Seven Miles of Oddities on the Overseas Highway

 

Henry Flagler, co-founder of Standard Oil Company, built the original Overseas Highway, known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” It was an attribute acknowledging the engineering audacity of spanning seven miles of open water in 1912.

 

The Overseas Highway is the only road in-and-out of the Florida Keys. It had been on my must-travel list even before my sabbatical began. Nowhere else are drivers treated to simultaneous views of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Driving it included a hop over Seven Mile Bridge. I set the odometer before crossing over it to verify that its name correctly matched its length.

 

Sections of The Overseas Highway reminded me of certain roadside oddities – Gemini Giant, Cadillac Ranch, Blue Whale – that I once encountered along Route 66 during a trip along its entire length from Chicago to Santa Monica Pier in California.

 

In Plantation Key, for example, Big Betsy, a lobster as long as the van with a body as rotund, dominated the view. On Upper Matecumbe Key stood a one-story topless mermaid and on Fat Deer Key a giant dolphin could have gone head-to-head with Big Betsy. 

 

That’s one thing I love about road trips: you never know what it’ll reveal.