Sept key west

We have been letting the days slip away in the ol' Key West fashion by taking long walks around the base, relaxing outdoors with the cats, a couple of dips in the sea, watching sunsets, and occasionally going downtown.  It's rough, we know!  

We have also watched several people come and go since we got here.  Most are on vacations while some like to spend time here only during the summer.  We are in agreement that winter time is better as far as weather goes, but it has also been nice for the low number of occupied sites for the first couple of months.  That will be ending soon.

So, what have we been doing for entertainment lately.  Actually, we have been going downtown about once a week just for a change of scenery.  Otherwise, we are quite happy with staying on base.

 

 Parking is hard to find free in the downtown area so we have been parking near the Eco Discovery Center.  Also, a great place to visit and learn about our oceans and how they are rebuilding living reefs.

Mama Hen and chicks inside the Truman Annex

Anyway, this location is located towards the southwest side of town.  From there we can walk north towards the busier area of Key West.  We get to walk through this tree lined neighborhood called the Truman Annex on our way towards Duval St.  (Named for President Truman). We often see roosters and hens along the way.

Truman Annex

On this day we walked to the Key West Lighthouse located across the street from Ernest Hemingway's house on Whitehead.  This is the second lighthouse that was built taller, further inland and unto higher ground (14 ft) after the first one was destroyed during the 1846 hurricane.

After visiting the lighthouse, we walked up to the Customs House.  With two stories of art and history to view, we were worn out.  Not bad for one day of just enjoying Key West considering both were offering a free admittance fee during the summer for military active duty and retirees.

One of our friends suggested we visit the Key West Wildlife Center.  They know us well!  They share our interest in all the wildlife, not to mention, our love for cats.  They are cat owners and they foster kittens for the Florida Keys SPCA.  Sandy says she would end up adopting all of them...then she really would be the Crazy Cat Lady.

Ibis with a twisted bill - poor baby!

The Wildlife Center rescues and rehabilitates all wildlife including chickens. According to one volunteer, home owners will get tired of the chickens and ask for them to be removed.

They are captured and sent to farms in central Florida where they happily spend their days hunting  bugs.

We did not see the sick or hurt animals.  All the animals we saw were big beggars following us along the walkway.

Even the turtles came swimming over looking for a handout.  Sorry we did not bring any food with us.  Maybe next time we will be better prepared for feeding them.  There is no fee, but donations are appreciated.

We also visited one of our favorite places - the Key West Garden Club in the West Martello Tower.

The KW Garden Club did a fantastic job of building and growing a garden paradise on an old fort property.  

We can still see parts of the old fort while wandering along the many paths.

We have eaten a couple of times at Amigos Tortilla Bar.  They have excellent veggie burritos with a great view of the street for people watching.

Here are a few more views of Key West during our walks...

Outside of BO's Fish Wagon

Cruise ship near Mallory Square

Walking along the harbor boardwalk on the north end.

So far, we have been lucky with this hurricane season.  We have only had one warning to be packed and ready to leave when notified.  We hope that will be the only time.  

Another lovely sunset

In a couple of weeks, things will start to pick up with more festivals and people.  In the meantime, we are going to enjoy our last couple of weeks of quiet paradise time.
Happy Trails!

End of The Road (Key West, FL)

We cut our stay in Central Florida short by two weeks.  We were ready to be in Key West despite being in the middle of hurricane season.  So far, the weather has been cooperating - up to now.  We kept an eye on T.S. Danny.  That one has been down graded, but on its heels comes Erika and this one is a lot stronger and heading towards southern Florida.  We are waiting to see if the base evacuates everyone. 

We have been leaving our large awning out and strapped down for better shade, but that turned out to be a mistake with the unpredictable weather.  We had one bad storm take us by surprise around 11:30 pm one night.  It ripped the canvas hinge that attaches the awning to the roof of our large awning on one end before we could wrestle it away from the wind and get it rolled up.  We were one of the lucky ones.  Several rigs had their awnings ripped off the upright arms and over their roofs.  Awning repair parts for a new hinge $90, so not too bad.  The original was weathered and replacement was due.

While we wait to hear more from T.S. Erika, here are a few photos of our travels to and of Key West.  Who can resist this invite to sit under the palm tree for a relaxing afternoon?

We spent one night in Midway State Park near Big Cypress and Everglades National Park.  We arrived early in the day and decided to visited Big Cypress NP visitor's center.

There were plenty of alligators to view while they swam around in lazy circles.  They certainly give off a lazy carefree attitude with only their tail moving and legs hanging limp.  Just gliding across the water barely making a ripple in the water...sneaking up on an unsuspected meal.  Most of the alligators ignored the people except for this one.  He swam straight up to us and stopped.  Three young Eastern Europeans stood beside us as the alligator stared up at us.  One of them turned to Sandy and said it all - "Frightening!".  Agree!  Not something we would want to run into in a small kayak.

This guy was our only neighbor at the state park.  The cats loved having all that open space to explore.  It's too bad we could not spend more time outside, but the mosquitoes were vicious even with bug spray!

A sight we have been looking forward to for almost two years - the 7 Mile Bridge.  Good-bye Mainland!  Hello Key West!

We are happy to say that Key West looks about the same.  Beautiful views, iguanas,

different sea/water birds to watch and of course...

many feral chickens running around entertaining tourists while annoying the locals.

We found out that during the off-season some of the museums offer discounts or free entrances to the military and retired military.  We took advantage of the offers and visited several places.  The Audubon House was actually owned by the Greiger family.  Captain John Greiger made his family fortune in wrecking/salvation.  A business that made many locals wealthy before the US government came along.

Audubon House 

It turns out that Audubon did not stay in this house during his six week visit with the Greiger family.  He had visited the family in their first house.  This house was built after a hurricane took out the old family home, but he did write about his stay with them along with Key West foliage and wild life.   The house and the gardens were quite interesting.

As you can see, we had to do all the tourist-type things like get our photos at the SouthernMost Point.

Here comes another cruise behind the Conch Blower.  A welcome for everyone.

So, our fingers are crossed that we do not have to evacuate, but we are ready to head north if the base decides it is not safe to stay,

Until then we will keep enjoying the views and the lovely sunsets...

Happy Trails!

Good-Bye Key West!



You're leaving!



The Weavers are leaving Key West!

On 30 March, we left sunny Key West and arrived at stormy Patrick AFB near Melbourne, FL. We had just parked the motorhome in front of the RV Office when high winds and driving rain hit the area. Since our rig was getting hit from the side, it was really rocking and rolling. We drove to a more sheltered area in the campground and waited for a break in the storm to unhook the tow car and park in our site.

On the following day, a lot of the counties in and around central Florida were in Tornado Warning and Watch conditions. What a great way to start our trip Back-to-Civilization. Well, at least it's a little bit cooler here and we have full utility hookups with a view of the Banana River.

We plan to stay in Florida on the east coast and near Orlando for a month or two at multiple campgrounds. 
It feels a little strange to see so many stores, people, highways, and lots of traffic. After kicking back for five months in Key West, we feel like country folk visiting the city for the first time.



Squirrel:  Nice cool rock!  Could be a little softer, but hey, it is a nice cool rock.

 

We will miss Key West, but it was time to move onward with the weather starting to feel more like a 24 hour steam bath. The cats were not enjoying it very much. Poor Dusty with all that fur seemed to do a lot of panting. Even Hitch did a lot of sleeping. We had to tiptoe through our motorhome because the floor was covered with stretched out cats.  Step on one tail and it was a chain reaction!  Cats leaping! Cats running!  Fur flying!  Not a pretty sight…no…not pretty at all.  When we took the cats outside, they would find the deepest shade and lay there for hours. It is cooler here in central Florida thanks to the storm and the full hook ups for air conditioning as needed, so the cats are starting to look a little more perky again.



Hitch sleeping in the hamper.



We hope to make it back to Key West for another winter, but probably not next year.  Too many areas to explore for a back to back winter in Key West.

As the weather is improving, we will begin to explore the space coast over the next week or two.

Our Second Anniversary

Albuquerque, 2009

Two years ago in Albuquerque, NM, we secured the last of our belongings into our motorhome, hitched up the car, and with feelings of amazement, realized we were Full-Timers traveling out of town starting our first of many adventures! That feeling of adventure and amazement is still with us. We have seen a lot of our beautiful country; we have visited family and friends; and we have also made new friends. The best part is knowing there is more to see and a lot more friends to meet. Don’t worry, we have not forgotten family. Yes, we do plan to visit them again someday.

Key West, 2011

(Hitch & Squirrel)

Even our cats seem very happy with their new lifestyle. They know the travel routine very well. As soon as they see us packing away our loose items, the cats start to ‘Man’ their stations. Dusty sits near the bedroom door while Max and Squirrel sit near the barrel chair. They like to be near their hiding places so as soon as the engine is turned on, they disappear. And Hitch? Oh, Hitch is under foot, bouncing off of walls while bobbing his head and howling, “Road Trip! WooHoo!” Yes, Hitch gets a little excited and he never seems to tire of moving on down the road. As soon as we stop, all four cats are greeting us at the door or looking out the windows. They have learned that a new location means new smells to explore and grasses to eat.

Hitch & Dusty

Max

Our winter stay in Key West has been the best winter we have ever had in all the countries and states we have lived in. We now understand why many of the campers have been coming here for over 15 years. It is sort of sad to see our time here come to an end, but we could be back in a couple of years.

So, what’s next on our agenda? Well, we are not quite sure and we like it that way. We do plan to spend some time exploring the Space Coast, central Florida, and a 4-day visit to Disney World. After that, we are not sure, but we will be happy to tell you where we are once we get there!

Squirrel

Iguana Country!

Our two weeks in full hook-ups is over.  Sigh!  Those two weeks just flew by!  Good-bye ocean view, good-bye dolphins, we have moved to Iguana Country for our next rotation in dry camping.

So, during the FHU weeks, we spent some time with our friends Ken and Cheryl from New York. They told us the Butterfly Conservatory was a must see and they would like to show it to us. They were right! If we had any stress, it would have dissolved as we walked through the atrium’s doors and into a lush garden world filled with butterflies floating by, little birds chirping, a bubbling brook filled with very large Koi and soft music playing. We got some great photos and posted them in Webshots.

Afterwards, we walked to the SouthernMost Beach Café and had a delicious lunch with a great view of the beach. This place is actually located at the SouthernMost Hotel.  We don’t usually eat in hotel restaurants, but this one had very good ratings/reviews. We took a chance and the reviews were correct.

Hitch and Dusty enjoyed their two weeks in full hook up camping by chasing small geckos and climbing the palm trees. On one walk, Hitch ran and climbed four trees. He wore Sandy out that day. As you can see, chasing geckos wore Dusty out.

We had a lot of questions about our screen house, so here are some more photos with it folded up and in its cover.

Now we are back to dry camping. The location is superb. Our new neighbors are great, the two legged ones, pets, and  Iguanas.  We have two cat neighbors on the right side, a dog, grey parrot, and cat on the left side, and numerous Iguanas out the front.  We have a view of the ocean – smaller, but we can still see it. It is not as windy as our last site which is great for the screen house and we have better shade with a tree in the next site. We do have one problem with the site – a low communications wire that our motorhome’s antennas hit as Dan backs into place.   Otherwise, it is perfect.  So, this is home for the next couple of weeks.

Hitch:  "That is one strange looking Cat!"

On Key West Time

On Key West Time


Relaxing in Key West is an art. Relaxing Key West style is contagious and intoxicating. Ahhhhh! Oh yea, we have been practicing for the past month and you know – practice makes perfect, right? Now we don’t just sit around doing nothing all day. We just do things at a very easy going slow pace.

We are starting our third week in the Dry Camp area so mornings consist of recharging batteries with the generator while using any or all of our electrical appliances to make breakfast and cleaning. If the weather is good and it usually is – we take the cats outside for walks. Even Max has been venturing outside. Well, to the bottom step where he keeps at least one paw on the step. Make a move towards him – Poof!! – he disappears inside until the coast is clear. Dusty and Hitch will spend hours sitting in the screen house watching for birds, enjoying the breeze, and doing a lot of cat napping. Sandy says it is like having her own screened in porch. She spends as much time in it as the cats do. Watching the people go by and working on her hand sewing.

After lunch, we take a leisurely 3 mile walk around the base. We say leisurely because we make a lot of stops along the way. First stop is usually at the RV office to see how many are dry camping now. Anywhere from 190 to 200 dry campers are on the waiting list for the 88 full hook-ups and some of those are for Handicap only. Yep, the wait is long, but we don’t mind. We stop by the retaining ponds to see the large iguanas sunning themselves then onto the marina to watch the pelicans by the water. The most important stop is to visit our favorite rooster that Dan has named “Buck Buck”. Buck Buck comes running out greeting us with his clucking sounds. He usually stops right in front of us and starts scratching and clucking the whole time. Dan likes to speak Chicken and the two have a wonderful conversation about how they spent their day.

After our showers at the Bath House and dinner, we pop in a DVD since we don’t have TV reception here (the price we pay to live in paradise). Sandy likes to work on her quilts while Dan is reading the latest news on his computer.

During our hanging out around the motorhome, we get to watch the Ibis and a pair of Ospreys nesting nearby. One of the Ospreys always brings its meal to a utility post near our site. Our next door neighbor setup a very powerful telescope in front of his 5th Wheel with a sign inviting everyone to take a look at the nest. Very nice!

We are finding the White Ibis to be very entertaining at times. Dan calls them the crosswalk birds because they do tend to cross at corners. They are so comical to watch that we are always on the lookout for them. Their walk alone is fun to watch – the bobbing of their heads, the strange stork-like walk, and the soft grunts they make as they move around. We never know what to expect them to do. They are not very skittish around people or vehicles, but they do keep their distance if someone tries to get too close.

We have noticed that they tend to stay in small flocks, anywhere from 3 to 10 birds. We have seen a few mavericks out by themselves, but for the most part they like to stay together. If one decides to do something completely different from the others then the others will follow its lead. One time, the leader decided to use the sidewalk in front of the Navy Exchange (small retail store). We were just coming into the parking lot as they walked down the sidewalk in front of customers and the opened doors. They could have cared less that they were blocking the way and causing a small traffic jam. One couple was trying to get pictures. We could tell one lady had been here too long because she just sat on the bench text messaging as the flock marched by her.

Another time, there were two flocks. One was eating in the grass while the other flock was wandering around in the parking lot. The eaters decided they needed a drink and moved over to a very shallow puddle. Of course, the other flock had to follow. So, all these birds are trying to drink water at the same time which is not easy to do with their down curved bills. Each bird had to lay his head sideways into the water to fill its bill, lift its head straight up, and swallow. We were surprised they did not step on each other.

So, there it is – life in Key West. We have noticed the people staying in the campgrounds seem to have a spring in their step, love to be outdoors, and look very healthy for their age.

Now, stop groaning, we know the weather has been bad up north. We have been watching the weather and we can see that Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas are under Severe Weather Watch right now. We want you to know we still remember those cold, okay, freezing winter days and we do not take this beautiful weather for granted. Stay warm Friends.