Miami bound

We had intended to stay in Okeechobee last night, our strategy being to approach Miami from the west, thereby minimising the distance we would have to travel through suburbia. Instead, we stayed overnight in Sebastian, one of a contiguous string of towns stretching hundreds of miles down the Atlantic coast of Florida all seeming to overlap with the next.

We set out a bit earlier than usual, but the day was already hot. The forecast maximum was reached by about 10 am, and it just stayed at that temperature all day. While we were moving it seemed OK, but as soon as we stopped at traffic lights we could feel the heat building up immediately, The stretch of road we were on (US 1) seemed an endless line of strip malls, car dealers, service stations, derelict buildings, and assorted businesses.

Every now and again we would find a bit of suburbia to provide relief,

For the first 60 miles or so our path was obstructed by traffic lights. We don't think there was ever more than half a mile between sets of lights, and often much less. Every set that was green was a blessing, but we often copped two or three in a row that were red.

We stopped in one of these towns for breakfast. A local diner had good coffee, friendly service and unique décor.

Wanda had grits again to give it a second opinion. It's flavour is between porridge and sago and has the texture of baby food. She was disappointed not to be able to chew on it.

Continuing on we sweltered in the stop-start conditions. Traffic was relatively light considering it was the Saturday of the Labor Day Weekend.

We stopped for petrol and chugged down a couple of soft drinks from a vending machine just to cool off a bit and keep hydrated.

Further down the road we stopped for more soft drinks. We indulged in an ice cream each, ordering a medium cone with 2 scoops rather than 3. Both of us found it excessive.

As we rode further south through the suburban sprawl we passed more and more “gated communities”. These are best described as prisons for the rich, where the blue rinse set can retreat from the mad, bad world and hide behind walls in a community in which all traffic coming in is controlled by guard houses, This paranoia is one bit of American culture we hope never catches on in Australia, although we suspect it may already have reached Queensland (the “Deep North”).

By the time we reached Miami Beach we were exhausted and seriously dehydrated. After some difficulty in finding a park, we sat down for a while in a busy pedestrian plaza and sucked on iced drinks for half an hour to regain our senses. Chris was drenched in perspiration. A search on the GPS revealed dozens of places to stay, but the first few we phoned were all booked out. We weren't surprised.

There were people everywhere dressed in their summer finery.

Our only option seemed to be to get away from the epicentre of trendy Miami Beach, so we continued south on A1A. It was wall to wall restaurants and glamorous, expensive, brand name shopping. The traffic was heavy, and it was a relief to finally break free and build some speed on a freeway that looped around water and over some fast, fabulous bridges that let you view the whole city; the river, the motor yachts with ladies in their latest swimwear, the wealthy houses on the water with their own piers. In the distance the huge high rise condominiums.

After a few miles we passed through Miami and took an arbitrary exit from the freeway.

Our GPS took us to the nearest motel. The sign said vacancy, but the owner (who hardly spoke a word of English) told us it was full. We phoned the nearest motel where the owner had only slightly better English, and found they had one room left. We made a beeline to their door and booked in. they don't have internet, but who cares? It was $55, cash only, and we weren't offered a receipt. The owner came with us to the room and set the TV going with much fiddling of the two remote controls. When Chris went to change the channel, he found an interesting and educational program, but let's just say it wasn't the Discovery channel...

Fortunately there was a grocery store and laundromat just down the road, which took care of our needs for dinner and clean clothes for the next few days. As usual, we bought way too much food, and having bitten off more than we could chew so to speak, proceeded to chew like crazy.