Truckin down to Key West

We woke early Monday morning with the Florida sun shining brightly on our faces.  The cool night had turned into a sweltering morning and the blankets and sleeping bags that kept us warm all night were flung aside as we desperately tried to remain comfortable and get a few more hours of precious sleep.  Always the first to rise, I woke soon after the sun hit my face and proceeded to wake Katie, the worst part of her day, as she tells me each morning.  After tidying up in the trusty Walmart bathrooms we finally took the southern branch of our crossroads, began our trek through the Florida Keys, and successfully explored all directions of the compass from our starting point of Homestead 3 days earlier.  As we traveled down Highway 1 through Key Largo, now called the Overseas Highway, we couldn't help but notice how touristy our surroundings had suddenly appeared.  Bursting on the edge of the highway are tons of gimmicky shops and snorkel rental places all designed to reel you in from the competition which is on every corner.  However, amongst all the tourist traps you can just barely sense the edges of reality.  This is where people live.  Every now and then in between the rental cars and hippie vans you can see an old beat up truck driven by someone whose skin is so leathery that you have to look twice to be sure they are not wearing a jacket.  You come to the realization that only a small number of the people there are actually running the tourist operations.  When you look down the side streets, there are real business, a community supporting itself living in this paradise that most people only get to experience once, if at all, and even then only briefly.  It makes me wonder if it was mere chance that they were born in paradise and never had the heart or will to leave? Or are they visitors who became enamored with their surroundings and were simply unable to call any place but this their homes.  I'd be lying if I said that I didn't envy them, despite their origins. Often the thought crossed my mind to pull into one of these many shops and ask for an application.  We could easily have lived in the van for a few months, making enough money to support ourselves on food and drink, and live, if only for a while, in the Keys.  However, my mind was too focused on going, constantly moving, so the thought never took hold longer than the pause at a stop light.  Once we passed out of Key Largo the road opened up into the wide ocean.  We were on a slender bridge with nothing but water for miles.  It made me feel vulnerable.  I kept thinking about what would happen if a storm blew in while we were exposed on this narrow strip of highway.  I kept imagining what it must be like to watch a hurricane approach from the south as you stood on the bridge, bracing yourself for the full might of God...  We continued down the road, intent on making it to the Bahia Honda State Park, located on the Bahia Honda Key.  This is a point just over halfway to Key West and we had hoped to camp here for the night.  The park was voted best beach in America in 1995 but has since given up the title to other beaches, many of which we would accidentally visit in the future. Just before reaching the Bahia Honda Key we passed over the New Seven Mile Bridge which perhaps unsurprisingly parallels the Old Seven Mile Bridge.  From this point on, an abandoned and decaying road would remain to our left.  It reminded us of our trip down Route 66 with its many sections of the old road side by side with the newer alignments.  The only difference here was instead of becoming overgrown with grass and returning to the earth, the road, or bridge rather, was being devoured by the ocean.  Many sections of the bridge were simply gone, fallen into the water.  Some were still slightly preserved and served as monuments or fishing bridges for the locals.  Either way, it was a comforting thought to know that the state of Florida took the time to upgrade.  It took about 2 hours to reach Bahia Honda Key and by this time Katie and I were both anxious to stretch our legs.  We pulled into the park and received the news that the car directly in front of us had purchased the last campsite for the night.  Somewhat dismayed we decided to comfort ourselves by taking a little hike followed by a dip in the ocean.  Before we left the car, both Katie and I changed into our swimsuits.  Our towels, still damp from the previous days snorkel trip, Katie decided to hang out of open windows on either side of the van.  I didn't particularly like the idea and suggested that we roll the windows up so that the towels were clinched inside.  Katie shrugged this idea off and said that no one would steal our towels.  I wasn't particularly bothered either way and we began our hike along the coastline of the key.  It was a windy day and thus all of the parks fun activities like kayak rental and snorkeling were closed.  Still the water was a vibrant blue and the sun was shining unhindered by any clouds.  We walked along the beach starting on the north side of the key, and followed the coast around to the south.  The south side was exposed to the wind which we were surprised to see was barely blowing.  The south side of the island also gave us our first encounter with the Portuguese Man-O-War, a type of jellyfish that causes severe pain if you get stung.  As we walked along the beach, wading ankle deep in the water, we passed many Man-O-War both living and dead, tons of sea urchins, and we even saw a few larger crabs scuttling in and out of rocks as we walked by.  We collected a few rocks and seashells to add to our collection and I found one of our favorite treasures to date, a sea urchin exoskeleton. After a while we sat down in about 2 inches of water on a small sandbar and enjoyed the warm water and soothing sun, letting our bodies drift into complete relaxation as we cleared our minds of everything except for the glorious present.  But all things must come to an end and after enjoying this blissful state for about a half hour, our stomachs began to rumble and we knew it was time to go.  We made our way back to the car where we noticed that both of our towels were missing.  Katie, in utter disbelief ran to the car to find that only one had actually been taken.  It seems that our Budweiser beach towel was too ratty to take and it was ditched a few feet from the car.  Using our 1 remaining towel we both dried off, changed, and hopped back into the car in search of a restaurant.  Now being in the Florida Keys, I had a pretty specific vision of the place I wanted to eat at.  A bar with a deck overlooking the water with decent food and cold beer.  You would think that this type of place is a dime a dozen in these parts but you would be wrong.  Where the keys are large enough to actually support human life and urban sprawl, the ocean is out of sight and all you are left with is a view of the highway and the shops across the street.  We drove through Big Pine Key and saw nothing that even came close to my desire.  We both agreed to drive one to one more key and if we were unsuccessful there, we would turn and eat at some boring place without a view.  Our prayers were answered however as we crossed over to Little Torch Key and were greeted by Parrotdise Waterfront Bar & Grill, the self proclaimed "only restaurant and bar with a view."  Basically it was just meant to be.  We ended up eating inside at the bar with a stunning view of the water and the comforts of air conditioning.  We order conch fritters as an appetizer and the setting was so perfect that even Katie gave them a try.  Our appetites suppressed for the time being we headed back to Big Pine Key, famous home of the endangered Key Deer.  We stopped in Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge office and they informed us of the best spots to see Key Deer, which was basically just down the road.  The ranger also told us of a couple hikes that we could take along the way to see some alligators.  We took a right out of the plaza down the aptly named Key Deer
Road, and proceeded to stop off at the various trailheads.  These hikes were less than impressive and after the second one we decided we were both done.  The ones we experienced involved taking a 1/4 mile trail around a small freshwater pond looking at Florida gars and playing "find the one alligator."  Now that we decided to just focus on finding some key deer, we hit the 2 lane dirt road and began to slowly creep, keeping our eyes pealed at every turn.  We made it to the end of the road without a successful sighting.  Since it was around 1 p.m. we figured that they must be inactive and we thought about

just trying to find them on our way back out but as we were just about to give up we spotted a herd of about 10 down a side street.  We pulled a quick U-turn and drove over to the deer.  Katie had read in one of our books that if you crinkle a plastic bag the deer will come right up to you.  They associate the sound with food since they have been fed so much and they will come right up to the car.  Katie, ready to try out her theoretical knowledge found a bag and began to crinkle it.  Her theory worked all to well and in moments the deer were right up next to the car and Katie got so nervous that they were going to jump in that I had to drive off and circle back around.  After some close up pictures and a few minute enjoying the deer alone, our one stopped car along the side road became 5 and we decided it was time for us to move on, now able to add Key Deer to our list of sighted animals.  Back to the road we went, intent on driving until it ran out, which was in about 60 miles.  Between Big Pine and Key West, there isn't too much to speak of apart from beautiful views of the ocean and sparsely scattered houses on the few keys that were big enough.  About 30 minutes down the road, seeing all the water around finally got to Katie and we were forced to pull over on the side of the road for her to relieve herself.  Her situation must have been urgent indeed since there was no real cover to speak of other than the should or the small 2 lane highway.  We pulled off on a larger section of the shoulder that
looked like it may be used for people pulling off to fish in the area.  As we crept along the gravel shoulder looking for a good spot for Katie to do her business we saw a huge 4 ft. iguana run right in front of our car.  We were only able to snag a picture of it's tail as it was scurrying into the bushes because we were both momentarily stunned by this unexpected bit of wild life.  As quickly as the iguana left our sight, Katie's urgency again sprang into her mind and she followed the lead of the iguana and crept into the bushes.  We would later find out that the iguana's are an invasive species to the keys and locally considered a pest, either way, we were excited.  Finally around 4 p.m. we rolled into Key West, literally at the end of our road, the farthest south you can drive in the United States.  There was no where for us to go now but back north, though at the moment that was the last thing on our minds.  For the present our concern was how to spend our time in Key West.  Naturally our solution to this question was to visit the local information booth and feel out our options.  Such as it happened, that day I was wearing a rugby shirt, and the guys at the information center both used to play rugby in their day.  We got to talking a bit about rugby and about what to do in Key West.  Eventually after taking a minute to talk it over amongst ourselves, Katie and I signed up for an all day package the next day, the details of which I will save for later.  Now that we had our tomorrow planned, we began to worry about the present.  After our rugby friends gave us a hint about where to park for free in Key West, we began to call campgrounds in the area to secure a spot for the night.  It was about $20 bucks cheaper to book a place on nearby Stock Island as opposed to on Key West itself, so thats exactly what we did.  After getting everything arranged at the campsite, we again headed back to Key West to spend the night on island time.  Naturally, we sniffed out the United States southernmost brewery and began our evening there.  Kelly's Brewery, started and owned by Kelly McGillis the star of Top Gun, was an ideal Key West setting.  Just far enough off Duval Street to avoid massive crowds of drunk fat men in half buttoned Hawaiian shirts, but with enough people to make a fun social atmosphere.  We grabbed the last 2 spots at the bar and began to talk with the old couple sitting next to us as well as the bartenders.  After discussing our trip, Key West, the package that we purchased for the following day, and the usual niceties discussed between strangers, our friends next to us had to go but not before buying Katie and I another round, adding to our already faltering sobriety.  After we left Kelly's we headed for a more touristy destination, but one that we just couldn't pass up, Margaritaville!  We both ordered ourselves a cheeseburger in paradise which came full with all the fixings, including french fried potatoes, and ate until we could barely even finish the complimentary margarita that came with our dinner.  We spent the rest of the night walking up and down Duval Street, stopping in the occasional shop and sobering up before we headed to the campsite for the night.