Riding your bike through the Middle and Lower Keys is fun and beautiful, but traffic on the Overseas Highway is constant and noisy. Being able to move to a bike path just 20 feet or so from the highway may not seem like much, but it makes a big difference in noise and road debris. The downside of riding on a bike path is that other bikes are also on the path, some of which may be whizzing along at speeds up to (gasp!) 10 mph!
Today we enjoyed some long, long bridges built just for pedestrians and bikes.
This trip was a spur of the moment thing. We talked about it late on Friday, and we had it put together in an hour or two. We have an easy recipe for trips like this:
- The destination is any place within 2 hours from home by car.
- We keep things simple, easy, and inexpensive.
- Lodging is ideally a two-star hotel or motel with high customer ratings and something that makes it a little different from the others around.
- It has to be an efficiency because we'll be hitting the local grocery store each day for meals.
- It has to have good Internet.
For this trip we booked into an older motel located on an old marina-style lagoon just south of the airport in Marathon. It has simple but spacious efficiency units with large screened patios. The bed isn't a memory foam wonder, but it is comfortable. The appliances all work, and there are adequate pots and pans, dishes, glasses and cups, kitchen tools, and silverware. It is decorated in mismatched vintage pieces from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, all painted white or cream. Towels are scratchy but adequate. Internet service is solid.
What's the "something different" that makes this place interesting? Well, I mentioned the big screen patio that each efficiency has. And you know the breakfast coffee room in most hotels and motels? Well this is the "coffee room" at this place:
(Today's miles: 50.8)
