After a pleasant dinner last night with my aunt and uncle and a very nice night of sleeping with the ocean noise coming through the balcony door, it was off to Tampa/Clearwater via Alligator Alley today. I woke up early and checked the bike to make sure nothing had happened to it overnight, as the hotel didn’t have a very secure parking spot for it. Then I went for a long, sunrise walk on the beach. A little cold, but simply spectacular and something I couldn’t do in MI, at least not in shorts and a t-shirt. I paid $1 at the pier and walked out to the end to watch the anglers for awhile, then walked back to the hotel. I wanted to get going so I skipped breakfast. I stopped at a CVS for some sunscreen and headed out of Deerfield Beach via 10th Street which turns into SR 869. I took that to I-75 aka Alligator Alley. Weather was overcast, temps in the 60s. At highway speeds, it was pretty chilly.
Got onto the “alley” and prepared for the long haul. That part of I-75 is straight. Perfectly straight. For miles. There are no exits, just a few roadside rest areas, most with no bathrooms or anything like that. It was cool motoring along and seeing the alligators sunning themselves on the other side of the canal that runs along the freeway. I saw a couple big ones, maybe 5 or 6 feet, and many smaller. Everything was flat and straight…no variation at all.
The only place to stop for gas is the Indian reservation. I stopped to gas up even though I didn’t really need it because the last thing I wanted was to get stuck somewhere. The gas station was pretty sketchy and dirty…definitely not a showcase for the tourists. Breakfast was a Snickers bar. On a side note, having to put premium gas (93 octane) in the Harley vs. 87 octane SUCKS. Anyway, back to the road. I decided to get off the Alley at SR 29 and head for the Old Tamiami Trail instead of I-75. It was cool seeing “Panther Crossing” signs like MI has “Deer Crossing” signs. I found US-41 (aka Tamiami Trail, the pre-Interstate Alligator Alley) eventually and headed west.
US-41 turned north and I rode into Naples and civilization. Wasn’t too impressed with Naples..way too much traffic, way too commercial from what I saw. It was lunch time, so I started looking for someplace to eat before trying to find the freeway again. I noticed a burger place that advertised “50 different gourmet burgers” but it was on the wrong side of the street. I pulled over to try and turn around and saw that the place I had pulled into was called “Pastrami Dan’s”. That had a better ring to it than “gourmet burger” so I went there instead. Very good sandwich, way too expensive. I wouldn’t go back, but I was on vacation so no big deal. Then it was to the gas station for a top-off and back to I-75 for the ride into Clearwater Beach.
This was a hard ride…traffic on I-75 was very heavy and the drivers were mostly very poor drivers. I had to bring my A-game the whole way to keep from getting killed. I had no chance to sit back and enjoy scenery or anything else, but that is part of the territory when you tour on a motorcycle. I just concentrated on being safe and saved the sight-seeing for the one or two breaks I took on the way north.
Rolled into Clearwater Beach around 4-ish. The GPS was telling me the hotel was at a certain location but it wasn’t. Grrrr. Finally found the hotel. Got the royal treatment from the valets when they saw the Harley, I guess a logo does make a difference sometimes. Or maybe the Hilton just has really good valets. 
They had a protected area for motorcycle parking, covered by a security camera and everything. Very nice! The room was exceptional…on the 8th floor, great view, very well decorated.
Walked down the beach to Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill for dinner. I chose the grouper nuggets for an appetizer and blackened grouper fajitas for dinner. Both were fantastic…there’s nothing like relaxing on the beach with fresh fish
for dinner after a long, hard day of riding. Then back to the hotel for a cigar on the balcony and another night of sleeping to the sound of waves crashing on the shore. Why am I still living in MI again?? Distance today: 314 miles
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