Key West Rally Feb 2015

[thumperjsa]

How about this for an inexpensive option:

http://www.expedia.com/Florida-Keys-Hotels-Seashell-Motel-Key-West-Hostel.h7107973.Hotel-Information?chkin=02/08/2015&chkout=02/10/2015&rm1=a1&hwrqCacheKey=402d6428-2990-439b-9b84-e90e334b90c5HWRQ1421900327639&c=5532fd40-c401-4b8a-8203-b36a30491c78&

[thumperjsa]

Hey Jeff, is Looe Key not an option for a stay for a couple of nights? I know that have at least 1 double for $129 a night. About 3o miles north of there is Pelican RV Resort and Motel. A little cheaper but further away. Personally I would rather find a nice dry spot to bunk in Key West than drive down in the AM and back in the PM to Key Largo or Florida City.

I can look out for other hotel options. I assume we need locations for the 8 - 10 time frame, correct for the far southern end.

Let me know what you think?

-Jonathan

[MaximPhil]

Hi Jeff,
While I am going to miss this one again this year I do like reading about your planning. Help the winter go by
Phil

[JeffH]

Florida

Florida 2015 - likely a 2 phase plan.

First part covers Feb 6-7-8 weekend:
Meet in Lake City on Friday Feb 6 for lunch then PM ride to motel. Saturday ride would be in central Florida on some nice county roads.
Maybe some west-east (sun at our back) vs. the usual north - south routes we normally take.
If some Florida locals want to show us some of their favorites that would be awesome. (like when Cobia hooked us up with Martin Highway,
and Ernie the 565 Villa City, wow just awesome)

Motel Friday night tbd.
Saturday night maybe http://www.innonthegreenflorida.com/ between Lake Dora & Lake Eustis in Tavares.

Sunday AM Brent would head back to Atlanta while others would continue riding likely further south.

I think we have five people so far. Send me a PM or post here if you would like some more info.
No exact routes yet but you know know were to find us or make arrangements to meet up with the group.

It's 2015 and time to R I D E. Here is an opportunity.

Any south Florida ride plan to say Florida City will be posted after we get Feb 6-7-8 locked in.

Jeff

[JeffH]

Happy New Year

Quick update on any February South Florida get together. No specific plans just yet.
Maybe sometime between say Feb 11 and say Feb 22. Pencil in those dates and standby for more info if you are interested.

Maybe Clewiston or Florida City would work as a Rally point. Then rides to Everglade City and Flamingo would work just fine.
We normally do those rides anyways, but after KW get together.
Key West (and the Keys) just gets too complicated to plan anything during peak season, especially since demand has increased so much in the past 5 years.

Boomers retiring at the rate of 8,000 per day all seem to want to go to the Keys and take that dream trip before they get sick or run out of money.

So standby. A Clewiston or Okeechobee or Florida City (super 8) weekend get together might be good too rather than during the week.
We always zoom through Immokalee and may actually have time to stop at the Pioneer Museum this time. LaBelle & Immokalee are my kind of towns

Jeff

[JeffH]

What about camping?

John

In 2010 (I think it was) we had five people that tent camped at Leo's. http://leoscampground.com/wp/
Leo's is small but has both Tent $60 & RV $80 spots.
Rest of group was at Spanish Gardens in KW. Low cost mom & pop Span Gard was $110 now $200. basic Supply & Demand economics now in play

Blue Water is big RV & Motor Coach only, $100 a night with 5 night minimum stay

http://www.bluewaterkey.com/1_resort_rates.html

Boyds has both Tent & RV sites. with tax $70 tent and $100 RV

http://www.boydscampground.com/rates.htm

There is a KOA on Sugarloaf Key (about MM20) but I've never stayed there.
Ohio Key has a huge RV park but I think that gets really crowded in the winter with the RV snow bird crowd from Michigan, Canada, NY & such.

Jolly Roger about MM 60 at north end of Marathon (Grassy Key) has accommodation for Tent & RV and boats.
Gathering up around Lake Okeechobee instead of Keys is an option too.

jeff

[jwhughes3]

What about camping?

If we had some really nice SWMBO driving an RV that sleeps several gas and fees may be affordable...

John

[trbig]

Just to throw a fly in the ointment..

The reason the rates in Key West have gone up so high is they've torn down several of the larger hotels to rebuild them, and until then, there's barely enough rooms to accommodate visitors. I'm fearing the prices won't be coming back down though, even after rooms become more available. I have a buddy that's a manager of a hotel chain that owns the Doubletree Resort down there and he used to be able to get me rooms there until recently for $60-$70 a night on a room that's normally 225+, but now he can't because they're staying at @ 98% occupancy all the time. Also, their summer rates are cheaper than their winter rates.

We just went down to Key West a few weeks ago and found a really nice place right off the middle of Duval Street, so you can wobble back to the room on foot. The bungalows are pretty affordable considering the area, it's very quiet and clean, and they have a tiki bar from 5-6pm with free drinks and a light breakfast in the morning.







The BAD things I see staying here are that your bike is parked where you can't see it on the other side of the main office, there's only one queen bed and there's really no room for more than two people per room if someone was considering an air mattress on the floor, but might be able to squeeze a twin sized or two in there? Definitely not a queen sized. Also, the cheaper rooms (Bungalows) have a communal bathroom to share.

http://www.duvalinn.com/room-rates.htm

Anyway, just throwing that out for anyone who may want to stay in Key West and check out the nightlife vs riding back the 27 miles as planned.

[bikerphil]

Couple of us local guys will most likely join in, one member Jazzrat may not be able to attend it if it's during the week he said.

[MaximPhil]

Just returned from my first trip to Key West (by car) with SWMBO. We stayed two nights in Homestead at the Best Western - About $65.00 per night with tax (and using my AARP discount.)
Key West is about 135 miles from Homestead and the road to Everglades Park is quite handy as well.


If anyone is interested, my latest blog post covers my time in Key West. URL is http://www.appleattic.net/blog/

Hi Jerry,
November is a great time to visit the Keys. However it is
OFF Season so hotels deeply discounted. Expect over $100 in February
In 2009 some of us rode back from Key West to Homestead after the sunset
at Mallory pier. We made it in about 2 1/2 hours which is good going for 135 miles of 45 mph speed limit It certainly is dark once the sun goes down
Phil

[Jerry]

Just returned from my first trip to Key West (by car) with SWMBO. We stayed two nights in Homestead at the Best Western - About $65.00 per night with tax (and using my AARP discount.) Price included a nice breakfast bar. There is also an Econolodge and other lodging in the area.

Key West is about 135 miles from Homestead and the road to Everglades Park is quite handy as well. Each can occupy a full day, well maybe half a day in the Everglades, but if you want to stay in Key West for the sunset - a big event in Key West - you would be riding home in the dark. While in Key West we went into Ft. Taylor Park, good beach and restrooms, closes at sunset.

Meals in Key West are expensive, but we ate at Bo's Fish Wagon (about $20.00 per meal) and had some of the best fish of the entire trip.

If anyone is interested, my latest blog post covers my time in Key West. URL is http://www.appleattic.net/blog/

I don't know if I could make it, would have to look into renting a bike locally most likely or plan to trailer my bike out, but I have family (a niece) near Tampa and friends near Orlando where I could park a vehicle and ride from there. I would seriously consider attending depending on the duration and itinerary.

[JeffH]

Anybody interested in another Key West Rally??

I've been planning this Rolling Rally for the past six years. Maybe somebody else wants to plan it? Doing two Rallies (Key West Rolling Rally and Southeast Rally) is a lot.
Normally we ride around the time of EarlG's birthday which is Feb 6. Maybe instead of Rolling Rally 'Starting & Ending' at the GA / FL state line maybe just a Fla City / FL Keys 3-4 day get together would be just as good (see below).

Background:
2009-2011 we started in Tallahassee FL and rode down the west coast of FL to Sarasota then Everglade City (Seafood Festival) to Florida City and to Key West. 2012 we changed up and rode upper Gulf of Mexico route from Tallahassee to Galveston TX. For a change of pace the last two years I started the ride in Kingsland GA and we rode the FL East Coast to Florida City and Key West. We have pretty much been on all the 'good roads' in Florida. Some riders join & drop if their schedule doesn't workout to take the entire ride.

No specific dates yet but if we have a Rally early Feb is there any interest??
Instead of an "Organized Rolling Rally" maybe it would be better to just have everyone meet up in South Florida?

Facts:
The retiring baby-boomers (10,000 a day) have impacted $$ Pricing & Room Availability in the Florida Keys and Key West.
The cheapo motel in Key West that we stayed at in now over $200 per night. ouch! That is out. Also, Friday & Saturday nights are REALLY expensive so we try and hit south Florida sometime during the week. (Although Super 8 in Fla City doesn't seem to get much of weekend premium. Plus its just a couple blocks from the road out to the Everglades National Park). Our XS group night ride back from Flamingo was one of my favorite rides of all time. Sure gets scary dark out there in the Everglades.

Last year we got around the high cost of Key West by staying one night at MM27 Ramrod Key Dive Center http://www.diveflakeys.com That worked out fine. Rode Florida City to Key West, watched the magnificent sunset, had excellent dinner then rode 27 miles back to the room. Around $100 per night with Tikki Bar just outside the room. Staying right in KW is better but this was really just as good. btw: the Super 8 we tried in Florida City was great and $25 cheaper than Travelodge across the street.

So I guess the question is not "who's interested" (there is always a lot of interest) but rather who's thinking they want to ride.
If we are going to have an XSsive event in South FLA we need to get some reservations asap. All those boomers are going to the Keys and impacting motel availability.

Jeff