Day 9 - Into Miami

It was a late start for us. We splurged and slept in an extra hour before heading out. The day consisted on wandering down the Florida coast.

We stayed on Hwy 1 for the most part, with a couple of jogs out on A1A to see the beaches and look around. Later in the Afternoon, when it started getting real hot we skipped over to I95 and went to south Miami for the night. The clouds were rolling in with the rain.

As this is the anniversary of 9-11 there were bikes everywhere with flags flying and a lot of group rally's going on. I did put the flags out on my bike too.

Florida is a great place to visit with all the palm tree's and the water all around you at all times. I have not thought a lot about it, but the east coast is so much different than the west coast. The west coast has mountains right there so the land drops right off and is dramatic. Here in Florida, there is no such drop, so there is a lot of barrier islands protecting the main shore. A lot of the most scenic places are on the barrier islands.

There are a lot of depressed area's along Hwy 1 right now. There are a lot of businesses shut down, most of them recent.

There are all the usual touristy places that offer everything from palm reading to airboat rides to just about everything you could imagine. You can find it here.

This state is also a study in contrasts. You go from the super high end resorts with all the fancy landscaping to a couple of miles later, trailer's sitting in a lot with junk all around it. There seems to be a very dramatic polarization of wealth here. You either have it, or you don't.

Anyway, it is nice be stopped for the night and we are really looking forward to driving the Keys tomorrow!