Tuesday 24th February
We left early for Miami this morning and it started off over cast but still warm after stopping for a spot of breakfast. The menu had so many choices we went for what we thought was bacon sausage and eggs. When this very small plate arrived with a sausage, 2 eggs and 2 rashers of bacon we were thinking is that it, but then the rest turned up bowls of gravy (not sure what was in it but it was like a really thick mushroom soup), scons, bowls of fruit and a bowl of grits. Grits, what can I say rhymes with s##t and tastes of nothing. By the time we had worked our way through that little lot the sun had come out in full and it was warming up. The road was as straight as an arrow nearly all the way there with nowhere to stop. I nearly ran out of petrol, my gauge said I had 12 miles left I usually get about 190 miles on the trip before I'm that low and I was at 215 on the trip. After filling up I found my self riding faster and faster trying to cool down as it was now 32°c but it made no differance it just became hard work so I slowed down to about 65 70mph. At the first opportunity we stopped for a cool drink. It's very tempting to follow the Floridians and ride without a helmet but I for one would not ride these roads without one. Apparently there vehicles do not require an annual inspection and they have no idea what indicators are for, they swerve from lane to lane while using there mobile phones and I am no longer surprised at the lack of motorcyclists in Florida!
We arrived in Miami at about 2:30 and the last 20 miles seemed to take for ever in the traffic. I was getting very frustrated with the stop start stop start and not being able to filter through the traffic like I would in the UK.
We arrived at our next stop for the next 2 nights. Which we found from a site called airBnB. A spare room site where people rent out their spare rooms for a very reasonable price.
We were given the gate code via a text message and told that the key will be under the mat.
We had trouble getting the gate to work as the sun was so bright you could not see the lcd screen. Anyway we got in in the end. It felt really strange entering somebody's house when you have never been there before and never met them either. After showering we went off in search of food and then had a ride around Miami and road along Ocean drive. It's just Mental even at night, there was some really interesting buildings that I could not really look at as I was riding, then there were the rows of yachts, crowds of people everywhere and mental traffic. we road around for about 2 hours. We got back around 10:30 and met our host and again we have been very lucky as she is extremely friendly and easy going, and also used to ride a motorcycle. Also got a reply from the couch surfing site and we now have somewhere to stay in Tampa when we start on our way north.