Hello!
This is your peripatetic writing fool host brining you dispatches from the East Coast Greenway Trail (hopefully! providing all goes well … and sing to the crows it does) over the next 60-75 days (very roughly).
Huh? What’s that East CoastGreenway Trail, Bucky?
Yeah, well, it’s a roughly 3,000 mile mixed-use trail from Key West, FL to Calais, ME (specifically the Canadian border at the Calais / St. Stephen, NB, Canada border crossing) or vice versa if you’re headed southbound.
After eight years of mulling it over, one aborted attempt, and another thwarted by two hurricanes last year… I’m on my way northbound on this macadam (mostly) road (no yellow bricks yet) and occasional gravel forays. See the map below.
So yesterday was day 1–starting from the southernmost point in the continental U.S., and it looked something like this at 6:35 am:
I caught the sun rising as I headed north on Atlantic Blvd. In Key West:
And on one occasion during a cloud occlusion it looked like this:
Pretty gnarly stuff for 6:58 am. The Florida Straits, fed by the GULF OF MEXICO, never looked finer to me.
The trail often uses the road shoulder of a very busy US 1:
And sometimes you’re diverted onto bike/ped trails, blissfully, away from traffic into mangrove thickets on a boardwalk:
Where one might find the classic Florida Keys mordant humor on display:
You can take a break at your own open air hut looking out at the intracoastal waterways at Pine Channel Nature Park (at least I did after 30 miles):
I figure Jacksonville, FL is a couple of weeks away at the speed of the pedal, crankshaft, cassette and wheels (yes, I know there are myriad other parts to bikes, but four are enough here…)
I visited thee quintessential countercultural health food store with a great staff and the best type of modern day conspiracy…
Best chocolate almond milk, organic peanut butter and banana smoothie I’ve ever consumed … (the only one come to think of it) it set a high standard, man…
… it was bitchin’, man… remember, the dude abides! Anyway it was the perfect boost before tackling 7 miles of bridge:
The roar of traffic, the 18-wheelers creating wind vortexes, 10-12 mile gusting headwinds… squeals, squelches… and so much god-damned debris on the shoulder of the road / the trail:
Oh, the humanity! Oh the bolts, rods, jumper cable clamps, rusted allen wrenches, multiple bird carcasses, glass, bottle caps, discarded pee bottles… really, people! Wait and use the garbage cans in town. Oy! Finally the endpoint of the day was in sight: Marathon Key, FL.
A libation with shrimp, sausage and bacon as a pay-off for 55 miles on a head-windy bike!
More fun and wet frolic from locals before hitting the day’s endpoint:
Oh, the joy of being away from the ever present roar of traffic, and out of the headwinds, in temperature controlled comfort. My ass is literally grass… Tarnation, it’s sore!
And, damn it! they’re out of fish food here!
Day 1
Start: Key West, FL
End: Marathon, FL
Miles: 57.91
What I’m Reading:
The Old Seven Mile Bridge is the longest over water railway expanse of the Keys. The Overseas Railroad, used primarily for passenger service, provided customers direct travel up and down the Atlantic Coast with a trip from New York City to Key West taking 44 hours.
— Interpretive Sign at Pine Channel Nature Park / Big Pine Key, FL
