5 – 12 January, 2021
Happy 2021 and Happy New Year. Let’s all hope it turns out better than 2020 did. Nancy and I are putting all that crazy stuff behind us and we are starting the new year out with a little trip in our camper to “get away from it all”! We are leaving Tuesday, 5 Jan, 20121, and heading south on I-75 all the way to Ft Lauderdale. We’ll be spending the night there, then a short trip down to the Keys on good ole US-1 to Sunshine key. We’ll be staying there for five nights with no agenda other than do some relaxing, celebrate my birthday, spend some time exploring Key West and the other keys, and catching up on our reading. Here’s our route of flight for those who like maps:
That will get us there. I’ll see if there is anything to take a picture of along the way. Alligator Alley across the bottom of Florida sometimes has some interesting things to see. Check back tomorrow evening and see if there was.
5 Jan … Got an early start, traffic was heavy but only one backup … lost about 45 minutes but no biggie … We Are On Vacation! We made the 305 mile drive with no problems. Everything is working fine. I75 through south Florida, at least until you turn east at Naples is pretty mundane. Mostly residential areas that were built up and commercial restaurants, hotels, malls, and shopping centers followed. Alligator Ally is interesting driving through the grasslands and Everglades. We did see one Alligator, Nancy spotted him getting a little sun.
Other than that there was not a lot of excitement. I did get some pics of the grasslands that I think are pretty so I will include them soon. Here’s a couple pictures of our campsite in Davey (small town swallowed up by Ft Lauderdale):
So, other than Nancy making dinner, us taking a little walk, there is not much news. Tomorrow we get a late start and hit the keys. I’m sure there will be many interesting things to photograph. See you tomorrow.
6 Jan – We made it to Sunshine Key!! Had a good short trip down and enjoyed all the scenery, bridges, and ocean. Traffic got slower when 1 went down to a two lane (one each way) but, when you are on vacation … who cares. We are staying in a BIG RV resort with all kinds BIG RV’s … our looks like the little tug that thought it could! But it got us here just fine, we got set up, took a walk, had dinner, and now we are relaxing before going to sleep. Some good scenes on the way down and here we saw some Manatee, lots of fish, and lots of campers. Here’s the pictures (especially for you Paris). I was going to put a caption on each one but basically they are just shots from along the way. The water turns an emerald green where it is shallow because of the sand bottom which makes it very beautiful. There are many bridges, one between each key as a matter of fact. Some keys have nearly nothing on them, others have pretty good sized towns. Marathon is the biggest along the way. The bridges are sometimes short and sometimes big. There is an old bridge along the way that was originally a railroad bridge which was the only way to get to Key West other than by boat. The track was eventually paved over and cars used it (one way at a time) and now it is a fishing pier along the way. I will point those out. Other wise it’s just the road, the bridges, the sea/ocean, and marinas, shops, and houses along the way.
Following one of those $%#@$% RV’s 
The old bridge 
The old bridge on the right. They are painting the structure so it does not rust 
An old pass … used to have a draw bridge 
Here’s first sight of our campground 
All set up 
A BIG Boat 
Nancy’s Laundry 
The Campground 
This guy was our welcome committee 1 of 2
His Official name is “Elliott”
There is a Dock at our resort … Here it is 
These are pelicans waiting fish to throw them somethinging for the guy clean 
This is Nancy .. we found two Manatees floating behind a boat that was washing it’s engines … they liked the fresh water .. Nancy liked them 
One of the Manatees 
A Pelican waiting to go over by the guy cleaning fish 
A school of fish “nibbling” at the moss on the Manatee 
The Manatee 
Another school of fish 
Both of them … They really like the fresh water! 
Our Welcoming Committee … Elliott and a morning dove 
Barnacles on a power line 
The rig at rest 
Nancy’s Favorite Bird .. The Brown Pelican
Tomorrow we are off to Key West. We are leaving the camper here and taking the Jeep into town to celebrate my birthday, explore, celebrate my birthday, see old sites, celebrate my birthday, visit the bar Hemingway hung out at, and celebrate my birthday. I probably won’t post anything tomorrow.
8 Jan … Guess what we did yesterday??? Right … we celebrated my birthday … and I must say we did a pretty good job of it. The day started out with a special breakfast birthday cake Nancy snuck down here for me … a triple Chocolate Chip chocolate muffin. She also had the RV decorated and a couple of nice gifts for me … see pictures below.
The Surprise Scene 
Just getting into the mood 
Nancy Singing Happy Birthday .. She hates me because I put this picture of her in here. 
The Birthday Bounty 
My Party Crowd 
Yup … This is it! 
The Party Scene
After our coffee and muffins and getting cleaned up we drove down to Key West. We are camped about 35 miles north of Key West so we got to see some more keys, a couple towns, and more of the water in between the keys. It was a sunny day so the colors were good and it was a nice day. We got to Key West and drove through the city to Duvall Street which has most of the things to do in KW on it. There are a few things one block to either side but mostly Duvall . We parked somewhere in the middle and walked south first to get to the southernmost point in the US. It is only 90 more miles as the crow flies to Cuba. We also stopped at the Southernmost Beach Cafe and had a birthday beer and watched the ocean and sunbathers for a few minutes.
Early Beach Goers with a Tree in the Middle 
A Line of Sunshine on the edge of the Ocean 
One of many majestic old houses in KW 
Info on the house 
This is the marker for the southernmost point. Highway one starts here and goes north all the way to Canada
Once we were at the southernmost end of Duvall Street we walked North .. just one block south is the former residence of Ernest Hemingway and two blocks north of that is the Green Parrot Bar where Hemingway used to hang out. We did not tour his house or some of the museums along the way because we have done so in our trips here in the past. We even climbed to the top of the KW Light House a few years back when we were here with John and Linda Silvernail. Anyhow, we made it to the Green Parrot (Ernie wasn’t there … hasn’t been since 1961) but we had a birthday drink next to what looked like Earnie and a friend of his. Nancy went across the street and scored a great Cuban Sandwich that we split for my birthday lunch.
The drink was nice, the sandwich was great, the company good. They say they put those poster guys for COVID spacing but I know for a fact they are put there to give the drunks someone to talk to … they listen very well.
We continued north on Duvall and stopped at a T-Shirt shop … I like some of the little quotes you could have put on a shirt but I’m not sure who all reads this blog so I can’t put pictures of them here. Then we made it to Sloppy Joes, another institution in KW. Here we had … yup, a birthday drink. Then we continued to the end of Duvall which is not as exciting as the south end. Just some tour stands. (places where you can book tours or depart on tours from). So we turned around and proceed south on Duvall checking out what was on the other side. A couple of interesting gift shops, several tattoo shops (some permanent and some temporary). We stopped in Margaritaville and had a birthday drink while being serenaded by Jimmy Buffett … must be nice to have so much money you canteen bars all over the country just to have a very large screen TV in the front with videos of you playing your music! Anyhow, the drink was good and the bar tender was a friendly guy. We stopped at a Rooster Gift shop … no, itThat was our last stop along Duvall … is not where you buy a gift for your rooster, nor is it where you buy a rooster for your friends … it is where you buy rooster paraphanelia .. and they had a bunch of it … kinda interesting because Chickens run wild all over KW … they are a part of the culture here. We continued on towards the Jeep with intensions of leaving KW and going north to Ramrod Key and The Boondocks Grille and Draft House for dinner. More pictures, but first a couple observations. COVID 19 is taken quite seriously in KW. Make are to be worn at all times, even outside walking, except when sitting at a table or bar. If you get up, you mask up. That was also why they had the posters in the Green Parrot … to keep people from getting too close. None of the businesses want to be closed for violating the states guidance … so they make sure everyone follows the rules. Shop owners will ask you to mask up or leave, and on the way back to the Jeep Nancy and I had taken off our masks as we were getting close to the Jeep and as we pasted a policeman standing on the street, he asked us to Mask Up … so we did.
This is the old Starnd Theater .. it has been preserved and is now a Walgreens Drug store … you know … the one at the corner of Happy and Healthy! 
This is a bar we passed (yes, passed) Those are dollar bills attached to the ceiling 
These are more of the dollar bills at Willie T’s 
One of the T-Shirt prints I could post 
Here’s another 
A Dolfin Fish (got hung up at the bar!) 
Sloppy Joe’s Menu 
t-shirt Art if you buy T-Shirts at Sloppy Joe’s 
I forgot to mention we stopped at Fat Tuesday’s for a couple Daiquiri’s 
They had a poster of the marker so I had my picture taken at it 
A Rooster Girft Shop 
See … all kinds of Roosters
We left KW and drove north to Ramrod Key where we found The Boondocks and went in for my birthday dinner. It was a fine dinner, they had live music and good food. Nancy secretly made arrangements for the server to bring out a birthday slice of Keylime Pie with Ice Cream and a sparkler shooting out of it. Very surprising and very nice. Andy, Samantha, and Cathy called from Australia during dinner and sang Happy Birthday to me … also very nice … Candice and Christian were on the disabled list with the flu so I got emails from them. After dinner we went back to the camper and turned in.
All in all it was a very nice birthday. I am very appreciative that Nancy did all the special things she did for me. I got emails from people all over the country, and world, wishing me a Happy Birthday so I know I’m a blessed guy. My thanks for the comments, emails, notes, texts, and love.
Continuing with today, (it is still the 8th): this morning we got up and had coffee. Discussed some plans for our future trips. hen decided to drive down to Big Pine Key to the grocery and pick up a couple things we were missing … just to get out for a while. We drove out to No Name Key which is a small key that is not in the chain but next to Big Pine. Interesting place … some development but not much.
One of the Tourist Spots on No Name Key
It was once a quarry but now is a park
There is a little walk you can take around it 
Here it is 
Some Turtles 
Can you see the gator? 
Here he is … watching you 
A Playground at our RV Resort 
They set up places where you can buy things you didn’t realize you needed … Nancy had to check them out 
Interesting stuff 
So, now we are back at the RV, getting ready for dinner and a relaxing evening. The sun is behind the clouds today so it is cool by our standards but all the folks from up north that drove their land arks down here are walking around in shorts and t-Shirts. More tomorrow. Thanks for coming along.
9 & 10 Jan … Decided to go north a bit yesterday and have dinner on Marathon Key. It is just about 10 miles north of where we are camped and has some stores and restaurants so we decided to have dinner there. Left the campground a little after noon. Spent the morning relaxing, having coffee, and cleaning up. Life is good in a RV. We got to Marathon and hit a KMART … yup …a KMART … didn’t know there were any left but there was one there … I now know why they went out of business. Got the rest of the stuff we needed at a Winn Dixie grocery store. We were going to have an early dinner but it was way too early so we went to a Tiki place next to the road and visited with some of the patrons and staff. Saw a great sunset, then left for our restaurant. But first … some of the highlights from our TiKi place:
One of the Friendly Patrons … Oh wait … That’s Nancy 
Here’s a view of Seven Mile Bridge … From Marathon Key to Sunshine Key 
THESE are the friendly patrons 
The TiKi place 
Here it is .. KMART … even with the old signage 
Pigeon Key is a camp half way across seven mile bridge … accessible only by boat 
This is a sunset viewed from our campsite …
So we had a very nice dinner. I had the Broiled Mahi Mahi and Nancy had the Shrimp … we both had Conch Chowder for a starter, Broccoli for a side, and Home Made Key Lime Pie for Desert!! MMMMMuumMMM. A very nice evening … even had a table cloth … and a waiter that was from London … Small world eh?
The Restaurant 
Nancy and her Shrimpps
So that brings us to today. We went to church this morning. A church that had been destroyed by a hurricane. We attended in a large tent like structure using masks and social distancing. The new church is being built right next to the tent. Hope to use it next year. After church we had Eggs Benedict for breakfast … This afternoon we tidied up a bit, took some stuff down in preparation for our departure tomorrow and watched a little football.
Nancy catching up with her emails in the living room 
The tidied up kitchen 
The old railroad bridge next to seven mile bridge
Tomorrow we head north. We are not going back across Alligator alley but rather reading north to I95 and going north from there to Ft Pierce where we have reservations to stay the evening. At noon tomorrow we are meeting some friends in Ft Lauderdale for lunch. They are the folks we visited in Acworth, GA a few months back … Mike and Sue Remm. They own a home in Ft Lauderdale and are down to see their daughter who teaches in Ft Lauderdale. We’re just lucky enough to be on the same schedule so we will meet for lunch. More tomorrow.
Its Tomorrow!! Better known as 10 Jan … Happy Martin Luther King day!! … We got up early today to ensure we had sufficient time to take the camper down and make it road ready while still having enough time for our morning coffee. We were up a little after seven and hitting the Joe. Got everything done and were pulling out of Sunshine key at 8:45. I must say this .. the keys are very unique and everyone should make a serious attempt to see them. All the way from Homestead at the base of Florida to Key West 90+ miles south. Very unique lifestyles, flora, and views. Key West is fun, interesting and full of unique history. So the first time you go there, plan to spend some time and take it ll in. After that, you can just pop down for a weekend, have some fun, eat some Conch, and enjoy the weather. Ok … I said that. Now we are on our way home from a great week and a very well done birthday. Nothing much new. We drove up through the keys to Key Largo and onto the mainland at Homestead. Then up past Miami and Hollywood. We met our friends in Ft Lauderdale and had a great lunch at Miller’s Ale House. Mike and Sue are there getting their COVID shots and taking a break from the severe winter weather in the Atlanta area (I think it might even freeze there occasionally!).
Mike & Sue Remm … Great Friends … Great Patriots
We had a nice lunch with them and continued our journey north. We are now in a very nice campground in Ft Pierce, Florida. Having had a big lunch we are foregoing dinner and watching the National Championship game on one of our TVs.
Our Campground 
The Tug & Jeep 
This guy has been waiting for his spot for a while!
Tomorrow morning we have a leisurely start and will chug west along Florida to our home in Hudson. Three or four hours. I’ll post any interesting pictures I come across but this is basically the end of this adventure. We had a great time and I hope you enjoyed coming along.