Friday, March 24, 2017

WOW! An Exciting Drive to Key West with RV accident, Bat House, Sky Diving, and Fighter Jets

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida  (high 80, low 68)

 

We had to make yet another trip to Key West to go to Home Depot.  The trip on Wednesday brought a lot of excitement.

When we’re here in the Keys, I have learned to always bring my camera because you never know what you will see and that is particularly true in Key West.

We headed south towards Key West and the first unusual thing we saw was some kind of issue with 3 large motorhomes and cargo trailers parked on the side of US 1.  They were in the northbound lane, along with  tow trucks, police and various people standing around.  The Overseas Highway or US 1 varies from narrow strips of land, to bridges, to large pieces of land.  This happened to occur on a narrow strip of land where the ocean was only about 25-30 feet from the road.

6_Overseas_Highway

 

 

Cargo Trailer came loose from tag Diesel pusher near Key West on US 1

 

One of the motorhomes was a large tag axel Travel Supreme.  There was a huge triple axel cargo trailer painted to match, that was sideways along the side of the road.  It appeared that the mangroves in the water may have been the only thing that kept it from going into the water.

Cargo Trailer came loose from tag Diesel pusher near Key West on US 1

 

This next picture was after it was hooked up to the tow truck.

 

Cargo Trailer came loose from tag Diesel pusher near Key West on US 1

 

You can see it’s a triple axel trailer.  It was very large and I’m sure very heavy.

Cargo Trailer came loose from tag Diesel pusher near Key West on US 1

The other two motorhomes also had trailers attached and appeared to be ok.

We surmised the trailer broke free from the motorhome.  We don’t know why.  We didn’t see any sign of a blow out on either vehicle, but there were cables hanging loose from the motorhome, as if it had pulled loose.  People load these cargo trailers with a lot of toys.

Could the hitch have come loose because the cargo trailer was too heavy?  The biggest hitch I’ve seen for our motorhome only had a 10,000 pound capacity.  Surely these carrying all these toys weigh more than that. I guess they probably can be beefed up, but we sure wondered if this was the cause.  What do you think?

 

That was the first excitement on the way to Key West.  The next was Key West Sky Dive. We had driven by this place for years and decided to check it out.

It was such a quaint little place and perfect for the Keys.   It’s located on Sugarloaf Key, which is about milemarker 18.  Everything on the Keys can be found by the mile marker.  Key Largo is around MM 100.  Key West ends at MM 0.  We are located on MM 23.

Key West Sky Dive

 

The Skydive center was located in a remote area with bad roads and lots of potholes to dodge.

These pretty motorcycles parked there must have had to really be careful on the road.

Key West Sky Dive

You can see the runway which runs right along the water (of course everything does here).

Key West Sky Dive

 

The runway looks  a little bumpy to me.

Key West Sky Dive

I wonder how many skydivers land in the water?  There were three planes on land (I hesitated to say tarmac)  and one in the air. 

Key West Sky Dive

We’ll have to go back and watch them skydive.  I don’t think we’ll be doing any skydiving this year.  Smile

 

Our next interesting thing was found as we were leaving the airport.

Al saw this huge wooden building so we drove up to check it out.

Bat Tower from 1929

It was obviously very old.  There was a huge nest on top but we didn’t see any nesting birds.

Bat Tower from 1929

 

This picture gives you a better idea how tall it was.

Bat Tower from 1929

 

There was nothing outside to tell what the tower was.  This was in the ground right beside the tower and I thought maybe it would give me a clue. Notice the word Perky?

Bat Tower from 1929

 

Looking up, it looked very much like a huge bat house. This picture was taken from underneath looking up.  See the wood slats?  That is exactly like they have on bat houses, but we saw no guano so we nixed that idea.

Bat Tower from 1929

 

Bat Tower from 1929

It was such a cool tower so I knew I would be able to find out more info online.  Here is what I found.

“Tall pine wood structure is a failed experiment in enviro-bug-control. Mosquito problem, bats imported to solve, bats flew away. Richter Clyde Perky hired a guy to build it in 1929, using plans from Charles Campbell.”

Apparently the bats didn’t like it because they flew off, however it was a great idea for controlling mosquitos in the Florida Keys, don’t you think?  It’s amazing that it has withstood all the hurricanes since 1929, including the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 that mostly wiped out Flagler's Railroad.

It’s such a quirky place that it is listed on Roadside America.  Here is the link: 

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/238

 

After we left that area, we continued to head towards Key West and about the time we passed by Boca Chica Key, we started seeing F/A 18 fighter jets blasting by and circling with their landing gear down. It is always a huge thrill to see them and they never fail to give me goose bumps.

Three jets circled right in front of us.  They were going pretty slow for them because I was able to take a photo. Usually, you hear them, look up and they are long gone. What a sound they make as they are taking off!  It’s thrilling.

 

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They were obviously landing.  Al mentioned if we had been eating lunch at Geiger Key Fish camp, we would have had a birds eye view of them landing.   Geiger Key is home to world famous hogfish sandwiches and is one of our favorite places to eat in the Keys. 

We hadn’t considered Geiger Key for lunch, but as soon as we thought of it, we both started getting hungry. 

 

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A minute or two after we saw the jets, we saw yet ANOTHER interesting site.  Along another narrow strip of land was a large old sailboat on the side of the road laying on it’s side.  Obviously it had been pulled out of the water.  There are a lot of derelict boats around these islands and they are trying to get them cleaned up.  Unfortunately, we had passed it before I could get a photo and I forgot when we went back by on the way home.  It was gone the next time we went to Key West (and Home Depot).

 

That was the end of our exciting things on our way to Key West.  We went to Home Depot and returned the freezer we had just picked up the day before (long story) and by that time we were really hungry and someone mentioned hogfish……  So you know what happened next.  Smile

 

Geiger Key Fish Camp, Rv Park and Restaurant.  It’s a pretty nice little hidden RV park right on the water if anyone is interested.

 

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We got 4 nice filets with a ton of fries and a tiny bit of coleslaw.  It was delicious and we had extra for dinner later.

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Every time I mention eating hogfish, some asks about them.  They are also called hog snapper but are really a member of the wrasse family.  They change colors under water. They go from light to patchy orange color. The males turn black and white.

The meat it white, not fishy, and delicious!  Here is a picture of a rather large one.  Probably 18-19 pounds I would guess.  This is a male. 

 

hogfish

 

We came home, took a rest after our big meal and then and worked around the house for a while.  We’re still settling in to our new home and there are still plenty of things to do. We had a few fun nights in Key West and ended up getting run off last night with an approaching storm.  More on that later.  Key West is always a fun place to go.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

A Day in Beautiful Key West

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 80, low 65)

Our cool front has held but it looks like we are returning to more normal temperatures.  This time of the year the high is usually 80 and the low 70.  Day after day…

We’ve been busy settling into our new home.  More about that on another post.

Key West is the closest place for us for shopping, so we’ve been there quite often for one thing or another. There is a lot to buy when you’re setting up a new home.   If you missed my last post, it explained about our new home in the Keys.

Yesterday morning we headed there to Home Depot to pick up a freezer we ordered last week.  That will be covered in a later post as well since that didn’t turn out quite as we had expected.

After Home Depot, we grabbed a burger from McDonalds and parked by the dog park to eat and watch the dogs.  We miss our puppy friends from Quail Run Rv park so we decided to get a puppy fix.  Actually, we found there were more dogs in Home Depot than at the dog park.

Later, we walked over to the Key West Garden Center which is in the old Martello Fort.  It was one of three that secured Key West and the Gulf Coast after the war of 1812, and after the British burned DC.

Garden Club / Fort West Martello

The garden club keeps the grounds up and offers free tours.  It’s a lovely place to spend some time on a hot day.  Isn’t this a beautiful entrance?

 

Garden Club / Fort

 

This “tree” is apparently just a Strangler Fig which at some point must have strangled the tree it was attached to because we could see no tree. 

Garden Club / Fort

 

There are paths around the gardens, some of which give you a beautiful ocean view.

Garden Club / Fort

 

Garden Club / Fort

In the following picture is a Key West Red Frangi Pani tree which is also know as a Plumeria. There were a few blooms on it, but in a few weeks it should be covered with flowers.  We made a note to go back then.   These flowers are the flowers on a Hawaiian Lei.  They are beautiful and smell wonderful.  Here is a picture from a previous visit. 

 

frangipani

 

Garden Club / Fort West Martello - huge Frangi pani

 

This next picture shows how large it is.

Garden Club / Fort West Martello huge frangi pani

 

Frangi Pani grow very well here in the Keys.  The last time we were here, two years ago, we got two small cuttings and  stuck them into the ground and  left town a week later.  They were ignored for two years and when we came back, this is what one of them looked like.  The other cutting must have gotten knocked down or run over because it’s just a broken stump in the ground.

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Caladium

Garden Club / Fort West Martello

 

Ginger

Garden Club / Fort West Martello - ginger

Apparently the garden club holds there meeting in these beautiful rooms.

 

Inside rooms at Garden Club / Fort West Martello

 

Inside rooms at Garden Club / Fort West Martello

 

Inside rooms at Garden Club / Fort West Martello

 

Inside rooms at Garden Club / Fort West Martello

 

Inside rooms at Garden Club / Fort West Martello

 

Our next stop was to Higgs Beach and the White Street Pier.

The pier is a good place to watch sunrise. It’s quite a popular place and you never know who or what you will see.  Yesterday, the most interesting thing was a guy on a very speedy motorized skateboard.  He had some great balance to stay on that thing as fast as it was going. The girl on the bike must have been with him.

White Street Pier  Higgs Beach, Key West

 

This is the pier.  To the right you can see part of the AIDS Memorial.

White Street Pier  Higgs Beach, Key West

 

White Street Pier  Higgs Beach, Key West

 

White Street Pier, Higgs Beach, Key West

Higgs Beach is a lovely beach with a lot of hotels overlooking the Atlantic.

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Higgs Beach, Key West

 

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White Street Pier  Higgs Beach, Key West

People were enjoying water activities.

White Street Pier  Higgs Beach, Key West

 

That water is too cold for me!

White Street Pier  Higgs Beach, Key West

 

AIDS hit Key West particularly hard and they did a nice job on the AIDS Memorial.

Key West Aids Memorial

All the black granite blocks have names of AIDS victims on them.

Key West Aids Memorial

There were a LOT of names carved into the granite.  There were a lot of men who died here during the AIDS epidemic. 


Key West Aids Memorial

 

On another part of the beach is the African Cemetery.  It is another place that is very thought provoking and sad.

There were 294 men, women and children who were rescued from slave ships bound for Cuba, but later died from illnesses from being held captive in deplorable conditions on slave ships.  It was another nice, but very sad memorial.

African American Cemetary at Higgs Beach, Key West

 

African American Cemetary at Higgs Beach, Key West

We didn’t make it to the newly completed Viet Nam Veteran Memorial, but will get back there another day.

After finishing our errands and sightseeing, we headed home to put groceries away, then back to Key West for the nightly sunset Celebration at Mallory Square.

Unfortunately, March and most of April if I remember correctly is spring break.  That doesn’t mean there are thousands of drunk college kids (although they are here) there are just as many young families with children.  It seems to be a popular time of year for Asians as well.  The point it, Mallory Square was unusually crowded.  We were unable to find a parking place in our favorite lot.  We finally found another place to park, and walked down to Mallory Square which was back to back people who lined up by the pier for a view of the setting sun.

This is all we got.

Key West Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square

 

Key West Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square

 

The usual street performers were out.  The sword swallower who we met on a bus one afternoon was performing.  Unfortunately, the battery on my camera died.  I took pictures on my cell phone, but for some reason I am no longer able to down load them into my laptop.  I used to be able to, but for some reason, I can’t anymore.  If anyone has any suggestions, I’m open to help.

Key West Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square

Key West Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square

 

We strolled along the pier and looked at some of the beautiful and interesting things the vendors were selling.  There were some beautiful framed photos that would have looked nice on a few open walls in our new fifth wheel, but we’re over budget now.  Smile

 

As we walked back to our car, we got behind two young guys, either college or high school. It was hard to tell which was the drunker of the two and which was holding the other up.  We found out a few minutes later when one was laying down on the ground passed out.  We walked right on by.  They’ll have to figure out how to handle the consequences of their own behavior themselves.  I bet they had a big hangover this morning.

 

I think today will be a stay home and work around the house day. Maybe another venture into Key West for sunset tonight…or maybe not.  We’ll see how the day goes.