Florida, Keys

Road King 1

Planning a trip running the coast in January and plan on going to the keyes. Any ideas on good places to go would be great.

time2cruise

We stayed at Lime Tree Bay Lime Tree Bay Resort, Long Key, The Florida Keys – located between Marathon & Islamorada a couple years ago when we were there. It's about half way down the Keys. We went to Key West for a day and that was enough. We stayed at the hotel the rest of the 3 days. There's a great little restaurant next door (the only one close) and they had great dinners and breakfasts. There is a store across the street where we bought snacks and beer. Great time and we're planning another trip back one day. If you're looking for more action and places to go, you'll want a different place to stay or be prepared to drive. The resort, store and restaurant were about the only things close by (within 15 or 20 minutes).

Gas Gauge

Planning a 10 day trip with my brother leaving Sugar Land, TX (southwest of Houston) October 30th, ending up in Key West, FL. on November 3rd. We are going to hug the Gulf Coast the whole way with overnight stops in New Orleans, LA., Panama City, FL., Tampa, FL. (where we will pick up our Uncle), and Miami FL. (so we can wake up early and head across the ocean in the morning).

I will post daily pictures and updates of our trip here, so you can get a feel for our adventure. What coast will you be running? Where are you starting out from? How many days are you planning? How many in your group?

Road King 1

Going to trailer the bike to Orlando and stay with some friends then me and the wife are planning on heading down route 1 along the Atlantic. It looks like we'll be looking at the ocean a lot. We're planning on a week just riding and doing whatever. Look forward to seeing your pics.

Breeze3at

RoadKing; I'll throw out a few things, you can consider or not.
Jan. is High season in Fl. make your Keys motel reservations now or take your chances. From Orl. head to the e.coast and take AIA S. to Jensen Beach, then AIA (and every coastal rd.) gets pretty congested. S.Beach in Miami is worth a drive through. The Keys (AIA) is a beautiful ride, but can get monotonous, watch traffic. If you overnight in Key West, secure your bike and walk everywhere, or rent bicycles. Mallory Square is the must do tourist stop. It's a bunch of street performers, entertaining. On the way back to Orl. consider cutting across the Everglades and going up the west coast, or my choices, 27 or 441 through the middle uncongested part of the state. Florida is very pretty, but as flat as the deck of your trailer, don't get lulled into inattention. There's critters everywhere. Oh, one other thing. The smaller the sign, and the worse the restaurant looks, the better the food!

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jerrybombard

Roadking,
I'd also like to add that in the Keys, it ALWAYS high season. I like the bed & breakfast places just a few block from downtown Keywest, but they are pricey. When you get to KeyLargo (just south where Miami and the turnpike extension ends, at the northern tip of the Keys, take Card Sound road on your left, there is a stop light there. It's a beautifull ride that is parallel to Rt 1 with out the traffic. When you get to the toll bridge ( REALLY small) on that road, stop and take in the sites, you'll see what I mean when you get there. At the end of Card sound rd, head right to get back to Rt 1.
US 1 is always under construction of some sort, so BE CAREFULL !!!
Have a great ride.

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Jer

Road King 1

Thanks to you all for your input. Keep the ideas coming if you think of anything else.

joyflyin

Wish I was in on that trip! But, we did go down that way in June. The Sea Dell Motel is a great place to stay in Marathon. Parking is kind of cramped if you have a trailer, ;) but they are good to work with you. The place is very clean and reasonable considering. If they aren't real busy, they will work with you on the rates a bit if you try.

If you are riding around up 'north' in FL, the Clay County Jail Museum is great. I will try to get some pix up some day. The jail won't take too much time, but it was a lot of fun & a good break. My only time ever behind bars.

Oh yeah, a couple of great places to eat is the Keys Fishery in Marathon, It is on the Gulf side, I think at 36th street. The other great place is the Square Grouper, it's at the 22.5 mile marker (I think), I don't have that shirt on. I am wearing the souvenir from the No Name Pub, on of course, No Name Key, off Big Pine Key. Watch out for the Key deer, tiny little buggers.

Have a great trip, we've spent quite a bit of time in the Keys, PM me if you have any other questions. I'll help if I can.

Skratch

My parents have a house in Islamorada and know the Keys very well.

Google "No Name Pub" on No-Name Key (connected to Big Pine Key). If you didn't know about it you'll never find it.

But its a very cool bar and grill definitely off the beaten path. Great burgers.

Plus they have about $150,000 of 1$ bills plastered all over the walls and ceiling. It has a great history of being around since the early 30's and survived many terrible hurricanes.

Highly HIGHLY recommend this place.

When you're done you can take a short trip up the road and probably see some Key Deer running around.

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