Driving the Overseas Highway is an adventure. These are your tales from the road

Breakdowns, close calls, spectacular views. Watching a Hollywood movie being made and discovering a new favorite restaurant.

Keys locals and tourists have plenty of memories traveling the Overseas Highway, the only major road going through the 120-mile island chain.

Here’s a sampling of readers’ tales from the road:

Perfect timing

I was living on Summerland Key at the time and had an early morning appointment in Miami, so I drove up to Miami bright and early that day. I had also made plans with friends to go on the “Commotion on the Ocean” sunset cruise in Key West that same day at 6:30 p.m.

I thought I had planned the timing perfectly to leave Miami in order to get onto the boat in time, however I had completely forgotten that mini-season was starting at midnight that evening, and so the traffic to get back into the Keys was at a standstill by the time I got there. It took me 4 1/2 hours to get back to Key West, even taking the old highway in Islamorada.

I parked my car in Key West by the courthouse at 6:20 p.m. and sprinted to the marina. I ran onto the boat just as they were pushing off to leave. Definitely the craziest, most stressful but rewarding drive on U.S. 1 that I have had! The margaritas, live music, and sunset were well worth the hectic drive.

Allyson DeMerlis

Overseas recipe connection

Hi from Germany. In June 2018, we made a stop on Big Pine on our way down south. We were lucky to find this little place where you can get fresh organic food. The attached bistro also had some vegan snacks that we all enjoyed and that particularly our daughter was happy about. And they also were offering a fabulous banana peanut butter shake. We just looked it up: The Good Food Conspiracy. I don’t know whether the shake is still available. We highly recommend both the place and the shake.

Back home in Germany, we kept remembering the shake and the friendly people in the store. So I searched for the mail address and reached out to the store owners. I asked if the ladies would be willing to share the recipe with us. After all, 5,000 miles away we were not competitors. So, we still remember our awesome time in the Keys while enjoying the banana peanut butter shake a few times every summer. And now and then, we have a piece of homemade Key lime pie made from Key lime juice, which we brought with us and have since kept in portions in the freezer.

Enis Jarebica

A helping hand on the highway

I lived at mile marker 106 in Key Largo during graduate school. My car was old and worn down, more than I care to admit. It finally went poof!

I was on the downside of the bridge cruising into Key Largo when the engine quit. I coasted down to the turning lane at the gas station and stopped. There was steam coming out of the engine. I knew this time it was really bad news from my little Honda. Most of the cars just passed by without helping me, when a truck pulled over and a nice young couple jumped out to help. He started pushing my car across the road to the gas station when one other person stopped to help, too. They pushed my car all the way around the corner to park it at the station. He said, “Ma’am, my mama would never forgive me for not helping someone in car distress. That’s how she raised me.”

It turns out they were from my hometown of Niceville. It’s a real town in the Florida Panhandle. Yup, Niceville. Then it turns out his mama also graduated from my high school a few years before I did. We had a nice chat and he even dropped me off at my apartment complex. Of all the people who could have stopped but didn’t, it was a couple from Niceville that saved my evening. It’s OK to be nice, Miami. I hope this inspires Miami to want to be voted the “nicest” city in the U.S.

Tricia Keffer

A close call

Back in 1974, my brother, a good friend and I planned a bike trip from North Miami to Key West. We only made it as far as the Seven Mile Bridge.

Along the way after crossing over one of the bridges, the paved sidewalk came to an end to a sandy path until U.S. 1 began.

I was the last to cross and my bike tire dug into the sand and I went over the handle bars into the roadway. As I looked up I was right in the pathway of a fast-traveling 18-wheeler and the screeching tires. We missed each other by mere inches. At that time we decided the Seven Mile Bridge was too long and dangerous to bike across.

Jim Wich

Movie moment

Years ago, we were heading to Key West and hit the worst traffic jam ever right at the Seven Mile Bridge. Nothing moving at all. Turns out they were filming the limo scene for “True Lies.” There was even a place set up where we could watch the filming. Turned out to be the best traffic jam ever.

Greg Fadick

Taking the long way home, happily

As a Key West native (Conch), I learned to drive in the Keys in the late 1970s while the old Seven Mile bridge was still in service. Anyone who experienced driving across the old span will recall what seemed but a few inches of separation between their vehicle and the oncoming 18-wheelers.

As each vehicle passed one another, it felt as though the blow-back in passing would surely hurl their vehicle into and over the minimal guardrail and into the crystal clear waters below. It was common for drivers to white-knuckle their steering wheel during these frequent encounters. What’s more, most of us in those days thought nothing of pushing the limits of our muscle cars of the day to speeds well beyond the posted speed limit, adding an additional “thrill ride” element.

The Bahia Honda span added to the experience in providing an unparalleled vista of both the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, circumstances dictated that I move away from the Keys many years ago, but I will almost always opt to rent a car in Miami and make the drive for the experience when visiting family and friends.

Don Wiggins

Quite a bike ride

Back in the 1970s, I had a 175-cc Yamaha motorcycle, a single-cylinder, that was a lot of fun to ride. One cold day I was riding from Big Pine to Marathon and was on the old Seven Mile Bridge when the bike just stopped dead.

There were no shoulders to pull off and it was a long way to either end of the bridge. I rolled the bike to the side, against the railing, with cars and trucks whizzing by just inches from my handlebars. Unable to restart the bike and fearing an accident any minute, I contemplated tossing the bike over the railing and continuing on foot.

Just then, a van passed me and stopped. Two guys jumped out, picked up the bike and loaded it into an empty motorcycle carrier on the back of their van. I got inside where there was a group of free-spirited hippies including women and children. They drove me to a motorcycle shop in Marathon where the bike was fixed. (A small piece of metal had shorted the lone spark plug.) I thanked my rescuers profusely and gave them the only $5 I had. That was the last time I rode that bike across the old bridge.

Bill Becker

Roadside standstill

Many years ago, I want to say about 27-28 years ago, I was headed to Key Largo with some friends. Our families used to stay at a campground called American Outdoors. It’s now the site of the Playa Largo hotel. When we hit the stretch that afternoon, there had been an awful accident and they had shut down the road in both directions.

It took us eight hours to get to Key Largo! Back then, the old road still had access to the little beaches on the side. When traffic came to a complete standstill, people left their cars parked on the road and started having a party!

I recall people grilling in the back of their trucks and sitting down to eat right there in the middle of the road. Other people played music and started dancing. Others set up domino tables. Some people went fishing. I recall we left Miami at 4 p.m. and arrived in Key Largo after midnight! Every time I take the highway and hit a bit of traffic, I think back to that day.

Santi Gabino Jr.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.