837 November 2, 2022 Key West

After completing our usual morning stuff, we packed the Jeep with our clothes and our bikes and we drove the 70 miles to Key West. 

We parked along the seawall on the south side of the island along A1A.  We took the bikes and cycled along the water.

We saw a few grounded boats. 

We spotted this makeshift sea vessel made from metal 55-gallon drums with a 4-cylinder car motor adapted to fit into this boat, transmission with a stick shift and all.  There were clothes and backpacks soaked and strewn on the boat bottom.  How desperate would you be to cross the ocean from Cuba in this?  It really makes you stop and consider all the freedoms we should be grateful for.

We stopped to get an icy mango smoothie.   It was 88 degrees and we were hot.  The shake was just the pick-me-up that we needed.

We biked for 3.5 miles and then decided to head back to the car.  Our room was not ready at Ibis Bay and so we ate lunch at the restaurant, Stoned Crab, where we had good wraps and lots of iced cold water.

This resort is and old-time motor inn.  It has been renovated and has a really neat retro feel.  It is decorated with bright and cheerful colors and it is just fun!  There is a sweet little beach area.

We stopped to look at the tortoises.

We took the resort shuttle to Duvall Street and walked until 6.

A rooster…there are chickens and roosters everywhere!

We headed to Mallory Square for the Sunset Celebration.

We saw a pirate boat.

We saw a yacht.

We saw several party boats.

The neat thing about Key West is its diversity.  Diversity of people, food choices, activities, and shopping.  Everything exists from one extreme to another.  From pizza slices to 5-star restaurants.  From 2 for $5.00 t-shirt shops to high end art and jewelry stores.  There is something here for everyone.

We went to Smokin’ Tuna for dinner.  It is a block off Duvall Street.  They have live music.  The tables are outside in a large courtyard.  The food is pretty good.  I always order the tuna chili and it never disappoints!

836 November 1, 2022 Bahia Honda State Park

I took a good walk and the time passed quickly as I chatted with my mom and a good friend. 

Tim walked out by the road towrd the bridge. He saw this small boat hidden in the mangroves. we know that people often try to cross the Florida Straits from Cuba. This boat looked like it had made a long journey. It had big sheets ofplastic inside. There was a dishevled man walking along with a pack on his back…

We packed a picnic lunch and drove the Jeep with our bikes to Bahia Honda State Park.  We cycled over to the tent campground.  There is a deep inlet there and we saw hundreds of fish scooting along the underwater ledge.

We walked the trail to the old bridge. 

These baybean plants were lovely and fragrant.

We found a table in the on the beach and in the shade.  We enjoyed our lunch wile talking to a couple from Ohio.  They were headed to key West and were going to take the boat ride to Dry Tortugas National Park. This is something we would love to do. It is hard to get a reservarion and planning has to be done months in advnce. we also have to leave the RV somewhere. Camping in Key West is about 200.00 oer night!

Miles of beautiful beach here!

I did some laundry this afternoon in preparation for our trip to Key West.  We are going to leave the RV here and stay at Ibis Bay for two nights. 

We didn’t get outside for an evening walk until after sunset.

835 October 31, 2022 Marathon

I walked and noticed this orchid garden for the first time.

 I headed to the Rec Hall for the Total Body Stretching class.  It turns out that I was a week early…misread the schedule…but Greta, the instructor, was going to do a practice class and invited me to join her.  It felt good!

We packed the bikes and drove to Old Seven Mile Bridge.  No matter how many times we ride here, the beauty takes my breath away.  They claim that the Overseas Highway is one of the most beautiful drives in America and I agree.  The bike ride on the old bridge is similarly one of the best bike rides ever; the water infinite of shades of blue and green.  The pictures are so inadequate.

We did some errands in Marathon at Home Depot and Publix.  When we got back to the RV it was 99 degrees inside.  We turned on the AC and enjoyed some quiet time.

This evening, we grilled tuna and made a salad with the labneh and zaatar with tomatoes, kalamata olives, and cucumbers.  We had fresh papaya for dessert.

There is no trick or treating for the children here tonight.  We took some treats to the kids next door.

We walked outside and the sun had already set.  We watched the sky change colors; apricot and violet.

834 October 30, 2022 NASCAR Final Four

After morning exercise, we took the Jeep and drove to the Islamorada Farmers Market.  We found chicken tamales, Greek goat yogurt balls marinated in olive oil or labneh, pita, and zaatar seasoning and a fresh loaf of multi grain bread.

This afternoon Tim watched the NASCAR Final Four race.  I was able to use the rec hall WiFi to post the blog and backup our phones.  I did some laps on my bike through the campground and I read and cleaned. 

We took our tamales and some fresh mango to the beach area and enjoyed our dinner by the water.

We biked more laps and then took time to watch the sunset. 

833 October 29, 2022 Long Key State Park

I took a shorter than usual walk this morning.  My legs were tired and I felt like I was just trudging along!

I took my yogurt and a book across the way to a hammock.  I sat in the shade of a palm tree enjoying the balmy ocean breeze…life of Riley indeed!

We packed plenty of water and hopped on our bikes.  We cycled the three miles to Long Key State Park.  The park is currently not charging admission because the area has been so decimated.  In 2017, Hurricane Irma completely wiped out all the campsites that used to sit along the water.  The park had made  a lot of progress and then just weeks ago, Hurricane Ian happened.  Much of the park is closed.  We walked through the devastated mangrove trees.  Scientists estimate that these mangrove swamps will take 40 years to recover.

We walked to the left and after a very short distance the trail was closed. 

We walked to the right and soon that trail was also closed.

We saw a boat on the beach.

We had hoped to spend the afternoon here but there really was not much left.

We had some quiet time and then dressed up for dinner.  We drove to Lazy Days in Islamorada.  We sat out on the deck.  We watched tarpon and rays and sharks out in the Florida Straits.  I had a key lime colada and a Key West salad topped with coconut shrimp and Tim had tuna. 

After our meal, we sat on the beach.

We walked to the pier.  There were more than a dozen tarpons there in the water waiting to be fed.  We could also see two nurse sharks sitting on the bottom.

The pelican posed for us.

The sun was setting as we headed back home.

We took a walk in the RV park enjoying the light wind and the slightly cooler evening temperature.

832 October 28, 2022 Old Seven Mile Bridge

We had some early morning excitement.  We had two small frogs in the RV!  Tim was able to get both of them outside.

I did my morning walk while simultaneously washing clothes in the campground laundromat.

We took the Jeep with our bikes to Marathon Key.  We parked at MM 53 and parked.  We cycled seven miles to the Old Seven Mile Bridge.  This old bridge segment was recently converted into a beautiful walking and biking path.  It is 2 miles long and a lovely ride. 

The path ends at Pigeon Key.  This was the site of a work camp for the men building the original Overseas Railroad from 1908-1912.  It is a National Historic Site and there are tours available there. 

We biked the 9 miles back to the Jeep with a headwind.  It was hard work, especially on the bridge where the breeze was stronger.

Lots of iguanas along the way.

This iguana was in a staring contest with a raccoon when I passed by. The raccoon ran away.

We were about a mile away from the Jeep when Tim pulled into this parking lot.

I was puzzled until he pointed at this sign.

We went inside and purchased two very decadent key lime pie ice cream bars which we enjoyed on the front porch.

We got back to the RV at 4:30 after biking for 18,5 miles and we were tired! 

We just made omelets for our dinner.

Tim went out to watch the end of the day while I worked on the blog.

831 October 27, 2022 Fiesta Key

We got our morning exercises done and got the RV ready to roll.  We stopped at the dump station and then drove through 43 miles of Everglades, saying goodbye. 

As we drove Tim noticed a bigger frog.  He had crawled out from behind the mirror and was suctioned to the surface of the mirror for miles.  All at once at 55 mph…he couldn’t hold on any longer and he was gone.  A second, smaller frog crawled out.  He tried making a leap to the window of the RV and he was grabbed by the wind.

We stopped at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center for breakfast.  I had gone around the RV looking for the frogs in the unlikely event that they had caught the side of the RV.  Moments later, Tim was walking around with his breakfast when he saw a snake beneath the RV.  Had he come from our basement or was he interested in hitching a ride?  Tim used a shovel to move him away from our rig and into the grass.  He was rather unhappy with his handling and writhed around frantically, finally finding the tree and climbing and then settling.

We stopped at Robert’s and bought more papaya, mangoes, mamey, and avocadoes.

We stopped to gather some groceries at the Winn Dixie in Key Largo.

We stopped at Holiday RV and Marina where Carlos helped us to replace some breakers in our breaker box.

Finally, at 3:30 this afternoon, we arrived at Fiesta Key.  I was a little disappointed when I realized we were in a giant parking lot but then we got to our site. 

This is our view for the next month.

There is a restaurant, Oceans 305, right here in the resort.  We walked across the street and enjoyed a really good meal.  I may have also enjoyed margaritas!  After 3 weeks in the outback, it was nice to have dinner out!

We are looking forward to spending some time here in the Keys!

830 October 26, 2022 Last Day in the Everglades

It was a beautiful morning for a walk.

Later in the morning, we biked around, our usual path from the campground to the bay and marina.  It is breezier today and it feels less humid. 

We stopped in at the visitor center.  We talked with the ranger about our panther sighting.  She has only seen a panther on one occasion in the seven years that she has been serving here; they are so elusive and clever.  She confirmed that there are bears, panthers, bobcats, and coyotes all living here in Flamingo. 

We both biked to Mrzak Pond.  On the way, we passed great flocks of mostly white birds; ibises and egrets. 

We also saw a few spoonbills. But they were further away and it was harder to get good pictures because of the distance.

This osprey sat in a branch right over our heads. 

We went out again this evening just to see what we could see. We saw this poor diamondback rattlesnake. It had been hit by a car. We had ridden our bikes right by this bridge today!

It was very still and quiet at west Lake. Even the croc was hiding.

There was a new moon. The alignment of the sun, the moon, and the earth is causing the extraordinarily high tide or a “king” tide.

We saw this ribbon snake in the road on our way back.

Of course we drove through that abandoned camping loop. We saw a rather large rat-like creature…this is a bad place to live if you are a small rodent! No other sightings this evening!

We have loved spending time here in the Everglades but we are also ready to move on. Fiesta Key tomorrow!

829 October 25, 2022 Quiet Day

Happy Birthday Kyle!  You make us proud every day and we love you!

Overnight I heard coyotes howling. 

This morning after my walk, I saw a pair of roseate spoonbills flying overhead.  It is such a shock to see big bright neon pink birds in the sky.

We took short bike rides but mostly we were quiet today.  It was hot and still and the mosquitos were out.  We rode around the campground loops, to the bay, and around the marina.  Tim kept going but I went back to the RV. 

By evening, it had cooled off a little and we ate our salmon and beet salad outside.

We went for a drive to watch the sun go down.  There were no clouds and so the sun slipped beyond the horizon with little fanfare.

We went to West Lake to see the stars come out but the mosquitoes were just too voracious and they chased us into the Jeep.  Notice the mosquito protective clothes! Long sleeves and long pants!

We made the loop where we saw the panther last night, hoping to see him again but no panthers out and about tonight!

It was a quiet day and that’s okay!

828 October 24, 2022 Panther Sighting

I took my walk while catching up with family this morning.

This bird was very interested in our mirror!

We took our bikes out to ride around the campground and then to Florida Bay.

We also checked on the manatees, enjoying the only bench in the shade of this sea grape tree.

There was a couple who had tried the visitor center but it was closed today.  The woman showed me her Everglades map.  She wanted to know where to find the flamingos and the other animals in the picture. 

Flamingos are extremely rare to see here and the truth is that the other animals are here but it requires a lot of patience to see cool things.  Most people rent convertible Mustangs at the airport and breeze through.  It is probably often a disappointment, especially during the wet season.  The first time we ever came it was the most magical.  It was January and there were tons of gators and birds.  That first amazing visit captured us.  This place will always be one of our very favorite places.

I worked on the blog this afternoon and Tim took another bike ride.  He saw that the water in Florida Bay was very high.  The nearby grassy areas were flooded.  We were thinking we might take dinner there but made a new plan.

I made Caesar salads with shrimp and fresh mango for dessert.  We packed the car and headed out.  We saw this rainbow.  It hadn’t rained here at all.

We continued to West Lake.  We saw two fishermen trying to catch fish and a crocodile lurking in the water.  Each time they cast their lines, the croc would make its way to the float.  At one point there was a fish on the line and the guy was trying to reel in the fish and the crocodile was on the prowl, coming in quick.  The fisherman caught his line on a tree in his haste to get to the dock and the fish, a snook, got away.

As soon as Tim got the cooler out of the Jeep, we were surrounded by a team of 5 crows. 

We ate our meal, watching the man vs. crocodile show.  The men were aggravated and were hoping that the crocodile would get bored and leave but the croc was still there in the water when we left.

We went to Nine Mile Pond and were there all by ourselves tonight.  No UFO like things.  There was a pleasant breeze and once we sprayed with OFF, we were happy there watching the sun go down and watching the stars pop out.

We headed back to the campground.  There are 3 loops here.  We are in T Loop.  B Loop has no hookups and is mostly for tent campers.  C Loop has been abandoned for years.  It is overgrown and gradually being reclaimed by the vegetation.  We rode bikes on C Loop earlier in the day.  There was a fair amount of scat around.  I wanted to drive through this evening in the dark.  We saw a panther cross the path in front of us!  It was amazing!!  My heart was pounding.  We couldn’t believe what we had seen.  We talked it through together.  It was definitely NOT a bear.  It was definitely NOT a coyote.  It was definitely NOT a bobcat.  It was sleek and brown and had a long cat tail…it was definitely a panther!!!

We rode out to Florida Bay one more time.  Tim had taken the roof off the Jeep and so we stood and looked at the multitude of stars and the Milky Way.