2012 - Far South Ride - Key West FL

Early March trip to the Okefenokee in southern GA. Bike rides out to Jekyll Island and another to St Augustine FLA.

Cold start. We rode under blue skies until Macon GA. where we caught up with the cold front that had passed through home the day before. We picked up I-16 at Macon the dropped off on 129a over to McRea GA where we swung right onto 441 - and into a constant downpour. We made it to Douglas about 6 where we will dry out for the night.

A great day over all. We trekked down to Fargo in the morning and checked out the Suwannee river visitor center then on down into Florida on 441. We picked up 27 near High Springs Fla. and ended the day at Lake Placid Fla. About 380 miles. The weather today was great. It was pretty windy the entire day, but we rode under clear blue skies.

The morning started clear and cool. We continued our ride south on 27, south of lake Okeechobee and through large sugar cane fields. We rode into strong southeast winds most of the way down. As we got near Homestead it began to take on a Cuban feel. We finally reache the keys a little after noon and finished the ride under warm and sunny skies. The total milage from my house to the hotel on the eastern part of Key West was 1002 miles.

A fun day of sight seeing in Key West

Farewell Key West! The morning started out stormy looking. In fact, I rode back from the southern most point along Duval street in a light shower. We were on the road again around 7:30 and had to suit up just west of the 7 mile bridge. On the bridge we were met by a wall of water from a passing storm but it didn't last long. We stopped for breakfast in Marathon and rode north up to 41 where we dodged another storm before heading into the Everglades. The rest of the days ride was pretty nice.

A farily hot day up through central Florida. Nice and open country on the lower portion and upper portion of the ride but between Lakeland and Ocala it's a bottle neck. On the return we took the Interstate around this part. Good thing, it let us get further north into Dublin GA. for the night.

In the morning we rode north through some light showers, taking 441 to state 53 then 183 north of Gainsville. From there, we had a nice ride under clear cold blue skies into the mountains on Hwy 52, over Fort Mountain, and into Chatsworth GA for the final leg home on 411.
Another fantastic trip!

Photos that Gail and John took during the ride.