Discovering the Florida Keys

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Well today was a special day - picking up our Harley Davidson rental from Peterson's South Harley Deslership. This is a big store but not nearly as great as we expected. Have to say Our dealership in Brisbane Australia still wins hands down when it comes to customer service.

For the next two days we will ride around on a 2015 road glide special. Cost was $404 for the bike hire which includes full insurance ( mad if you don't take it). The bike is super with all the bells and whistles - such a great way to discover the Keys. Geoff handled the bike like a pro and the pillion seat was real comfy for me!

Geoff was also talking to one of the sales guys about the new Ultra Limited Low. He said they have lowered them by 3 inches, 1 inch in the seat and 2 inches in the suspension. Geoff sat on it and it was a lot lower than the standard Ultra Limited. Made a huge difference.

Off we headed to explore this 120-mile-long Florida Keys island chain which is linked to mainland Florida by U.S. 1, the Overseas Highway. The Florida Keys Overseas Highway, from north of Key Largo to Key West, has been designated an All American Road. The Keys highway is the only All-American Road in Florida.

Once you're in the Keys, U.S. 1 becomes the Overseas Highway, designated with little green mile-marker signs on the side of the highway. They begin just south of Florida City with number 127 and run all the way down to zero in Key West. Locals use them as address references.

Today we drove through Key Largo onto Islamorado and then finished in Marathon around 3pm for lunch. We ate at the Island Fish Co. in Marathon which over looks the Gulf of Mexico. We shared a plate of Mango Crab Cakes $12.95 (loaded with Blue crabmeat, diced mangoes, peppers, onion and spices pan seared and served with key lime mustard sauce) and then we shared an entree - Stuffed Shrimp (Butterfly Key West Pink Gold Shrimp stuffed with mango crabmeat baked with lemon, white wine and garlic topped with Key Lime mustard sauce served with Island rice and vegetables $19.95. Food was excellent - very fresh and exceptionally large size entree - glad we shared. We planned on having a dessert of Key Lime Pie but we just couldn't eat any more!

Plenty of people out fishing, snorkelling and fishing today. Weather was perfect - temperatures of around 25c.

After lunch we headed back towards Key Largo to make it home before dark. It was a great day - the freedom of riding on the bike was amazing.

We plan on having an early night with an early start tomorrow so we can make it to Key West in time to,spend a few hours exploring.

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