I woke up at 5 o’clock to someone’s car alarm going off. When I looked outside to see what was going on, it looked like the battery was getting low as lights were very dim, which was making the alarm to trigger. I wanted to get up and get going early as I’m riding to Key West and back today. It’s about 160 miles each way. I checked out hotels, but they run anywhere’s between $300 to $600 a night (nope can’t and won’t do that). My hotel was about a half hour from the start of the road to the Keys. Just before entering that area, I pulled over for a fire truck, there was a fire on the edge of the woods. When I came back out at the end of the trip the fire was worse, and it was on the news that it had burned 40 acres and they were still trying to get it under control.
There was a steady stream of vehicles going in and out of the Keys all the way, as the day went on it got a little busier. All of the islands to the Keys had devastation from the hurricane. There we some boats smashed, RV’s with the sides gone, a tractor trailer on it’s side, trees down, and many homes hit. I saw a mansion that was just a shell and a for sale sign up, I’m thinking they are just tired of rebuilding all the time. There were piles of sand that was washed up, and signs where areas were flooded. I drove all over Key West and didn’t notice where they got hit, I’m sure they must have but either have it cleaned up or I didn’t go by those areas. Key West is a neat place, very busy and all the homes, business are packed in tight. The best way most got around was to rent either a bicycle or a scooter. I was surprised to see the long line to have your picture taken at the monument at the furthest most Southern point of the continental US. I was at the right place at the right time, just when I drove up a vehicle left so I took the spot. I was able to get pictures of my bike and the monument in it. I gassed up before I started back out and there were roosters running around the gas station with their babies – free range! There are 42 bridges, and one is 7 miles long to get from island to island – amazing for a couple of reasons. 1) who would have thought it would have been worth wild to build in the first place, and 2) that they survive all the hurricanes each year.
I highly recommend if you get a chance to ride out Key West, do it. It was a fun ride and interesting. There is a lot of history out there.
Love and Light to you all!
Today I made it down to Boca Beach, the ride was good until later in the afternoon. Traffic got heavier and then there was a lot of stop and go. At one point I was stopped in traffic and checked my temp gauge, it read 88 degrees! That’s HOT! Remember I’m not sitting in an air conditioned car, the sun is beating down and I’m getting the heat from all the vehicles around me – it was hot, hot, hot!
Today I met with Vicki Lin from Living Food Bakery. She does readings of your tongue along with using your pulse to tell you what your body is deficient in. Being on the road I know that I haven’t been eating well balanced meals. Everything seems to be deep fried…. totally not what I’m use to eating! Looks like I will be detoxing my liver and kidneys along with leveling out the hot and cold within my body. Vicki Lin will be making up an herbal tincture for me to make tea out of and drinking daily. This along with getting out and walking more will help. With all the cold weather I’ve hit, I haven’t taken the time to go outside and walk like I’m use to. After being out in the cold all day riding it’s the last thing I want to do when I stop. Another thing she told me was that I am retaining air. I never thought about all the air I’m getting while on the bike, but it makes sense. It wouldn’t have been that bad if it had been warmer air.
I got into Pensacola Florida mid morning Saturday, the weather forecast was saying rain mid afternoon through Sunday. I hung out at the dealership as they were having a seminar to show people what they do on the 10,000 mile service. It was a great little course so we could see all the detail of the service being provided. The last couple of stops I’ve made happened by either not finding a dealership or the store was closed happened for a reason. The people I have met on those occasions have inspired me, given me some contacts, told me about rides to do or got into discussions about following our dreams. It’s wonderful to look back on the day and see where it went. I thank god every day for this amazing journey!
I woke up early, but don’t like to leave during the morning commute time. Ended up packing up and rolling out at 10:00 am. I was told that I was real close to the sketchy part of New Orleans, and while driving out of town I could see that I was….. I took Route 90 along the coastline toward Mississippi. Mississippi landscape started out white sandy beaches, very pretty! I followed the coastline up to Biloxi. The dealership in Biloxi was closed for two days to do inventory. So do I hang out in town until they open??? NOPE! I decided since I was in Galveston for so long that I didn’t want to just hang around, so I headed towards Meridian, Mississippi. That’s the next closest dealership, Mississippi only has four dealership in the whole state. I’m trying to get at least one poker chip for every state I drive through! I stopped for the night in Hattiesburg, about half way there. Once I got away from the coastline the scenery changed to mostly woods. I have noticed that most of the roads are built up 3 to 6 feet, which I’m sure is for flooding. They also don’t have any guardrails – so pay attention and don’t go off the road because nothing is going to stop you! Some areas had quite the drop…. I also noticed these large piles all along the side of the roads, when I stopped I saw that they are ant mounds. Large mounds, and was told the ants are large too. I didn’t see any!
Today I drove up to Baton Rouge Louisiana. I needed to get my 10,000 mile service done. When I got to the dealership I went right to service to see if they could fit me in. They asked if I was from the area or traveling, and because I was traveling they got me right in – Woo Hoo! So I spent the afternoon hanging around the dealership. I got talking to Beau a salesman there and asked about some of the things I’ve seen since in Louisiana that I wasn’t sure of. The first question was the crop fields that had rows that at some point had something growling, but water was between the rows. He told me they were actually Sugarcane fields. You have rows of Sugarcane with water in between the rows. The next thing I saw that I couldn’t figure out was what looked like crop fields that were flooded. In the fields were red or white things scattered around the fields. I could see on a few of the caps as I drove by that there seemed to be a wire fencing of some sort on them too. Well, those were crawfish farms, and the wire I saw was actually netting (baskets). All very interesting! I went on line to see if these were actually Iva’s seeing, and it was. So fun seeing all these things and then finding out what it is.
MyIronHorseJourney 