Motorcycle adventure from Atlanta Ga, to Key West Florida
For Thanksgiving of 2010 we planned a family trip to Key West in Florida. Our sons refused to come with us, so they got to stay home..High Scholers!!.., and friends were arranged to look in on them. They ended up having the best Thanksgiving gettogether in their life! Their adventure led me to meet two of my dearest friends today.
Hubby and I took off on his Victory Touring cruiser, dressed to the teeth in warm clothing. It was only 40 F/4 C when we left Atlanta.Add some wind chill factor and it is cold. This feeling of crusing down I 75 south, on to I 10 east towards Jacksonville Fl, passing the city at night with all the lights, and down I 95, feeling how it got warmer the further south we drove was awesome. After our first stop for the night in St Augustine, we had to shed a few clothing items before getting going again. Feeling that warm wind as we zoomed down interstate I 95, our noses pointed south was...Wonderful! Our destination was Florida City, just south of Miami.
To travel along an interstate is pretty boring when you are in a car, but on a motorcycle you get to smell the nature, you can see so much more of your surroundings as you go. Colors become vibrant and everything feels so much more alive. It becomes a journey where your senses are very much involved.
Another thing you also get to experience is the other drivers on the road. You sit just that much higher than you do in a car, and you can see what people do when driving. It is scary at times!
In Florida City we had booked ourselves at a cheap Motel 66, not far from US 1 that goes all the way through the key islands and ends at the last island - Key West. Motel 66 is not famous for being good, but we were in luck. Not only was it good, accross the road was a family run Italian restaurant and the second generation in that family was now running it. They served up some food that makes me salivate a little extra thinking about it. They made authentic Italian food, from scratch, with secret family recepies. This was the place where we ended up enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious!
Spending a well deserved night at our hotel in Florida City, we rode over all the bridges, passing through the other islands, until we reached Key West. It was amazing. The ocean, the salty smells, they sun and the blue water, wearing t-shirts, jeans, helmets, now the temperatur was 80 F/26 C...It was magical.
We arrived in Key West and of course we had to go to the most southern tip of USA, which is also the closest to Cuba. It is, after all, a big tourist attraction. Key West is not big but it is congested. Not only with houses, but also with cars that had to navigate narrow streets. Sadly, we didn't have enough time so we could spend a few days there, but I am so glad we got the time we had.
Going down to the Keyes we travelled the east coast of Florida, but coming back we travelled through the Everglades and the mangrooves, up I 75 past Gainesville Fl, Macone GA and back to Atlanta.
Hahahaha..riding on a motorcycle through the Glades, a visor on your helmet serves you really well. We had to stop at a gas station, out in nowhere, just to get wet wipes to clean our visors on our helmets. SO MANY BUGS!
This was one of the most amazing trips we did together on this motorcycle!
I hope you enjoyed the video. You can actually see me, at the very end of the video, as a reflection on my husbands helmet.