Back to Day 51

9 AM

In the Waffle House. The flat tire score is now 7-5. Dana had a flat in the hotel parking lot. What a great way to start the day! And we have watched every available episode of The IT Crowd. This vacation MUST end NOW.

12:45 PM

At Robbie’s, which is THE place to go for tarpon feeding. You are not supposed to feed the pelicans, but I get the impression they have been fed before.

This guy too

I tried taking a picture of the tarpons, but they don’t pose well. But they get really excited when you throw little dead fish in the water.

As I write this, Dana is changing his third flat of the day. The score is now tied at 7-7. He is changing his tire this time, not just his tube. And he is swearing a lot. On the plus side, I have gotten really good at patching tubes.

On the way to Robbie’s, we stopped at a local artists’ mall, with this great lobster statue in the parking lot.

I really wanted to buy a concrete manatee, but thought better of it. And when we got back on the road, Dana had another flat!

We also passed the Diving Museum

And this historic marker

6 PM

While Dana was changing his tire, Robbie (as in Robbie’s) came over to talk to us, which was nice. I’m happy to say that there were no more flats today.

After crossing a 3 mile bridge, we stopped for a butt break in a little store. Turns out the owner used to work at the movie theater in Lowell. Small world. Then we headed to Grassy Key to the Dolphin Research Center. We saw a nice dolphin show

and Flipper’s grave.

My mission is complete, I can go home now.

People have been asking about the roads and bridges on the keys. So here’s our take on the situation. There have been bike trails and/or bike lanes for the last 55 miles. However, it changes constantly. The bile trail moves back and forth between the northbound and southbound sides. Bike lanes appear and disappear at random. At one point we had our own private bridge!

Another time we were on a lovely, well-paved bike trail, and it just ended, with no good way out.

Our last .5 miles today were on a trail in the woods, reminiscent of the rail trail in Groton, but with lizards. I think you can always ride safely on the keys, but you have to pay very close attention.

Now that I said that, I hope I haven’t jinxed our ride across the 7-mile bridge tomorrow. And as I write this, Dana is passing out at the bar. One strawberry daiquiri did him in. He is SUCH a lightweight.

On to Day 53