and today was no different. I met up with a couple on US1, that were packed down pretty good, and also headed for the Keys. We chatted for a while, but they wanted to beeline it on US1, and I wanted to head over to A1A, so they went on ahead, and I made a left, toward the ocean. The bridge that was going to take me over the Intercoastal was closed for construction, so I had to go about five miles south, to find another bridge.

I finally got over to the ocean, and A1A, is just a different world. I crossed over just south of Lake Worth, just in time to see Boynton Beach, a more residential area, then onto Delray Beach, which was much more commercial and touristy. All these beaches and towns, regardless of what is there, are just gorgeous, well manicured, and too pricey for my blood. Then it was on to Boca Raton, where there was a beach replenishment project going on, with a huge pipe running right down the middle of the beach for miles. It was interesting that I knew exactly what was going on, because the same kind of project was going on on the Outer Banks all summer long. Then it was Pompano Beach, which had a huge, guarded beach and a pier, and looked like a great family vacation spot. Traffic had been building gradually, but when I got to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, a full scale traffic jam broke out, condos shot up like weeds, and it pretty much stayed that way, through to Ft Lauderdale. There was road construction to deal with at that point, plus work on the walkway along the beach, which meant that I really had to pay attention to traffic, rather than look around, as I like to do.

In Ft Lauderdale, right in the heart of the beach business district, which was pretty busy, I made a right, and headed inland, towards the Davie/Ft Lauderdale KOA, where Pam had set up camp. We were fortunate to get a site on a Friday, as RV parks are becoming more rare. The parks in the Lauderdale area are old, therefore not equipt to handle the newer big rigs like ours, and they are in neighborhoods which are older and not so nice, according to all the reviews that Pam read. Last night, we were about ready to bail on the whole bike riding idea, because we didn't think we would find a place to camp, and I didn't want to stay in motels like I did in this area last trip. But, as usual, Pam pulled through finding a place, and all I had to do was ride about twenty miles inland from Ft Lauderdale.

As I rode inland, I discovered that Ft. Lauderdale is a huge place, and there is much more than just the beach. Los Olas Street, which I rode on for several miles, was filled with standstill traffic, condos, and upscale restaurants. There was also at least a half a dozen waterways, complete with the huge yachts and other mere million dollar boats. I was delayed by a couple more draw bridges, before I got into a maze of major roads, including I-95, the Florida Turnpike, I-595, and other eight lane roads. I mixed it up with traffic on US441, which felt like an interstate, and had a five mile stretch on Fla 817, that was busy as hell, but had a bike lane. Darkness was falling quickly as I hit some residential areas, and got on a trail that meandered for miles along a residential canal, and popped out right at the KOA. My last ten miles were paralleling one canal or another, which I found interesting.

Once I was showered, and checked out our really neat campsite, complete with covered patio, chairs, and exotic ( for us ) plants, we went over to the restaurant/bar area, and had lasagna, and chatted with the local workampers for over an hour. Our workamping experience in Arizona is drawing nearer, so we shared what we knew. Pam was an encyclopedia of information on traveling that one couple was tapping, and I spoke to a couple of others about what I knew about bike touring, and running and biking injuries.