The Back Page

Bridges and Blue Barriers

By: Mad Mike Benson

In my early twenties I once made it from Charleston, SC to Key West, FL in 11 hours flat, towing a boat. In an unrelated note, I also had really expensive car insurance. In those days we would leave SC somewhere around 6 or 7 PM and drive through the night so that we could arrive in the keys or the everglades by sunrise and launch the boat so as not to miss a single second of fishable light. I’m pushing 40 now, and I don’t bounce like I used to, so suicide runs are largely a thing of the past, and we have our system down to an art as to when to leave in order to time the traffic in Jacksonville just right. Even that means leaving at an ungodly hour of the morning and ensures that by the time you’ve ran the automotive Thunderdome that is south Florida you and your shotgun man are in various states of delirium. The haze usually starts to clear about the time you exit off the turnpike in Florida City, and you pass under the most famous road sign in the south. Depending on your mood you may take a right into the dark backcountry, or a left and charge across Biscayne to tangle with big smart bonefish. But if you hold straight and continue south, you’ll see them soon enough. The one thing that can flush the tired right out of your system. They’re a little worse for wear these days, but the aqua blue paint is still there, and the feeling it gives is still strong. Those barriers mean you’ve made it. Granted you still have a bit of a drive before you’re crossing the bridges and looking out at the flats to see If anyone is sitting on this famous spot, or that one, but the barriers say you’re there. I know the keys aren’t what they used to be and counting “leans” and “looks” isn’t really the game for everyone. But, despite the crowds, and the better than not chance you’ll get yelled at by a guide guarding his turf. There is still no replacement in my book for that feeling you get after 700 miles of I-95 South when you see those beacons of the keys. The bridges, and blue barriers.