BWK to Everglades Isle to Ft Desoto

   

 It's been a week or so since our last post, but we've been a little busy with our travels.  Looking back, Debbie pointed out that we've been a little sedentary in our traveling lifestyle since we arrived in Florida.  We did a week in BWK in December/January with MAE.  Then we sat for 5 WEEKS at IBE!  We've never stayed anywhere that long before, and I think it was just a little too long.  From there we returned to BKW for another 2 week stay.  So in the past 59 days, we've been "on the road" only 5 days.  We have definitely enjoyed out time at each location, soaking up the sunshine while our friends up north continue to fight frigid temperatures and relentless blizzards.  Debbie and I both remember those days, and the great times we had in that Winter Wonderland.  But we are also so very thankful to be able to enjoy these times traveling around America, griping to each other about our frigid temperatures in the mid 50's.  We are so pathetic that we describe it as being "30 degrees below 80!"

I don't think were getting much sympathy from our readers.  But now we're on the move....slowly working our way north up Florida's west coast as temperatures in the 30's wait patiently for us to arrive.

But we can take it.  Knowing that we get to turn left at the top of the state, and nice weather again awaits us to the west.
     From BWK we moved up to another familiar RV Resort, Eveglades Isle RV Resort , in Everglades City, Fl.  We stayed there for a few days last year, and it's really a nice place to visit. The park includes lot owners, and renters like us.  All are very friendly, and we were welcomed to join in each evening's Happy Hour at the clubhouse.  On Valentines Day, they had nice hors d'oeuvres and a champagne toast which everyone seemed to enjoy.  We seem to be doing a lot more casual wandering this year as compared to last.  Perhaps because we're retracing our journey a little too closely and are more comfortable in our surroundings.  But these wanderings down the side roads oftentime reveals a unique feature to the landscape.  The flowers growing abundantly over a collapsing wood fence was found as we wandered into a neighborhood near Everglades City.  Debbie first noticed them as we drove down the street, and insisted I stop and grab some photos.  It's these little, almost unnoticeable images, that make this trip worth taking.  It's unfortunate that we sit and wait for the sunsets, and then almost pass by nature's other show.
   
UPDATE!!!
     We finished our days in Everglade City enjoying the warm weather.  We traveled over to Marco Island, or as Debbie likes to call it, moseyed over to Marco, to see what we could see.  We stumbled onto an antique car show sponsored by the Kiwanis club, and for $5, we were able to enjoy some wonderful old vehicles.  They ran the gamut from Model T's to shiney new Mustangs.

I brought along my new GoPro camera and took lots of video of the show, but when I went to take a few snap shots, I discovered that I had left my battery in the charger back in the RV.  I grabbed a few pics with the GoPro, but they're not as nice as my Canon takes.
      We continued north and set up camp in Ft Desoto County Park near St Petersburg, Fl.  You can see the photo above....Debbie enjoying the warm sun by cooling her feet in the bay's waters.

Here's a photo of Debbie at the same location 2 days later.   We have nothing to complain about when our friends up north are dealing with bitter cold weather every day.  But we're in Florida....this shouldn't be happening.  We worked the weather channel for a day or so, and decided it was time to get the bus wheels moving and see if we could find some warm weather again.  Before leaving, we made a trip over to the Manatee Viewing Center near Apollo Beach.

There we found numerous manatees enjoying the warm discharge water from the local electric company.  They really seemed to be enjoying themselves, and seemed very happy that the water was above 68 degrees.

We decided to continue our journey up the Florida coast, but we knew it was time to start heading in a westerly direction.  We figured there was a pretty good chance that we could hit warmer weather.........over in Arizona!  There would be spring training baseball, and lovely vistas near Mesa. Az.  So we started west driving over 500 miles yesterday, stopping in La.  Debbie found a nice Passport America park and for $20, we were safe and secure for the night.  We put in about 360 miles today, and found another Passport America site in Luling, Tx.  Temperatures have been down in the 30's for 2 days, but ice and snow seems to be staying north of I-10, so it looks like we're going to be just fine.   We'll be going a little north tomorrow and visit Retha and Randy in San Angelo, Tx, but this cold snap should be moving east and we will be back in nicer weather in a day or so.

  I was able to find this weather map which gives everyone an idea of the weather the entire country is experiencing.  That -15 up home just gives me the shivers!  Gotta be warmer in AZ!!!

     So we're about 2 weeks ahead of our scheduled arrival in San Diego.  Jean and Mike are out visiting Ben and Joanne, which I'm sure everyone is enjoying.  Looks like its a little chilly in Chambersburg also!.  Sorry that we disappeared and have now reappeared in Texas, but 8-10 hours behind the wheel is a little tiring.  Driving a 33 foot RV is not quite like driving your sedan.  And a 15 mph wind blowing sideways against the RV really makes interstate driving interesting.  But so far....so good.  Debbie hasn't bailed out on me yet.  She's put together 2 great crock pot meals as we're driving, so when we stop, they're just about ready.
     We'll be resting a few days in San Angelo before pushing into Az.  We're not absolutely sure where we're going, but that's half the fun of being out here.  Not matter where we end up, we're bound to find something new.  

Old Post Office & Customs House, Key West

     

After a pretty cool night where the temperature got down to about 19 degrees below 80 which is actually 61 degrees, the sun came out and the winds died down, so we decided to head into Key West and visit the Customs House down on Front St.  It's just a short drive into town, and we found a very convenient parking spot over by the USS Ingham and the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park.  From there, it's just a short walk through the Truman Complex.  While passing through the Truman Complex, we saw flags flying in front of what's referred to as the Harry S. Truman Little White House.
     The house was originally built in 1890, and was the officer's quarters on the original naval base.  In 1911, the house was converted into a single family dwelling for the base commander, and was first visited by President Howard Taft in 1912.  In November 1946, President Truman visiting Key West on the advice of his doctor, stayed at this residence.  Throughout his Presidency, he spent 175 days visiting and it soon became known as the Little White House, Key West, Fl.  Stories run rampant around Key West of President Truman walking around the local area.  Stories persist how he enjoyed walking across town to the public beach to go swimming.   Other presidents who have used the Little White House include, Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton.  In January 1987, the house was deeded to the State of Florida.

There is a guided tour of the residence, but since we were destined to the Customs House, we made a quick pass through the free exhibit near the gift shop.  Inside we found a brief history of events at the property, and viewed a display of White House Christmas decorations which are sold to help maintain the building.
     A short walk from there put us down on Front Street and in front of the Old Post Office and Customs House, Key West.  Today the Customs House serves as the Key West Museum of Art and History, and currently is displaying artifacts and drawings pertaining to Ernest Hemingway.

The building was completed in 1891 and served as the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida until 1932.  In 2011, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the railroad's arrival in Key West in 1912, a permanent exhibit of the Flagler railroad was opened.  As we started up the the magnificent wooden stairs, we were treated to 59 original pen and ink drawings by Guy Harvey.  The sketches follow the story line of Hemingway's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "The Old Man and the Sea".  The sketches are displayed chronologically to follow Hemingway's narrative.  The museum also featured a life size bronze Ernest Hemingway in Key West statue, as well as a pair of his boxing gloves.

 
The wood floors, banisters and door casings of the museum were renovated by the Florida Historical Society after the building had been abandoned for nearly 25 years.  The upstairs courtroom, which now holds a display of the early railroad years, must have been a magnificent room.  The window and door casings remind me of numerous federal buildings I've visited over the years. The stairways and the floors are all wood and have been completely restored.

Even the bathroom had the familiar white/black tile floors that seem to be common with older federal buildings.  I remember the bathrooms in the Port of Entry Building in Rouses Point, NY, which is now registered as a National Historic site, has similar tile.
     There are several life-size statues around the museum, which I really can't comment on.  They were created by John Seward Johnson II, grandson of the Johnson of talcum powder fame.  They are a little unusual to say the least, and I believe there are statues in San Diego down near the waterfront from the same artist.

 I have to wait till I get out there to verify that story.
     We have 1 more week here at Bluewater Key, and as Debbie says, "If you're lucky enough to be at Key West, you're lucky enough!"  Pretty much sums it up.  We keep track of our friends up north working there way through the winter storms.  We really are rooting for them.  We certainly enjoy sipping our cocktails in front of the tiki hut and getting the grill ready for a nice steak.  We look forward to Ben calling on his way home from work.  Debbie found Jamo a new friend who was on a sailboat in KW harbor the other day.  He looked like he was having a pretty good time watching the tourists walk by.  I wonder if he's been taught to pee while underway?  That would be a neat trick.
   

Sun and Fun @ Bluewater Key-Key West

     On Friday we headed east from Imperial Bonita Estates on I-75 headed for our next destination, Bluewater Key RV Resort @ MM14 on U.S. 1.  Traveling on Friday seemed to be a good idea as we didn't want to get caught in the weekend traffic into the Keys.  I'm not sure if our trip to Ft Lauderdale Airport with Princess at Christmas resembles weekend traffic on U.S.1 into the Keys, but I know it's an event I want to avoid at all costs.

The trip across Florida and south into the Keys was uneventful.  Traffic was light, and we had hoped to utilize my new Go Pro camera and video some of the journey south, but it looks like I failed to properly charge the batteries, and they went dead within a few minutes of the video attempt.  P-P-P-P-P-P-P, and I thought everything was ready to rock and roll as we started south from Homestead.  And I had my hillbilly Go Pro tripod ready to go.

 Oh well, we'll try it northbound in a few weeks.
     We settled into site 69, overlooking the bay, and enjoyed a nice breeze blowing through our tiki hut.  There's a nice refrigerator in the tiki hut, so our adult refreshments are right at hand.

This is very important when you're battling a bright sun and and a brisk wind forcing wind chills down to the upper 70's!  Debbie keeps the Rondackers handy for just these types of emergencies.  Luckily we found an ABC store in Bonita Springs that carried our Bombay Gin on sale in 1.75 L. bottles, so I'm confident we'll make it through the next 2 weeks.

     Our first 2 days here were a little windy and cooler than we'd like, but day 3 the sun popped out and the temperature soared into the 80's.  We had lots of activity at IBE, but down here on the island, our pace is slowing down.  Debbie says she want to soak the heat right into her bones, and is perfectly content to sit on the waterfront and let the day pass by.

Not quite sure what the water temperature is here in the bay, but after hearing there were lobsters out there just waiting to be captured, I had to take a try at it.  I checked out YouTube and saw a couple of videos on how to capture those delicious crustaceans, and I soon found myself floating in the bay ready to test my new but untested skills.  Now when we arrived, our hosts told me that one lucky diver out here had located quite a few lobsters, and had several great dinners during her stay.  She just failed to tell me exactly where the little bastards were hiding!  I looked for quite a while, but didn't see a single one.  They are out here, cause they are putting lobster traps out across the bay.  But it looks like they stay under the rocks and will need a little more prodding to get them out.  The water temperature is kinda like Lake George during the summer - takes your breathe away for just a second or two, and then is very refreshing.

It definitely beats the current alternative of cutting a hole in the ice and going fishing, which is occurring up home.  Debbie even got up the courage of testing the waters, and soon I had to hike up to Big Red and retrieve her sun hat.   I  stayed in the water a little too long and got a little sunburned on my chest, but not bad enough to cause any discomfort.  "Red is a color, right MaryAnne???"

     Sunday afternoon we drove over to Geiger Key Fish Camp to enjoy their chicken and pork barbecue.  The crowd was small because of the upcoming Superbowl, but they had a nice calypso band, the beer was cold, and the barbecue was pretty good.  I gotta get used to those black beans though.  We had a nice waterside table, and enjoyed a terrific sunset on the bay.  We left right after the National Anthem, and were home within 10 minutes.  We settled in and watched a great football game, and screamed at the tv when Seattle made the stupidest play in Superbowl history at the end.  In 30 years, when our grand-kids are reading this blog, they can look it up.  I bet it will still be the stupidest play in Superbowl history!

Geiger Key