Touring - Keys Tour Day 3

Day 3 started late at perhaps 6 AM .Hey in Fl you have to take advantage of the cooler times of day.I rode through Marathon and after a meal beak at the start of the 7 Mile Bridge I crossed over into the Lower Keys where there are a lot more bridges and water views than in the Upper and Middle Keys.Also the old bridges which were the original route were still largely intact and were used for fishing,jogging and even a bike path in some parts. As I saw the fishermen often set up day (and perhaps night )tents on the old bridges a idea began forming that they might be a good place to camp.There are some disavantages to this idea but I will get to that later.I made it the 65 miles into Key West (mile markers helped here)by early afternoon and lounged around a Publix supermarket avoiding the sun and eating a Subway sandwich and then a ton more food from the supermarket. Then I rode around through the Old Town enjoying the historical buildings and pretty girls on motorscooters.After that I toured the beaches and stopped at Smathers Beach and stopped for a long rest on a shaded picnic table right on the beach once again liberally consuming food.As evening approached and temperatures cooled I decided to head back out of Key West starting the return trip and trying to camp on one of the old bridges.About 5 miles out I noticed a huge funnel had formed out over the ocean well offshore.It looked like a huge tornado but quickly dissopated and there were no storm clouds right around me so I was not to concerned though I probably should have taken it as a warning.After 15 miles a light rain was starting and I found a nice bridge so I stopped and set up my tent .I considered setting up at the edge of the bridge where some mangroves would provide some wind protection but decided otherwise because I had had it with mosquitos(or stinging knats or whatever)and was concerned vehicles might stop there in the rain(it would be right off the road).Anyway the rain and wind really picked up even befre I was able to set up my tent.Man did the wind pick up .I had all my gear and myself in the tent and it was still blowiwing up the edges .Luckily I have a good quality TNF Tadpole tent and it held .Unfortunately I think I need another coat of seam sealer on my rain fly . It held up initially but once it started raining buckets it started coming through the seams and I ended up with a small lake in my tent.Fortunatly thought extremely strong it was a fairly short storm so I baiuled the water out with my towel and tried to get some sleep.Milage total was 80 by thr mile markers plus whatever I did riding around Key West.