Steve and Margie's Southern Cruise

Margie & I were booked with a couple of Lewes friends on a cruise out of Miami in January. While they flew down, we decided to make it a road trip and drive down; visiting family in Lakeland, Florida on the way. Having our car meant we could overpack and not be limited to suitcases on the flights and in our cabin. The other advantage of driving? We could bring our bikes!

We’ve been to Key West a couple of times and this would be a great chance to go back there after the cruise as well. We’d revisit the family on the way home.

Our 1st ride was a straight out & back ride with our cycling family members on the Van Fleet Trail in central Florida. The ride was similar to riding on the Georgetown Lewes Trail with different trees. The winter storm had just hit up north and Florida was still a little cool that day.

The next day, we were off to Miami to board a 5-day cruise on The Rock Boat. Live music, food & drink EVERYWHERE hosted by Sister Hazel and headlined by Walk The Moon. So much fun! The bikes were stored carefully and safely inside our RAV4 at the port’s garage.

After the cruise, luggage went back in the car and bikes went back on the rack for the drive down US1 to Key West. Duval Street is blast day or night and we covered a lot of ground on foot for the next 4 days. 

We’ve got other friends who winter on Big Pine Key and they invited us to join them for a day of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. We ate the Yellowtail we caught that evening and our hosts had the mackerel smoked. 

The following day was our last full day in the Keys and we took advantage of some beautiful weather to get out for another ride. We left right from our hotel into the wind and up US1 about 15 miles to Baby’s Coffee (photo from an earlier trip). Much of the ride was on bike paths with a few sections where we had to ride on the shoulder. The ride back was much faster with the help of a tailwind! We made a left and headed down to the Geiger Key Marina for lunch before returning back to Key West along the shoulder of the road.

We hit up the family again for a couple of nights to break up the drive back. And why not do one more ride? This time, we were treated to a twisting, turning tour of the Lakeland area which included riding around Southern Florida University’s large collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.

After 2 and half weeks away, we made the 2 day drive back to our Lewes home in time to watch the Eagles win Super Bowl LIX! Go Birds! 

Note: 2025 will be Steve's second year joining the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride from Boston to Washington, DC. If you'd like to help his fundraiser for his ride, which memorializes fallen EMS providers and raises funds for their families, you can do so here.