Monday, February 25, Marathon

By 9:20, we were packed up and on the road. It is cloudy but 27C (80.4F)





Passed through Homestead at 9:50 under sunny 28C (82.4F) skies. We stopped at the Visitor Centre in Key Largo to pick up maps and information.

The beautiful drive continued on the Overseas Highway, which is a 127-mile road with 42 bridges connecting a chain of 1,700 islands. The mile markers begin just south of Florida City with number 127 and run all the way down to zero in Key West.

The Overseas Highway is a 127.5-mile (205.2 km) highway carrying US Route 1through the Florida Keys. Large parts of it were built on the former right-of-way of the Overseas Railroad, the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway. Completed in 1912, the Overseas Railroad was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the labor Day Hurricane of 1935. The Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections, so the roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the state of Florida for $640,000.

 

We arrived at the Jolly Roger Travel Park which is at Mile Marker 59, just after noon, got set up , had lunch then went for a walk around the park. A fisherman was cleaning his catch, which attracted a lot of pelicans!









It is sunny and 30C (86F), so we went for a drive south and across the 7-mile bridge.
The Seven Mile Bridge is a famous bridge in the Florida Keys. Among the longest bridges in existance when it was built, it is one of the many bridges on US1 in the Keys.
There are two bridges in this location. The older bridge, was constructed from 1909-1912. The current road bridge was constructed from 1978 to 1982. The vast majority of the original bridge still exists, used as fishing piers.

We stopped at the "National Key Deer Refuge" at MM 32. The Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) is an endangered deer that lives only in the Florida Keys. It is a subspecies of the white-tailed deer. The shoulder height of Key deer is between 24-32 inches. Does weigh 45 to 65 pounds while bucks weigh 55 to 80. There were many interesting displays at the Centre.

When we returned to the park, we cooked a chicken for supper in the roaster oven,

then enjoyed dinner outside.


After dark, we went down to the water with a flashlight to look for lobsters & crabs. There were many spiny lobsters along the seawall. Unfortunately, they don't show up in the pics.

Such was the end to a great day!