Some sad news while down there. A young fellow went out on his seadoo Christmas afternoon and never returned. His girlfriend reported him missing.
The picture below is just before you get to the famous "Seven Mile Bridge". The stopping point on the right is under construction and you could not stop for pictures. This is probably one of the coolest things about riding to Key West. It is also cool to see the old train bridge on the right / east side of the new bridge which was later converted to carry automobiles. That is the one that was on the movie "True Lies".
In my opinion when you come into Key West take the LEFT route. It is MUCH prettier and circles all around the coast line and runs by the airport. One of the first things you will see is House Boat Row. Back in 2001 when we were there I bet there were at least 50 old house boats that homeless were living on. All painted up in crazy colors. The storms have wiped most out which is what the city hoped would happen. But there are still five or six remaining.
Okay time to head back north to Islamorada. We tried to get to the monument that marks the "Southern Most Point of the Continental US". It was impossible. People were lined up for two blocks to take a picture. Duval Street was bumper to bumper traffic moving 2 mph. We never dreamed it was such a popular destination for Christmas.
After we came back over the Seven Mile Bridge we stopped at Mile 7 Grill for a late lunch / Early Dinner...
This is one of my favorite spots. This is actually just south of the seven mile bridge. The first way to Key West or all the keys for that matter was boat. The the Overseas Railroad was built. Then it was taken out by a hurricane. They then used the supports for the train bridges and built a roadway over them for automobiles. This one right here is amazing. There was actually a steel structure up over the tracks like many train bridges of the era. They actually built the highway up over the top of it!!!
I actually crossed this back in 1968 at age of 9 years old on a family vacation. I can remember being pretty scared of these bridges back then. Now to look at them I am amazed it was even possible. I think this bridge was taken out of service back in the early 70's.
Don't fall off!!!!!!!!!!! You can see the fear in her eyes. It's about a 30 foot drop off on the back down to the water.
Well time to get back to home base. The sun is dropping and even though the temp-o-meter reads 74 degrees it is actually very cool. We put our long sleeve shirts over the Christmas shirts for the last 50 miles.
Here are a few misc shoots. If I figure out how to do the videos I post them or a link.
St. Johns Ferry
This guy with the Indian wanted to tell me how great the bikes are. I asked how much he rides and he does a whopping 1k to 2k per year! LOL He was blown away by our trip when we told him and said he wants to do something like like one day. I took the opportunity to suggest he buy a Harley before trying it! LOL Really nice people. We enjoyed speaking with them.
01-02-2019, 08:58 PM
