Mile Marker 0 is a small thing to stand beside, a green sign at the corner of Whitehead and Fleming streets, but after about a hundred and thirty miles of bridges and causeways over water the colour of a swimming pool, it feels like a finish line in the most literal sense. Key West is the end of US 1, and the end of the road in the continental United States, closer to Havana than to Miami's downtown skyscrapers by a surprisingly small margin.
The road that got you here is the story. Henry Flagler, the oil magnate, built a railway across the keys that reached the island in 1912, a stunning gamble that was called Flagler's Folly until it worked. Then the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 flattened parts of it, killing hundreds, and the bankrupt railway sold its right of way to the state. The highway you ride today uses much of those old bridges and embankments, including the famous Seven Mile Bridge, which gives the sensation of floating over shallow, bright green and turquoise flats with nothing on either side but sky and sea.
Key West itself is a small, flat island of old wooden conch houses with louvred shutters and tin roofs, tropical gardens and free-ranging chickens that wander across the road with perfect confidence. Ernest Hemingway lived here in the 1930s, and his house, now a museum, is home to a colony of polydactyl cats. The evening ritual is the sunset gathering at Mallory Square, with street performers, vendors and a cheering crowd, and Duval Street, the long main drag, is loud, silly and exactly what its reputation promises. Quieter streets a block or two away are far nicer to walk.
Riding in town is slow by necessity. Streets are narrow, scooters and bicycles weave everywhere, and parking is a puzzle, so a motorcycle is a real advantage. Fuel is on the island, and prices are higher than on the mainland. Food is built on seafood, with conch fritters, fresh fish sandwiches and key lime pie, which locals argue about, including whether it should be green. Spend a little time at the southernmost point marker, an oversized buoy with an eternal queue for photographs.
The heat and humidity are heavy from May to October, with afternoon storms, and hurricane season runs June to November. Winter is the comfortable season, with warm days and cooler evenings, though it is also the busiest and priciest time.