I feel it’s gonna rain like this for days
So let it rain down and wash everything away
I hope that tomorrow the sun will shine
With every tomorrow comes another life
I feel it’s gonna rain for days and days, I feel it’s gonna rain

From ‘Rain’ by Creed

We woke in our hotel room in Key Largo to the dismal sight of rain.  It wasn’t raining hard – but it was definitely raining.  “Well,” we say to ourselves “we have a short ride today, perhaps it will clear up before we need to take off.”

 With that thought in our head – we take off in search of breakfast.  What we found was Harriett’s Restaurant.    It’s basically a diner.    It was a little run-down – it has obviously been there a while and is showing its age.  We got there early, and it was not all that busy, but by the time we left, there was a line of folks waiting for breakfast – so it is a popular spot.

The food is uninspiring.  It’s hard to ruin breakfast – and they didn’t actually ruin it,  but it just was not great.  Mike ate corned beef hash and eggs.  The corned beef hash looked like it came out of a can.  They served it with hash browns that were clearly a frozen, mass-produced product that the restaurant just reheats to serve.  Nancy’s eggs were OK, but she didn’t much care for the biscuit.  The wait staff was a bit surly to boot.

After breakfast, the rain continues.  It turns out, the Florida Keys are not nearly as much fun in the rain as you might think.  Mike was ready to ride anyway – it wasn’t raining that hard .  But Nancy was definitely not up for it.    So we wracked our brains – and our smart phones – for things to do in the rain.

Addresses are funny things in the Keys.  There is basically just one road – US Route 1 – than runs for about 110 miles up and down the Keys.  So the addresses are usually just denoted as mile markers – as in “Harriett’s at mile marker 95”, etc.

We headed out to find mile 93 and the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center.

This is actually an interesting place, and I think we would have stopped here even if it had not been raining.  The center rehabilitates birds that get injured in the area.  They birds are kept in large enclosures where they are well cared for until they can be released.  In some cases, the birds can never be released, so they become permanent residents of the sanctuary.

There is a nice boardwalk out into a large salt-marsh that the center owns.  The encloses are found along the boardwalk, which ends with a beautiful view overlooking  the gulf.  We could see the raptors – hawks and owls, some recovering, and some that cannot be released. Pelicans, cranes, herons, gulls, and cormorants are everywhere.  It’ a very impressive place.  There is no entrance fee, but there is a donation box .

Unfortunately, this is not really an ‘indoor’ activity.  While we were there the rain changed from a misty drizzle to a steady downpour.  The birds didn’t seem to mind it, but we found it unpleasant.  We  beat a hasty retreat to our car and got out of the rain.

Out next stop is the Sandal Factory Outlet shops.  We’ve seen advertisements for these places all the way down the highway from Miami.    “Factory Direct Prices!”  “Why Pay Key West Prices?”, “Best Selection in Florida!” The billboards had screamed at us for 75 miles.

“I could use a new pair of Sandals”, I think,   “Might as well stop in”.  So we find our way to  mile 101 and the nearest Sandal Factory Shop.  My advice?  Avoid these places.  They actually do have a pretty good choice, but the deep discount prices are a complete lie.  I was looking at Ecco Men’s Sandals – easily available from Amazon for $80 or $90.  The deep discount Sandal Factory Price?  $130.  RIp-off.

But Wait!  Almost next door to the Sandal Factory at mile 102 you can find the Sandal Castle!  Just one look at this place and you can tell it’s the real deal!  This is where I’ll get my deep discount prices.  Unfortunately, no.  Prices are about the same but they do not have nearly as extensive a selection.  I will  say the staff was much friendlier here however.

OK –  Sandal shopping was a bust.  Now what?  It’s still raining heavily.  We’ve pretty much decided we are not going to ride today, but it’s still early – so what to do?  Our smartphones rescue us from ourselves once again, and we head to mile 83 and the Florida History of Diving Museum.

According to the museum staff, “The Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, displaying and interpreting artifacts, antiques, books, documents, photographs and oral history relative to the History of Diving. We tell the international story of man’s attempts to explore, understand and venture under the sea. We also celebrate the special role that South Florida and the Florida Keys played in this untold story.”

It’s in the back of a small dive shop.  You can enter the museum by walking through a sub-marine like airlock door.  Inside, there are nicely presented displays that describe the history and evolution of the diving helmet – from ancient times to the current day.  It was kind of interesting – but honestly, there are only so many diving helmets I can look at in a single afternoon and remain interested.  This place has way more helmets than that.

After the diving museum, the rain is really coming down hard.  It’s a very good thing that Nancy persuaded me not to ride, because riding in this would have been really miserable.  But now it’s nearly noon time, and we are running out of ideas for things to do.

How to kill a few hours on a rainy afternoon?  We went to the movies.    We saw “Creed” – The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.  Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone star.  OK movie – pretty predictable.  If you liked the  Rocky movies  – you will like this too.

Now what?  It’s about 3:30 in the afternoon.  We decide to drive the car to our planned stopping point for tonight.  The Lime Tree Resort in Long Key.  This place has a lovely property.  There is a nice beach on the gulf with hammocks and lounge chairs.  It would be a nice beach to hang out on in the sunshine.  The room we got was not so great.  It smelled like bleach, and the wall mounted AC unit was really loud.  But – it was relatively cheap, and we are only staying one night – so what the heck!

Once we are settled into the room, we need to figure out what we are going to do about riding on this trip.  Mike’s first rule of bicycle touring is “The ride you plan and the ride you do are never the same thing”.   Time to do some creative re-planning!

The weather should get better tomorrow, so we will be able to ride (Yeah!).  We had intended to leave our car at the Marriott in Key Largo, and to return there after the ride.  But now the car and the trikes are with us in Long Key, and we need to review our plan.  The Lime Tree Resort is small with limited parking, and the staff tell us we cannot leave our car there for a week.  They are adamant – there is clearly no room for negotiation in their tone.  So we need to find a place to park.

We pull out our phones and go to work.  There is an airport shuttle place not far from our hotel – but they say no.   There is an airport in Marathon – 10 miles or so south of us – with public parking.   We could park there but is would be expensive.  There is another Marriott near the airport – but they are still under construction and not yet ready for the public.

Finally we call the hotel where we plan to stay on the way back – and they say OK.  It’s only a few miles away – on Duck Key – perfect!  So we will leave our car there in the morning,  and ride south from there to Key West.  We will return to there on the way back, and will drive home from there, cutting our trip short by one day.

With a new plan in our pocket we head out for an early dinner.  Nancy found a place called the Hideaway Cafe on nearby Grassy Key.  It is truly a hideaway – we had to hunt for a bit to find it, but once we did it was a pleasant surprise.  Located upstairs at the rear of a small resort, the place had a terrific view over the Atlantic Ocean.  The food was upscale traditional french food – something I certainly did not expect to find in the Keys.  Since it was cold and wet, we both decided to try the french onion soup and the Coq Au Vin.  Both were good – although we both thought there was too much salt in the dishes.  The price was reasonable and the wine list had enough choices that we find a nice pairing.  After a day of running around in the car in the rain, it was pleasant to sit back and relax!

So – tomorrow the weather will improve, and we will get to ride our bikes on this bike tour.  We are both eagerly looking forward to hitting the road and doing what we came here to do.  Tomorrow we ride!