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Update on the Key West-Alaska road trip
The trip is officially underway! A lot's happened since the first announcement. Here's the route that's been finished so far:
Day 1: Roanoke VA to Jacksonville, Florida
Day 2: Jacksonville, Florida to Miami Beach
Day 3: Miami Beach to Key West, then back to Homestead FL
Day 4: Homestead FL to Waycross, GA
Day 5: Waycross, VA to Sevierville, TN
Day 6: Sevierville, TN to Roanoke, VA
That's right. I drove 2,473 miles to get... right back where I started.
A few notes:
If I had to do it all over again, I would honestly spend more time in Miami than in Key West. That city did look like a solid place to explore, though I would never want to live there. How the heck do y'all manage that traffic... it was like 90 minutes to get 20 miles to my hotel. In Key West I visited the Hemingway Museum for the cats, then spent the afternoon exploring Bahia Honda's state park. While the evening was a bit overcast for a proper sunset, I did get some decent pics. Also, fair warning: if you like going above the speed limit, the Keys has two speed traps for every island. You either slow down or you'll have a really rough time.
Nothing important happened in Florida after leaving Key West, though I did see a stray cat at the hotel and tried to help find its owner on Pawboost. Obviously I couldn't stay long. From what I heard someone did have a cat missing that matched the description and went to the hotel, but I'm not sure if they were reunited. Best of luck to both the cat and its family. The cat was way too friendly to be feral, and the hotel employees say the city usually doesn't bother picking strays up because they're overrun with feral cats.
After that, I finally got out of the flatlands, and it was a huge relief to be higher than sea level again. A quick stop or two in Highlands, NC, to bask in the views, and enjoy Bust Your Butt Falls.
It was at Sevierville, however, that I realized I had made a logistics error. My car had a maintenance checkup to investigate an oil leak back home in Roanoke on Monday. My original plan was to take a rest day in Sevierville, then drive the entire Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee. The issue of course is that you can't just knock the BRP out in a single day, and even if you could, you wouldn't want to. I had to make the choice to head back to Roanoke ahead of schedule. I discussed with u/Lichessanalyst, my unofficial travel agent whether we could still do the BRP starting at Rockfish Gap and ending at Cherokee instead, but that sends me in literally the wrong direction. Ultimately, we'll do the BRP at the end of the route I think.
So, I dropped off my car at the mechanic and things have taken a bit longer than expected, but now I'm finally leaving my hometown, and my car doesn't have any known issues, which is a relief. From here on out we're in uncharted territory, as I've never driven solo west of Christiansburg, or north of Luray. I'll spend tonight and some of tomorrow at Charleston WV -- I've driven past it before, and it looks like a fascinating area, but what the heck do you even do there? Advice welcome.
I'll start adding some pics into the comments. Best of luck and godspeed to y'all on your own trips.
Zabka
#activities #travel
source
The trip is officially underway! A lot's happened since the first announcement. Here's the route that's been finished so far:
Day 1: Roanoke VA to Jacksonville, Florida
Day 2: Jacksonville, Florida to Miami Beach
Day 3: Miami Beach to Key West, then back to Homestead FL
Day 4: Homestead FL to Waycross, GA
Day 5: Waycross, VA to Sevierville, TN
Day 6: Sevierville, TN to Roanoke, VA
That's right. I drove 2,473 miles to get... right back where I started.
A few notes:
If I had to do it all over again, I would honestly spend more time in Miami than in Key West. That city did look like a solid place to explore, though I would never want to live there. How the heck do y'all manage that traffic... it was like 90 minutes to get 20 miles to my hotel. In Key West I visited the Hemingway Museum for the cats, then spent the afternoon exploring Bahia Honda's state park. While the evening was a bit overcast for a proper sunset, I did get some decent pics. Also, fair warning: if you like going above the speed limit, the Keys has two speed traps for every island. You either slow down or you'll have a really rough time.
Nothing important happened in Florida after leaving Key West, though I did see a stray cat at the hotel and tried to help find its owner on Pawboost. Obviously I couldn't stay long. From what I heard someone did have a cat missing that matched the description and went to the hotel, but I'm not sure if they were reunited. Best of luck to both the cat and its family. The cat was way too friendly to be feral, and the hotel employees say the city usually doesn't bother picking strays up because they're overrun with feral cats.
After that, I finally got out of the flatlands, and it was a huge relief to be higher than sea level again. A quick stop or two in Highlands, NC, to bask in the views, and enjoy Bust Your Butt Falls.
It was at Sevierville, however, that I realized I had made a logistics error. My car had a maintenance checkup to investigate an oil leak back home in Roanoke on Monday. My original plan was to take a rest day in Sevierville, then drive the entire Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee. The issue of course is that you can't just knock the BRP out in a single day, and even if you could, you wouldn't want to. I had to make the choice to head back to Roanoke ahead of schedule. I discussed with u/Lichessanalyst, my unofficial travel agent whether we could still do the BRP starting at Rockfish Gap and ending at Cherokee instead, but that sends me in literally the wrong direction. Ultimately, we'll do the BRP at the end of the route I think.
So, I dropped off my car at the mechanic and things have taken a bit longer than expected, but now I'm finally leaving my hometown, and my car doesn't have any known issues, which is a relief. From here on out we're in uncharted territory, as I've never driven solo west of Christiansburg, or north of Luray. I'll spend tonight and some of tomorrow at Charleston WV -- I've driven past it before, and it looks like a fascinating area, but what the heck do you even do there? Advice welcome.
I'll start adding some pics into the comments. Best of luck and godspeed to y'all on your own trips.
Zabka
#activities #travel
source
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