I rode 62 of a possible 68 miles today (see below for the story behind that).
This is the well known “Alligator Alley” of Florida, but in terms of seeing alligators - not so much today. I saw one dead one on the side of the road. Relatively fresh based on the aroma. We left at dawn to beat the heat, and it was really nice riding for the first 40 miles. Not very scenic.
We did pass the smallest Post Office in the US - Ochopee, FL. It was originally an irrigation pipe shed, but became a post office in 1953 when the original was burned down. It has served as the post office since then.
Our first rest stop was at a campground & did have a pretty nice Florida look.
I stopped to take this picture since Miami & the Keys have been our goal all along.
After about the 40 mile point, things got interesting, especially for me. Some of our advance support group had warned us that road construction was coming up, with no shoulder on the road & even in one place, just a single lane road controlled by a portable traffic light. It turned out to be multiple construction sites for a total of about 10 miles. Fortunately the traffic in Alligator Alley is not as busy as in a city, but there were still some times that vehicles got stuck behind our bicycles. We tried to split up the group so no vehicle had to pass 20 bikes at a time.
My extra adventure was that in the middle of one of the no shoulder zones I got a flat tire. Fortunately it was right near an entrance driveway to a construction site, so I was able to get well off the road to fix the tire. Another rider stopped to help, which made the job easier. Thanks Dick! We also noticed when changing the tube that one of the spokes was broken on the wheel. That is not something to change until later & the bike can function okay with a broken spoke temporarily. After about 20 minutes we were back on the road, but only made it another 2 - 3 miles before the same tire was losing air again. By this point we were only a mile from a rest stop, so we pumped it up & limped in. At that point I consulted with Alan the mechanic. We agreed that repairing the tire and the spoke was best done after we arrived at the hotel, so my bike went in the trailer & I rode in the pick up truck for the last 6 miles. I am grateful that we have great support staff & that my problems occurred in a safe place to work on them. The new spoke is in & the multiple causes of my flats are resolved. One was a thin piece of wire that comes from a radial car tire, the other was a small piece of glass (thanks for finding that AD.) I should be ready for tomorrow!
But wait - we hear on the local news that all roads going to the Keys are closed tonight because of a grass fire. Stay tuned for the next chapter in this adventure.
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