January 28, 2004 - Bushnell, FL
We're sitting under the live oak trees, no hookups yet again, in an Escapees park (not the picture below). Free parking for the first night of dry camping, $2.50 thereafter for up to 21 days. $11.50 + electricity for full hookups. We'll be here for just tonight, as tomorrow we have reservations with full hookups someplace else. That'll be the first time with full hookups since January12 I think it was. Had all kinds of fun at the Foretravel shop, and spent money like crazy. They were great as usual about my list of little warranty things, and then we got the little shelf for the computer monitor installed, I got my decal on the nose replaced, and Barb got her black water tank spray installed along with a replacement for the vent cover on the roof. Now when she turns the fan on in the bathroom, it'll really move the air around. MaxAir makes several styles, and the one we installed is the one with no louvers or screens. Makes us look like we're going fast when we're sitting still. I'll have some pictures of it all a bit later. Gotta finish getting caught up now.
Here we're parked at the Jolly Roger RV Park in Marathon (middle of the Keys), with Bill and Carol's rig right next to us. We headed south toward Key West and stopped at various places as the urge struck, one of which was this place where small deer reside--don't remember the name of it right now. Went to the end of the road, walked in a sparse brush area, and didn't see anything. Then, on our way out, right alongside the road, there she was, a dog-sized Key deer. We'd seen them penned up someplace before, but this was the first time in the wild.
Carol was out of the car in a flash while Barb took pictures. The doe didn't seem too skittish, and it wasn't long before it became obvious that people had been feeding her. What a shame. Carol and Barb are actually leaning on the "do not harass the wildlife" laws just by getting so close (we found that out by talking to a ranger later in the day), but the perspective of their size was not obvious until we got next to them. They are so beautifully perfect and tiny. According to our literature, they weigh 25 to 90 pounds and grow to a "towering" height of only 26 to 32 inches.
Oh, yeah. That's where we were. The National Key Deer Refuge. I knew it had a name! And this little 'gator was just hanging out looking at us looking at it. This pond was actually a fresh-water pond, one of the very few in the Keys.
How's that for a funny looking structure? Give you three guesses. Bat tower you say? Well, you win the cupie doll! Only one like it in the world, too. Too bad the bats don't know about it. In the second shot, I'm looking up the insides of it, trying to imagine what kind of crazy man would put that much work into something like this. He must have hated skeeters a lot more than I do. In fact, it was built by a fellow named Richter Perky in 1929 as part of a chemical-free plan to thwart mosquitoes on his property. Kind of sad that the only thing living in it is mud daubers--you know, those wasps that build their nests out of mud. Where they put their eggs and then stuff it with spiders they've stung, but are not dead yet, so the little wasps hatch with something to eat. The way God created such a variety of ways for babies to live is constantly amazing to us.
That truck, and the fellow just walking into the picture sort of sums up Key West for me. I guess every beginning or ending of any adventure has its signpost, eh? Not as colorful as some we've seen, but yes, Paris was there and so was Miami. Didn't see one for anyplace in Alaska, and if there'd been room we'd have added one.
Well, with a parking permit like this one hanging out there in the open for the world to see, I was ready to go find the place. But one out of four isn't a majority so we went off to find other things. And talk about Cock 'O The Walk! These guys are everywhere. State bird for the Conch Republic, don't ya know. And a $500 fine for harassing them, too. Ya gotta love a place like this. When the Conch Republic seceded from the Union, there was a lot less fuss made of it than the secession made that caused the Civil War. Not many school kids learn about this little battle. Nobody even got shot over it, and not many people even know the story. If you're interested, visit this website: http://www.conchrepublic.com/history.htm .
What is it that makes me take pictures of people taking pictures of me? This guy was taking pictures of us sitting on the $20 per person tour bus. Well worth it if 1/2 of what the guide told us was true about the place. Its history, the homes, the people, the businesses. And the most stolen sign in town. "Mile 0" it says. Every tourist trap shop in town has them for sale now, so it doesn't get stolen so much anymore.
Some of the homes were elegant, graceful places, and then there were some that just let nature take its course. The mansion on the right had tours available, but we'd spent enough money just to sit on the tour bus.
You saw the beginning of Highway 1, and this is the end of Highway 1. It's all a matter of perspective. You coming or going? And Barb's about to get a hug from a sponge monkey that she's not sure she wants (you have to look close cause he blends in pretty well). The sponge industry was a mainstay of the place at one time. You can tell by my shirt that we had a sunny but windy day there. Matter of fact, the wind blew every day for the entire week we were on the Keys. Good thing too. Keeps the skeeters away.
I like symmetry, and this house on the left was one of my favorites. It's a law office today, but can't you just imagine it during its hey days? Huge churches all over the place, and the stained glass in this one caught our fancy. Extremely intricate little pieces of glass making up the window.
The church was open to the public, and had several events planned throughout the week that really had nothing to do with liturgical activities.
Yup, an Alfa Romero--mosaic! "Artwork" abounds in Key West. It must have been a real labor of love, because I don't even know anybody with enough patience to plaster all those little itty bitty pieces of tile, glass, shells, and what have you all over a car. Fortunate for me, I think. Guy's got to be nuts to do that, don't you think?
When's the last time you saw a yellow receiver on a public phone? Or a cow coming out of a wall with flashing red eyes?
Well, that explains the cow coming out of the wall. It wasn't a cow at all, it was a bull! We'd spotted a guy all in silver, with silver skin and clothes riding a bicycle earlier in the day. Now I know what he'd been doing. What do you call a guy who paints himself and his bejeweled clothes a solid color and then stands on a box rock solid still, with a little basket in front of him for people to drop money into? Why, he's a Key West citizen, of course, not a nut case at all!
While the flame job on that Sea Rocket can't hold a candle to the flame jobs coming out of son Doug's shop, it's still pretty neat. And all those little PWCs are for rent. PWC standing for Personal Water Craft, of course. Jet skis to some of you. No, we're not here to admire the cruise ship, although we did. We're here to watch the sun set. Well, to be perfectly honest, we're really here to watch the people watching the sun set. A major tradition in Key West.
Pretty swanky yacht heading out to watch the sunset as well, and then the second oldest profession in the world. Busking. Yup, you can actually find the word "busker" in the dictionary. Street entertainment. Juggling is one of those things that I know I could learn to do if I put my mind to it and put some time into practicing it, but I don't. There's lots of things like that. Playing one of the three harmonicas we have in a drawer back there is one of those things too. So, in the meantime I really enjoy watching (or listening) to those who have the talent and have taken the time to practice and are good at it besides. This guy even got one of our hard-earned dollars in his backpack for his efforts.
The juggler did his thing with a unicycle, got some kids from the crowd involved in helping him and the whole bit. Before we went full time, we lived in a town in Washington not far from the Western Washington State Fair, better known as the Puyallup Fair. And if you can pronounce that name, you're either from the Pacific Northwest or have lived there for more than 20 minutes. Anyway, every year we'd go to the fair as Barb is a huge fair fan, and I enjoy them too. One of the acts we never missed was the "Gentlemen Jugglers." A couple of young men who not only were good with the batons, etc., but have a routine with their unicycles and verbal patter that is, to my way of thinking, real entertainment. Beats heck out of anything Hollywood and the TV puts out, if you know what I mean. So, watching this kid, and later his protégé practicing, gave me a twinge of what might be called homesickness. Doesn't happen often, and when it does it always surprises me. Key West was one of my late brother Bill's favorite hang-outs, and I suppose that was a part of it all as well. It was good to have Bill and Carol with us, as they're from "back home" and gave us plenty of diversion and comfort during what could have been a difficult time. These condos looking to the west have got to be part of the high rent district, wouldn't you think? And yet, every night, all year long, here's this crowd hanging out in their front yard. Goofy place, this Key West.
Not sure this was a "real" PT boat, but it was numbered accordingly and full of folks going out to see the sunset. And it was a pretty sunset, but not particularly spectacular as far as sunsets go. And I was totally sober....you'd think I'd have the foresight to keep the dang horizon straight, wouldn't you? sigh..........