peters@cubsvax.UUCP (Peter S. Shenkin) (01/09/86)
MY TRIP ACROSS FLORIDA, DECEMBER 29-31, 1985 Peter S. Shenkin Yes, I did it! With a few alterations of my original plan. Once I got to Florida and picked up a good map, and went to a bike shop and asked about possible routes, it became clear that the shortest reasonable route between Ft. Lauderdale and Venice was going to be 200mi. Since I hadn't been on my bike in a month and wasn't sure of my legs, I decided not to camp, but to stay in motels. Anyway, the bottom line is that there are few roads across Florida in this vicinity. You can go South through Everglades park (dangerous because heavily traveled), go North on 27 then West on 80 (dangerous: the northern stretch of 27 is 2-lane, no shoulder, heavily travelled; known as "suicide alley" even for cars!), take "Alligator Alley" (toll road: no bikes), go North around Lake Okeechobee (a long ways) or North then East on 441 -- through W. Palm Beach to Belle Glade -- then across on a 4-lane section of 27 and on 80, to Ft. Myers, then North on 41. This was my choice, with some enhancements that I'll mention. PRE-TRIP: Arrived Ft. Lauderdale airport about 1:30 on Dec. 26th. Took People Express from Newark. A bike must be boxed (I used a box I got from a local bike shop), then it costs $3.00 as checked baggage. It arrived with no problems. I assembled bike at airport, attached my panniers (front and rear), bungeed-down my tent and sleeping bag, and rode about 15mi into N. Miami Beach to visit my aunt. I had about 50lb of gear, maybe 40 after sending my cookstove, camp-boots, etc. home after deciding not to camp. Still carried the tent and sleeping bag, in case of emergency. They were never used. Anyway, spent several days visiting bike-shops and other relatives, planning trip, cycling around locally. Wound up in Ft. Lauderdale, with another aunt, on the 28th. It rained pretty badly some of these days, but the forecast for the 29th through 31st was good, so I left about 8am on the 29th. DAY ONE: Florida *is* flat, and every day I made each destination well before I expected to, and indulged in longer breaks than I'm used to. Where 441 turns West West of W. Palm Beach, there's a classic bait shop *cum* gas station *cum* junk-food store, where I ate and stocked up on snack food. I got to Belle Glade, battling a strong headwind, around 3:45 (estimated miles: 75), and stayed in the Waldessa Motel, an old run-down place managed by people from India. Clean, though, and plenty of hot water. $21 for the night. 441 was not heavily travelled. Neither the Northward nor the Westward stretch was particularly scenic; the Northward stretch was mainly farms with more and more condominiums at both the Ft. Lauderdale and the W. Palm Beach end. The Westward stretch was mainly sugar plantations, and most of the traffic was big trucks hauling away refuse. This refuse emitted a rather sickening smell, but not too strong. Many fields were being burned. There was some swamp scenery -- I saw no alligators, but lots of birds. Belle Glade is a run-down town most of whose architecture appears to date from the 1950's. As far as I could discover (and I did walk into town), there's no food except fast food. The area is said to have the highest recorded per-capita incidence of AIDS in the US, because of the large Haitian population who work the sugar harvest. But don't worry: I understand that latest medical opinion is that one is unlikely to contract AIDS by reading something that someone who may have been exposed to the disease has written. DAY TWO: Left Belle Glade around 8 after breakfast at MacDonalds. Their coffee is nearly always good, and served with real half-and-half, and carbohydrate-loading freaks ought to love their hash-browns and fresh biscuits (plain, with real butter). By 9:30 I was in Clewiston, "America's Sweetest City," apparently the center of the local sugar industry. It's a much more open, much cleaner and newer city than Belle Glade, though smaller in population. If I had to do it over again I'd push for Clewiston my first day. Then I could eat at the Old South Barbeque, which has a corral in front of it with life-size statues of cowboys and horses doing various things to each other that I couldn't quite discern flying past. For miles on both sides of town you see signs for it that say things like, "Tender as a mother's love." In Clewiston I picked up the 4-lane stretch of US-27, which had a broad shoulder and which was quite pleasant to ride on. One variation of my route involved taking this all the way up to a small road that cuts West through Babcock and winds up in Punta Gorda. That would have meant a 90-mile day, and I didn't want to wind up with the sun setting miles from a motel. This is a concern, since this time of year the sun sets around 5:30pm; however, turned out I would have made it with ease. But instead I cut West toward La Belle on state-80 as 27 cut North. In this region sugar plantations faded into citrus groves; usually you couldn't see much of them from the road, but this stretch of highway was lovely riding. The road was narrow, and the surface was portland-cement concrete, rather than asphalt, and not in the best repair. But there was little traffic, and occasional exotic birds in the swampy areas. I had planned on proceeding on 80 to Tice (just East of Ft. Myers), but West of La Belle 80 became very crowded, and I found lots of BIG trucks blowing their air-horns at me. I stopped for a snack by the roadside, and looking back at the traffic I saw why. It scared the *!@$* out of me. I would have hated to be a truck driver encountering a cyclist on that road. Fortunately, I was near Alva, where a bridge crosses the Caloosahatchee River, which parallels 80 on the North. On the other side, I picked up state-78, which parallels the river on the other side, and is a beautiful, windy, (i.e, the road winds), deserted, downright idyllic road. Moo-cows gazing at you from both sides. Better to have picked it up North of La Belle, or even off of 27. But how could I have known? (You, gentle reader, have no excuse, if you make the trip....) When 78 jogs South on state-31 and then West into N. Ft. Myers, it becomes very crowded and dangerous, due to lots of traffic for I-75, which it crosses. Fortunately, I was almost at my new destination. In N. Ft. Myers, on bus-41, just North of 78, one can find the Wonderland Motel, also one of those single-storey affairs with a parking place in front of every room. Also run by Indians. Actually, almost luxurious compared to the Waldessa, and only $23.54 for the night. Got there 4:15. Day's mileage: 85. After a shower, walked up the road to Fat Boy Barbeque. Terrific. George Strait on the Juke Box, Michelob on tap, cute waitresses (pardon my chauvinism, if that's what it is), great ribs and great prices. I got the most expensive thing on the menu, a large rib platter, which included baked potato, beans, cole-slaw and toast, a beer and a cup of coffee, and the entire bill, including tax, was $8.50. Is it like that everywhere outside New York? DAY THREE: A short 50-mile run to Venice, my destination, straight up US-41. On Day Two the wind shifted in my favor, and on Day Three I had a tail-wind, and flew. Left at 8:40am and was there by 1:00, despite a half-hour and a fifteen-minute break. Nothing very interesting on the way, and 41 was awful in Port Charlotte and in Venice. Actually, the bridge across Charlotte Harbor was lovely. POST-TRIP: After a shower, went out for New Year's eve with my friend Mary Kay, whom I was visiting, and returned to New York from Sarasota Airport on Jan 2, also via People Express. I brought several pounds of fresh shrimp back with me, and treated my friends Allan and Gail, who picked me up in Newark, to Shrimp Marachiara that evening. It's easy; here's how: 3 lb shrimp; clean and devein them. 1 large onion 3 cloves garlic 3 stalks celery olive oil small can tomato sauce white whine basil Saute vegetables in oil until onions are translucent but not brown. Add tomato sauce and an equal quantity of white wine. When it boils, add shrimp and basil. After it boils again, continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve over rice. Serves four hungry adults. EQUIPMENT, ETC.: I have a Univega Gran Turissimo, Madden panniers, front and rear (low-riders in front), and a handle-bar bag which I like for the map-pocket but keep very little in. Suntour Mountech Derailleurs. I carry a pretty complete set of tools, spare tube, folding tire, spokes, etc., but encountered no mechanical problems whatsoever this trip. Biggest problem was sand on the chain. I washed it with water from my water bottle, than oiled it (I use Tri-Flo) every morning; I let the water dry, riding, before oiling. Since the weather was unpredictable, I carried, in addition to tee-shirts and cycling shorts, long underwear, wool tights, a rainsuit, a wool jersey, a sweater, a windbreaker, waterproof overshoes, cold-weather gloves, street- clothes, street shoes, and a blue blazer (not in my usual bag of tricks, but for New Year's Eve). Most of this (not the wool tights) saw some duty while I was in Florida, but relatively little did on the trip itself. As I mentioned, I also carried a sleeping-bag, a tent and a self-inflating mattress, but sent home my stove, cook-kit and utensils and camp-boots. That's it, folks!