When I got up this morning there was already a dive class learning the basis in the pool next to my room. I slipped into the other end and floated around for a bit and was pleasantly surprised to realize it was salt water. After a good nights rest and cooling off it was back on the road to Long Key.
I cycled on the main road mostly after being burned a few times by the bicycle path suddenly ending at a bridge that I could not cross with no signs telling me until I got there (pic). Some parts of the road had a painted lane, while others were a narrow shoulder. Since it is the only road that goes through the keys it was very busy the entire time I was riding.
To give you an idea of the traffic, I had to stop for a draw bridge and passed a half mile of backed-up traffic going the other direction and it wasn’t a long delay.
It got especially loud after it rained and the road was wet. Car tires are so much louder on wet pavement 🙁
I got a constant reminder of the dangers of the road by passing numerous memorial signs along the way. I’m not sure how they died, but I often imagined it was from an inattentive driver running over a cyclist.
I got to the park at 7 PM and even though I had paid the night before and could not use it because I was sick the lady behind the counter insisted that I had to pay again and there was nothing she could do. Such as just let me stay the night at one of the many empty camp sights without charging me again. So I had the privilege of paying the state of Florida a little over $70 to camp one night.
At least the site was well maintained and the bathroom was clean.
I was right next to the beach so I went in the water. It looks beautiful from the beach, but it’s full of mucky plant life and very shallow for hundreds of feet out. Since I was barefoot I only walked around for a little bit between patches of muck. I did see an alligator skull, which was spooky looking.
Because I was afraid it would rain I decided to sleep in my favorite chair on top of the picnic table wrapped in my bug net. In case it rained I didn’t want to deal with a wet tent early in the morning and because there were land crabs I wanted to be off the ground. I actually did fall asleep once the teenagers next to me quit goofing around. I watched the Milky Way and lots of shooting stars.