Sunday, March 21, 2010
I walked 15 1/2 miles today. After 2 days, I’m 4 miles ahead of plan and feeling good about this trip.
I started a couple hundred yards past mile 86, and my first order of business was to cross my first drawbridge. I don’t know how many of these I’ll encounter, certainly fewer than the first time I drove this road, as the drawbridges are being replaced by fixed-span bridges. I didn’t take a picture of the bridge itself, but this view on the way across was nice.
A couple miles down the road, I came across a memorial for the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. 200 MPH winds tore through this area and wiped out the railway that was here before roads, killing hundreds of WWI veterans who where working down here.
It’s probably my fate to see one of these every day as I walk. The sign yesterday said “Key West 95” so I’m definitely getting there!
Later in the morning, I passed the motel we’d spent the last two nights at. That was an odd feeling. An hour or so after that, Lucy passed me as she headed for our next motel in Marathon. Of course she had to stop for a smooch and pictures.
From now on, bridges are going to be part of the walk every day. This one was a 1/2 mile warmup. I’m walking on the left side of the road so I can see my doom if it’s coming for me, and it’s uncomfortable. It’s windier out there, the cars are close and noisy, and in general it just sucks. At least this little bridge didn’t have a big hump.
Hardly worthy of a picture, but I have to note the Morning Glory vines that I saw growing wild everywhere I looked. They were up in trees, infiltrating bushes, and growing along the ground. Purple flowers everywhere.
I had a few miles of very nice pathway today. I appreciated the barrier of trees between me and the road. I’m about tired of traffic noise.
Then I came upon several miles of nothing but water on both sides of the road and an unfinished bike trail to walk on. It was pretty, but not especially photogenic, so no pics for you. : ) I did find shady spots to sit and relax along the way.
These are commercial lobster fisherman’s traps and boats, ready to go. It’s a big industry down here, but doesn't seem to have been taken over by large corporate ventures.
Walking on, I came across a boardwalk that had been constructed along the Mangroves lining the beach. Pretty nice, it went on for a looong way.
This was on the windward side, and it was quite windy, which is probably why I saw so many of these.
There sure are some pretty backwater spots along this walk!
Coming down to the end of the day now, and I spy this bridge ahead in the distance. I decided to go for it (turned out to be just over a mile long) and Lucy picked me up at the base of the other side. That’s where I will start tomorrow.
And that was the end of today’s walk. Tomorrow’s walk appears to be about 90% middle-of-nowhere. Stay tuned!
