Skip to main content

Catching Up: 2011 Florida Trip - Part 2: Drive to Key West

(Editor's Note: While there's some slow time in the few week's before we have a new addition to the family, I'm trying to catch up on blog entries that I wanted to post or started but never completed.  This is another one of those entries.)

Day 2 of the Florida Trip was the haul from Tampa to Key West.  It was more interesting than the ride from Raleigh to Tampa and a lot more photos this time as well. For the photo proof, you can head to flickr.

Route: I-275, I-75, FL 951, US 41, FL 991, US 1.

We decided to take US 41, the Tamiami Trail, instead of I-75/Alligator Alley and it was actually a pretty nice ride.  Even if this poorly made US highway shield was up along the route.

IMG_6512

Just east of where US 41 meets FL 29 is the Ochopee Post Office.  One of a series of Post Offices that claim to be the country's or world's smallest post office.

IMG_6519

Now I have been to the "World's Smallest Mailing Office" in Silver Lake, WV.  Unlike Silver Lake, Ochopee is still a functioning Post Office.  It's a former irrigation shed that was pressed into service in 1953 after a fire destroyed the Ochopee General Store, which housed the Post Office.  It was closed when we went through.

We turned onto FL 997 and I was amazed at the number of Avacado stands and tropical plant nurseries there were along the entire route.  It was certainly something I wasn't used to seeing.

For roadgeeks, finding a fast-disappearing colored US Route Shield is an accomplishment.  I wasn't expecting to find one, but when we stopped at the Florida Keys Visitor Center in Key Largo. They preserved one.

IMG_6545

We also saw an I think rare Monroe County C-905 marker.

South C-905

We also stopped at the Florida Keys Memorial, honoring those that died in the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, in Islamorada.

IMG_6819

The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane is one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the United States.  The Category 5 Hurricane killed over 400 people.  Many of which were WPA workers and their families. 

We also stopped at the Seven Mile Bridge.

IMG_6550

The newer structure, built in 1982, replaced a rail bridge constructed in 1912 for Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad.  When the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane destroyed much of the railroad, the federal government took over and converted the rail bridge to a highway bridge.  Fortunately, there's a good bit of the original span still standing and is used as a walking and bike trail today.

IMG_6557

I can't imagine how anyone could drive on that narrow of a highway for nearly 50 years!

With that it was onto Key West...and Part 3 of the trip "Exploring Key West" next to come.

Comments

Jim said…
I'd love to see the old 7 Mile Bridge one day. On the sections you can't get to anymore except by boat, there are trees growing on the deck!
vugurs said…
I Like Your Blog Too Much....

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba

Mines Road

Mines Road is an approximately twenty-eight-mile highway located in the rural parts of the Diablo Range east of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mines Road begins in San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County and terminates at Tesla Road near Livermore of Alameda County.  The highway essentially is a modern overlay of the 1840s Mexican haul trail up Arroyo Mocho known as La Vereda del Monte.  The modern corridor of Mines Road took shape in the early twentieth century following development of San Antonio Valley amid a magnesite mining boom.  Part 1; the history of Mines Road Modern Mines Road partially overlays the historic corridor used by La Vereda del Monte (Mountain Trail).  La Vereda del Monte was part of a remote overland route through the Diablo Range primarily used to drive cattle from Alta California to Sonora.  The trail was most heavily used during the latter days of Alta California during the 1840s. La Vereda del Monte originated at Point of Timber between modern day Byron and Bre