80 mile ride down the Florida Keys today to Marathon Florida. Left early in the morning in the rain and it basically rained about 65 miles of the ride.. At one point I had to stop on the side of the road because it was raining so hard I couldn't see. I just sat there waiting for the rain to let up which it did after about 15 minutes. The good news is I had the first full day of a tail wind for most of the ride. So while it was wet, it sure was fun riding with the wind at my back. Even with the rain, I still managed to get blue sky and some great pictures. An early morning sunrise, a canal into the Everglades, some of the many bridges in the Keys, bright blue waters and a late evening storm about to start at sunset.
As I've mentioned I am about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Originally I planned to spending the next several days "slow riding" down the Keys to Key West....playing tourist, fishing, etc. Then the weather forecast changed this morning calling for rain for the next several days. So, I decided to take advantage of the tailwinds and I plan on arriving in Key West tomorrow afternoon. Now the weather looks like it will clear up after tomorrow. The only certainty about Florida weather at this time of the year is that it will change often and will rain frequently.
I begin my final 45 miles tomorrow to Key West riding the "7 mile bridge" which connects Knight's Key in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys.