Chrome and Pearls

My last post was prophetic. Some days it’s too hot to ride – but we ride anyway.

Thunderstorms looming, the mercury fast approaching 95°F, but longing for a ride away from city traffic, we decided to ride down to Islamorada. It’s only about 200 miles round trip, but provides enough long stretches without traffic lights to clear the head. Our route took us south on US27 and then down 997-Krome Avenue to Homestead. From there, we took Card Sound Road toward Key Largo.

Before crossing the bridge over to the keys, there’s a toll booth, a tiny fishing village, and a larger than life restaurant – Alabama Jack’s. We had passed this place many times on our trips down to Key West, but never stopped. Today was the day.

I spotted this beauty in the parking lot but the picture doesn’t do it justice – too bright and no room between the cars on either side to get a good angle. The stars and stripes reminded me to pause for a few moments and send out a silent thank you to all the men and women who have made my freedom possible. Because of their sacrifice I was out enjoying the day.

‘Bama Jack’s reminds me of another fishing village restaurant we enjoy visiting that I wrote about a while back. Bikes and cars out front, boats at the dock, a live band playing, and a host of characters – no fishing village bar is complete without the resident dancer or canine friends.

A plate of steamed shrimp and a half-gallon of iced tea later we head south toward Islamorada. The heavy traffic going north should have been a clue – Card Sound is one of those back roads that mostly locals use. When we got to the gas station at the intersection of Card Sound and US1 we saw that half of Miami were in the keys for the long weekend and headed home. Instead of going on to Islamorada and getting caught in that mess coming back north, we decided to just head home the way we came and stop at the bridge to take some pics.

These next shots were taken with my little digi while riding across the bridge.

I just point and shoot, never knowing how the pictures will turn out. See those storm clouds in the east? Yep – we’re headed straight for them. Even so, the darkening sky and cooler temperatures were a pleasant change from the scorching heat earlier.

We made it back to Krome Avenue before stopping to put on the rain gear. Passing the bank I noticed that the 96 degree temp I saw on the way down had already cooled to 86. Then we had steady rain the rest of the way home. Between a snapped power pole, debris in the streets, and flooded roads, it was obvious that we had dodged the worst of the storm. My biker angel was watching out for us yet again.

Soggy and cold but finally home, we sloshed into the house. Nothing that snuggly PJ’s and a glass of Merlot can’t cure…

Just for fun we checked weather-dot-com to see where the storm was moving. The temperature was 68 degrees and we were still in a severe thunderstorm warning with winds gusting up to 60 mph and pea sized hail out there. Now I know my biker angel was working overtime today.

At least the riding life is never boring and there’s always a story to tell.