Heading North

We woke up early this morning in a hotel in central Florida (sometimes you just really appreciate embassy suites with their free happy hour and air conditioning). Florida has treated us well, with miles of warm water beaches and wonderful welcoming friends. There is no mistaking the feeling of getting antsy however, and we have begun dreaming of higher ground, cooler nights, and maybe a pine tree or two. 

The rest of our time in the keys was great. We made it all the way to mile marker zero on interstate highway 1 and the southern most point of the continental United States.

We enjoyed the charm of Key West and ate some great Cuban food. Key West was an interesting mix of super laid back carribean island culture and tourist town. We were able to see a lot of the Island from our bikes, which was a lot of fun.

Ben, always the problem solver, came up with solutions to both the heat and the bugs. We have a new appreciation for walkin beer refrigerators and target's arsenal of bug sprays (our natural citrus deet-free bug spray was just not cutting it).

After Key West we headed back up to Miami, checked out a Marlin's game, and went swimming at Miami Beach. The Marlin's stadium was very "Miami", complete with a night club and go-go dancers, as well as a fish tank behind home plate.

One if the biggest highlights of South Florida was visiting my college friend Niki and her husband Nick. I hadn't seen them since their wedding over 2 years ago. We saw them on the way down to the keys and then stopped by again on our way out. It was so great to see them both  and they were the sweetest hosts, cooking us a fantastic meal and letting us harass their two French bulldogs. They even graciously lent us their driveway and cleaning supplies so we could clean out the van. We had jokingly nicknamed the van "Muskey", a combination of our two last names. As we camped deeper in the keys, however, the name started hitting a little too close to home. I'm happy to report that after a few hours, a vacuum cleaner, and a bottle of febreeze, the van smelled good as new.

So Florida, it's been real, but it is time to get moving North. We will be camping a couple nights along the cooler springs and rivers in North Florida, stopping by Atlanta to visit our good friend Kelly, and then heading to the smokey blue mountains of North Carolina.