Week Two

January 20th, 2021
Homestead, Florida

This week began wonderfully as I was able to find a surf in West Palm Beach. Meet Drew. He, much like Joe, was the embodiment in everything you could ask for in a host. Kind, immediately trustworthy and very giving of his space and energy.

Sadly, I was a bit tired from the ride and wasn't as social as I could've been. But that just makes a guy like him all the better, no expectations. Want to chat and do something? Great. Don't feel like it or have something else to do? Great. All the way around, it worked out. I did get to share a bit with his partner and we did get to share more when I was on my way out. The picture of me and him was from the early morning. Just look at these handsome fellers!

Drew also had an amazing guestbook for surfers that he's hosted. I'll admit, I almost teared up looking through it. Just thinking about all those experiences, reflecting on my own and just being in one at the moment I was reading it. Well, it was overwhelming. I left my entry near the back. Feeling a bit unworthy, I did what I could to leave my small mark in such an epic tome.

After I left, it was further down south to Deerfield. The day slowly turned sour, however, as I kept getting rejection after rejection to future surf and Warm Shower prospects. Don't get me wrong, it's understandable, it's really apart of this whole trip. But coming off the heals of such a good host, and having so many decline (and one back out at the last minute for that town), it was just disheartening. On top of this, the library I went to had some serious homeless that kept asking questions about my bike and me, so I was a bit uncomfortable hunkering down there.

The final straw was the complete lack of stealth camping options. Much like with the rejection, this can and should also be expected, especially the further south I go. There was a potential spot, but an old lady feeding cats and shooing away raccoons told me that the raccoons had overrun the area. Fair enough. Don't want to invade their home.

I'm making it sound a bit grim but there was some silver lining. On the way there, I stopped by this great farmers market just north of Delray Beach called Bender's Farm Fresh Market. They had some seriously good, California grade produce as well as an amazing that made fresh orange juice at the push of a button. On top of all that, Honey bells were in season! The king of the oranges. I could only grab three but maybe I should've grabbed more. Alas, I settled for 3, some fresh squeezed orange juice with extra pulp and a nice kitschy photo op.

The next stop was Plantation where I found a great place to surf with an awesome guy named Denis. But before I get into that, I want to share the ride there, cause it was a good one.

After growing weary of the city, I decided to head west and travel down the Everglades Conservation Levee Greenway. It's basically a long dirt road that hugs both the Everglades and the Florida Turnpike. I didn't do the loop, but I did go down a good 25 mile stretch of it. At first, I was worried about my girl (Cynthia is her name, by the way) not being up to the challenge, but like before, the hybrid part of the bike kicked in and it was a pretty nice ride.

Okay, I may have been too harsh on Deerfield. I did see this little guy...

He or she was hanging out by the tennis courts. I went to get a closer picture but they ran away, pretty fast too. I guess this is a sign I'm going from sub-tropical to tropical.

Finally, I met a pastor named Jeremy. He is in the process of selling his house and hitting the road on his brand new motorcycle. It was good to talk shop on my gear, as well as his, and get some humanity poured in me on such a draining day. They also gave me some good intel on campsites and a giant bag of mixed nuts!

Okay, okay...one more positive thing to say about Deerfield, or maybe just Broward County as a whole. Both of their campgrounds had no tent camping but they did offer free COVID-19 testing. I'm happy to say I'm negative as of this posting! Here's to taking precautions.

Okay, on to Denis. Denis was a bit of a last minute surf as I rolled into Plantation. I was very grateful he accepted me for 2 days because the extra time gave me a bit of life back. I pretty much could've went to high school with Denis. He felt like a familiar friend more or less when we started talking. We like a lot of the same music, YouTubers and overall we just "vibed" as the kids say.

We also talked a lot about one of my favorite subjects, relationships. Both of us have spent ample time licking our emotional wounds from past relationships. But one thing we both settled on is that we're both lucky to have had the experiences in love that we have. All of this, and a cute, skittish cat named Sofie. You really couldn't ask for a better couple of days.

After Plantation, it was the trek down to Miami. I initially had a surf lined up but they never got ahold of me with details about where they live. Sadly, this has happened before. Not only on this trip but on my prior tour from Orlando to Miami.

Sadly, I wasn’t in Miami long. I ended up pushing on to Homestead. It really is a shame, I want to like Miami, I really do. There has to be something special about it. But I wasn’t going to find it in the hours I was there. Oh well. Next time, with the proper host to show me around, or just so more time, Miami's beauty would have to wait.

I followed the M-Line (a.k.a. the South Dade Trail) out of Miami. It was a tangled mess, weaving in and out of traffic, train stations and construction. But overall, it was nice to have an artery like that to get you out of dodge.

After about 10 or so miles, it pushes you through the urban sprawl and then you get to Homestead, where I stayed the night. The next day. It was onto the keys.

The key ride was nice. I took Card Sound Road which adds on about 7+ miles but in exchange, you get a not too busy road that reminded me of many county backroads I've been on before. There were signs everywhere for no dumping and I could see why. There was trash almost everywhere you’d look. Not obvious, just tucked in the margins. A fridge here, a toaster oven there, and so on. Despite this, it was still a beautiful road. Reminding me of Levee Greenway, in that it hugs up against the marsh.

After that, it was the first sign of the keys! And a nice hilly bridge to greet me.

At the end of that road, I hit a mysterious stop called Four Corners. It say this on Google Maps, but it’s literally just an intersection, and a three-way one at that! But upon further inspection, after climbing over some only road blocks and overgrown marsh, you could see why someone bothered to mark it. Not a bad way to intro the keys.

After that, it was on to the keys! Greeted with a nice little hill. Other than in Claremont, these are the only hills you’ll see in Florida. This one wasn’t all that bad.

After that, it was about the same looking stretch. I also started noticing an eggy smell, not sure what it’s from but it seems to be every other mile I get whiffs of it. No one told me! They also didn’t tell me the keys are mostly coral, so pitching a tent in certain places can be harder than it seems. At any rate, I found a good stealth camp just outside of Key Largo. They had some nice flowers. I saw these purple bois in a lot of places, they actually smelled pretty good. Most random Florida flowers I’ve smelled don’t seem to be smelly. Maybe this was just some keys magic?

After that, it was on to Plantation Key, where I spent the night at the curry hammock state park. This was the first official campsite I’ve been to and man, what a choice. At $43 it’d better be! But alas, it was right next to the ocean (okay, it’s the keys so…everything is, not a selling point) and had electricity, water and a hot shower. But the real magic was later on when I got to witness a baby boomer musical extravaganza!

After that, it was onto Key West!

Yes, I had to take a picture with the bell. There was a line. But I got me and Cynthia in there, so it was worth the 10 minute wait. I really wanted to visit the actual southern most point, but I didn’t have too much time as I wanted to meet up with my host for the night, Clay.

Clay is a sailboat captain in the literal sense of the word. He teaches sailing and lives on a sail boat. I initially had asked to stay the day after I came, which was totally my mistake, but Clay was flexible and said come aboard. However, there were two more people coming, one by bicycle, one getting dropped off. At any rate, they did come and I was worried because where I was going to sleep wasn’t exactly going to work. The sailboat was awesome, but it was small. Luckily, that’s when this guy showed up.

Eric is neighbors with Clay and he is also a seasoned bike tourer. He has been across the U.S. on tour 6 times and hiked the Appellation Trail. On top of that, he’s sailed across the U.S. as well. Needless to say, I was both intimidated and impressed. Oh, I also forgot to mention he is a professional bike mechanic, wheel builder and licensed welder and pipe fitter. All while only being a couple years older than me.

He invited me to his sail boat where we stayed up till the wee hours of the night talking about bikes and all sorts of different experiences. Mostly, he was emptying out to me his wisdom about bikes and bike touring, and I was there for it. It’s always nice when you meet someone who knows vastly more than you do on a subject you have interest in. He was like a human documentary! That said, when the subjects started getting into social theories, well, we didn’t quite see eye to eye. Eric is a proponent of eugenics.

He had made statements earlier, on Clay’s boat, that we: should have to “read to breed”, take a test if you want to have children, that having children shouldn’t be a right. And while I get where this sentiment comes from, there are some pretty convincing arguments to be made against the state putting stipulations on who can breed, how much they can breed, etc.

But that was just the beginning, I’d come to know as the night went on. We talked about gender pronouns, specifically some issues he’s had respecting others wanting to be called something else. From that, we went to taxes paying for social programs, or schools, or things he doesn’t use. Somewhat classic points, but he had personal stories to back things up, so it was more compelling to hear them presented. I could easily see his personal frustrations and how his tough upbringing and intense work ethic would make him so fiercely independent. His frustration seemed to stem from others not having that same gumption, same grasping and collecting their own American Dream. My only real rebuttal to most of that was simply that it isn’t always that easy. Life happens, circumstances happen, and we pay into these things, no matter how corrupt or broken they are, so that we can be surrounded by a less crappy world.

But this was not much of a rebuttal. It’s my usual stance about most things, as the fervor that was on display that night rarely comes out of me naturally. In fact, given how polarized everyone seems to be, I seem to get that way only in response, (or reaction, as much as I try to avoid those). People are turned up, and he was no exception. At the end of the day, we agreed to disagree. It was just so nice to even disagree on something and not lose respect for someone, as far as who they are and what they’ve done. One of the reason he rails against social welfare is because he himself helps so many. Heck, the first time I saw him, me and Clay were coming on his dinghy and he was walking his neighbor’s dog. He is a give you the shirt off his back kind of guy, and throughout the night, he fed me, made sure I was comfortable and the following day, gave my bike the once over, as well as grinded down some bolts on my bike trailer so my bag would fit better. I mean, I’ve known this guy for 12 hours!

So, if our social programs could match his spirit, his giving nature, well, I doubt he’d have an ill word left to say about them. And I wouldn’t have to defend a shitty government. It is, after all, the only one we’ve got.

In the morning, my plan was to take the ferry to Fort Myers so I could skip biking through the keys again. After all, I’d already ridden it, so it wouldn’t be cheating! But Eric insisted I shouldn’t, as it wouldn’t be a pure tour if I was getting help getting transported here to there. I could see his point…but I don’t know. It is my tour, at the end of the day, I have to do it my way. I did appreciate that with all the advice he gave, he qualified it with a similar statement. But at the end of the day, he was right. I was conflicted. The nail in the coffin was the boat leaving at 6 p.m. and not getting there until 10 p.m. Yikes.

If it had left sooner, would I have taken it? I don’t know…but I didn’t. The tour goes on! So after 3 different pieces of key lime pie later, I decided it was time to head out.

I was dog tired. Eric had a call for a welding job at around 8 a.m. and we had just gotten to bed around 4 something. But, I pedaled away from the keys, into the next week of the tour.

Doing a bit better this week. I skipped Monday but am trying to hit it again starting Tuesday with the usual Chest and Back and got in Shoulders and Arms the day after. I've also been doing ab ripper well before I do the core workout. I feel like it's helped but honestly, doesn't make it any easier. Here is some evidence that I've been at least trying to keep up.

I hate to report that as of this writing, I decided to send my bands back to Denver. I want to keep up with it, I really do, but the more 50-60 mile days I do, the more I realize that I just won't have what it takes. I still will try to maintain body weight exercises when I can. But the good news is, given how well I've been eating (overall, key lime is exception not the rule!) I've been cutting weight. I'm really happy about that. I hope I can get on my goal weight on this trip of around 220. But we'll see. So, for now, I will sadly shut Tony's Corner down.

In this section, I want to talk about things that have really helped me and things that have frustrated me, both surprising and expected. Here are some from this week:

Headwinds:

• Couchsurfing and Warmshowers rejections/declines - Again, this is expected. But getting so many at once kind of stings.

• Mood swings - Not sure if it's just a result of being in the sun all day or what, but I definitely have been noticing some pretty good ups and downs.

• Expenses – Yes, the hotels burn a hole through my pocket but even being in an area like this finds a way to drag capital out of you.

• Crappy Food – This one is on me. I see a sign for a bakery, and I at least have to give the place a second glance to see if it has potential. I was duped twice by decent signage and I regret both of them. One place was known for their cinnamon buns. The lady said they were taken out an hour ago. Yeah right. She asked if I wanted heated up and I said yes…then I asked if it was just in the microwave and she said yeah, how else? I said no thanks…I still at most of it, like the trash rat that I am. The frosting was okay I guess. But come on, you knew what it was there were tells! Comic sans fonts, not very busy. At any rate, save your money for sure things or totally new food experiences.

Tailwinds:

• Less actual headwinds this week. That has been nice. That, or I'm just noticing less wind in general.

• More overcast days this week. That has been nice for my eyes and my face. Everything else is pretty well covered.

• Sewing Kit – Okay, it’s crappy stich job but it works! I’m grateful not to lose as much down.

• Key Lime Pie in Key West – I know it’s touristy, but it really was some great pie. Maybe it was the combo of me biking there and not having ate too badly on the trip overall so I can really savor it.

• Not Crappy Food – I haven’t been eating like a king, but I feel I’ve been eating well. Fruits, cans of beans and veggies, Publix deli for protein. As said before, it’s usually an excuse to pig out, but I’m finding that just the right amount of fuel makes me feel better and, I hope, is the reason I’m not all inflamed and sore after every longer riding day.

• Free COVID tests - Just happy these are a thing. I'm grateful for the state of Florida for providing, with fast results as well. I hope this trend keeps up each state I go to and can eventually hit a free vaccine site. Here's hoping!