Day 15 - Sun May 21

Finally, our last day! 50.3 miles (if we cross 7 Mile Bridge today) or 43.3 miles (if we crossed 7 Mile Bridge Yesterday).  Well, we did not cross the 7 mile bridge yesterday. Like George Castanza and Kramer, we stopped short. So, this morning, after we cross the 7 Mile bridge we'll be on Bahia Honda Key. As we continue south, we'll catch the newest part of the bike trail that takes us to Bahia Honda State Park around the 36 mile marker. This is the newest 3 mile stretch of the trail. There are three beaches here. The most popular is what they call Sandspur. It has shallow water sandbars and in the summer, because the water is so shallow, they say it feels like bath water. We will be riding a nice wide shoulder of the road south of Bahia Honda State Park. As we pass the park, we will see the old Bahia Honda Bridge. It was abandoned years ago. It’s an old span bridge the railroad use to use. As we enter Big Pine Key, the shoulder is really wide and the road is enclosed with tall chain link fence. This is to protect the Odocoileus virginianus clavium from walking out into the traffic. As we continue south we'll pass through Little Torch Key.  There are two new trails that will take us off the highway at the 26 mm and the 23 mm. They are not well marked as of yet but when we see a crosswalk on the highway, that will be our clue to turn sharp right into the trail tucked away in the woods. It buys us some peace from highway noise. When the trail ends, we'll need to turn hard right onto the shoulder of the highway again. We'll get to Sugarloaf Key around the 17 mile marker.  Around the 10 mile marker, the bike trail continues on the ocean side. We will be passing the Naval Air Station. We'll probably see jets flying overhead on training missions as we go south.  The path goes down the off ramp by the Air Force base and we can go under the overpass until we get to the 6 mile marker. Around the 6 mile marker, we will land in Stock Island. It’s kind of like the industrial part of Key West. We'll take a sharp left at mile 45.6 and head out on South Roosevelt Blvd. One of my favorite movies of all times is Havana, starring Robert Redford. The critics panned it. I loved it - but I love anything Cuban (Cuban sandwiches, Café con leche, black beans and rice,palomilla steak and flan). The entire film - for the most part - was filmed in the Dominican Republic - not Cuba. The final scene, though,was filmed in Key West, Florida. The final scene where Jack (Robert Redford) looked out over the ocean searching for Bobby (Lena Olin - hard to believe she's Swedish not Cuban) was filmed on this this stretch of Roosevelt Boulevard that we finish our ride on.