Leg 1: St Petersburg FL to Key West FL
Starting Out from St Petersburg:
View of the load:
There is only one way to Key West–US 1–starting from south of Miami all the some 150 miles across 40 some islands (called “Keys”). The traffic can be incredibly bad because there are a great many cross road traffic points and the slowest driver controls the flow because there are very few places where one can pass.
There are basically three sceneries: (1) ‘trees’ (mangroves mostly) sheltering the road, (2) endless water (especially on the bridges), or (3) city-like strip malls (primarily on the larger Keys). Below is a ‘trees’ example:
Once you get south of the middle Keys, that last 60 or so miles has less traffic until you get very near Key West itself. Again, here’s the ‘trees’ view:
At last, Key West. It is an interesting place. Salvaging from sailing vessels that have run aground was an ‘industry’ here going way back in time. Now it is mostly tourism for both the sun and water, and various festivities. Below is some resort area example.
Famous, infamous, in Key West is their ‘main drag,’ Duvall Street. It runs for several miles, wall to wall with bars, restaurants, curio / novelty stores. During regular festivals it is the place where parades of all sorts take place.
The road back to Miami was a traveler’s nightmare of traffic. Doing a one day roundtrip from the Miami area to Key West is not a good idea. The trip is about 5 hours each way, and mostly under heavy traffic conditions. On a motorcycle the heat can be incredible because of the temperature (almost certainly in the mid-90s), the humidity (seemingly also in the mid-90s), and the intensity of the sun. The latitude of Key West is 24.5 degrees. The tilt of the earth is 23.5 degrees, so on June 21st, at high solar noon, the sun is within one degree of being directly overhead, and it feels like it.
Goal of Leg 1:
The Buoy Marking the Southern Most Point of the United States
Onto to Leg 2, for the Corner #2, Madawaska, Maine.
Return to 8 Corners Start Page here: