Day 16 and 17 Estero and driving through h_ll

We had a wonderful time visiting with Herb and Linda Spencer. Linda is my cousin—daughter of my Father’s deceased sister. She and Herb have been married since I was about 10, and lived in Lexington, Kentucky. Herb had a very successful commercial AC and heating business there. He sold the business a few years back and finally retired a couple of years ago. They bought their place in Estero Florida 6 or 7 years ago, and now spend the winters there. We were welcomed, fed, and used the facilities to thoroughly wash the car. Also while we were there Grant Spencer, their son, whom we hadn’t seen in a while, came in from a business trip. He is a Regional Manager with Trane air conditioning. The whole visit was wonderful, and we hope to get back to see them again some time. We realized last night, we needed to get back on the road today and make some miles. Rt. 41 left Estero and headed North, so we took it. We wanted to see Longboat Key and points North on that island. Rt. 41 was non- stop traffic lights all the way. We made the cut off to go to Longboat Key, and the place was beautiful. We followed Rt. 789 all the way up to Anna Maria Island (thanks for the tip, Jerry) through Longboat Key, Bradenton Beach, and Holmes Beach. We doubled back a little and took the bridge back to Bradenton (the city). It was late so we found a cool little hut called The Shake Pit on Rt. 64 in Bradenton. We had a great lunch and then went on up Rt. 19 (also I-275) across the Sunshine Skyway to St. Petersburg. What an amazing bridge this was. After that though, the trip degenerated. Rt. 19 turned into a parking lot with stop lights every 12 inches. We finally couldn’t take it any more, and set sail for the Sunshine Turnpike North, Rt. 589. After abominable traffic we finally made it to the entrance to the toll road. We got up to the booth, and oops, we needed a quarter and didn’t have one. Traffic was backing up behind us, and we didn’t know what to do, so we pulled through the boot h and over to the side. At that point, we became public enemy number 1 and 2 in Florida. The photo enforcement will be sending us a $100 ticket. However, a nice guy behind us donated a quarter, and we sat there till 30 cars finally got through, and we backed up and dutifully deposited our quarter. We called the enforcement folks tonight and the nice guy told us to call between 8:30 and 5:00 tomorrow to straighten it out. We are going to try. After the quarter fiasco, we headed on up the Turnpike, and stopped about every 8 miles or so to give them another dollar tribute to drive on their pretty road. Folks who live in Florida can have something called a Sunpass that lets them go through a special lane at 70 MPH and pay electronically. We went as far as we could go on the Turnpike, and ended up back on Rt. 19 at Crystal River. We camped for the night, and are through with the West Coast of FL. We have decided it is way to congested for us, and we are heading inland for a more stress free route North. We slipped up the road a mile to the Denny’s for dinner. While there I discovered something all of America should know: Do Not Eat Meatloaf at Denny’s. I have never had an issue with food at Denny’s, but mostly I have eaten breakfast type foods there. Last night I ordered their "Great New Dinner Selection" meatloaf and mashed potatoes with mixed grilled vegetables. The mashed potatoes were ok, probably real. However, they were covered with a dark brown substance that had its origins in motor oil. The "meatloaf" (there was a bunch of it) was some kind of mystery meat that had been fried on a flattop like a hamburger. That in itself wouldn’t have been too bad, but the texture resembled that weird meat they put inside "chuck wagon patties" and the flavor was like a sort of spiced sausage. Sum total of all the parts was even worse than the individual components. All the flavors and textures melded to present something that resembled fried Alpo. There wasn’t enough ket chup or Worchester in the universe to make it edible. The grilled mixed vegetables were well past their prime, but wonderful compared to the meatloaf and motor oil gravy. But enough Denny’s bashing. We enjoyed a great deluxe continental breakfast this morning at our Comfort Inn. Today we are heading for inland Georgia and are going to try a route Vickie picked out using Rt. 301 and Rt. 1.

Homeward Bound,

Wes and Vickie

Day 14 and 15 The Everglades

Got back too late from our day and then eating last night to write anything down. We left the Econo Cheap yesterday morning, and headed into the Everglades National Park. Where we were staying was only a few miles from the park entrance. The trip to the park entrance was through lush vegetable fields. We passed tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash. Squash harvest was in full swing and the fields were swarming with migrant pickers. I never saw a squash field with rows as far as the eye could see. It made my back hurt just thinking of those folks bending over putting squash in a bucket for hours at a time. We arrived at the park, paid our $10.00 (which was good fo r 7 days), and headed in to see what we could see. The main road lead to something called the Flamingo Visitors center, about 38 miles Southwest of the entrance. We rode through 38 miles of desolate marsh and arrived at Flamingo. It must have been pretty cool at one time, but now it is a bunch of derelict buildings. According to the ranger Wilma and Katrina really put the whammy on the place. It used to have a bar/restaurant, and nice cabins and motel like rooms you could stay in. All that’s left functional are some campgrounds and the marina/store. However, they still offer guided boat tours of the Mangrove Tangle Estuary nearby. We were about ½ hour away from the next boat trip so we bought some tickets and grabbed a little snack. They had nukeable pre-cooked food, beer, sodas, snacks, etc. I found a cool “Cup O Noodles” that all you do is add hot water to. That and a beer, and I was a happy camper. (cost all of $0.60) We powered down a few carbs, and joined the other folks for t he boat tour. The tour was 2 hours and narrated by a park naturalist. It was worth the price cause the group was small and you could ask any questions you wanted. We saw all manner of birds, alligators and crocodiles, along with numerous types of Mangrove and other swamp trees. After the boat tour, the naturalist suggested we head for the Anhinga Trail back near the entrance of the park. We rode back through the swamp to the suggested destination. Here we found a mile or so nature trail that was literally covered with wading birds, swimming birds, giant fish, turtles, alligators, you name it. All of the animals were seemingly unaffected by our presence, and Vickie nearly wore the camera out taking pictures. We stayed there till nearly dark. After that we had to get back to the Econo Cheap and the Rt. 1 Sunday night traffic was abominable. (Rt. 1 ran directly in front of our place) We finally got back (only to discover the cheap b_stards had turned off our AC while we were gone) and camped for a while to let the traffic clear. Then we headed next door for another shot at Sonny’s Barbecue, to try something different. Vickie had baby backs and I had pulled brisket, both were excellent. This morning we once again breakfasted from the not too deluxe continental breakfast, supplemented with 2 nice hunks of sweet cornbread doggy boxed from Sonny’s. We left Florida City and headed for Everglades City where we are now—I got us a reservation at something called the Captain’s Table Motel and Apartments. Along the way, we traveled up Rt. 936 out of Homestead. This passed through one after the other huge nurseries. We could not believe the nurseries on both sides of the highway as far as the eye could see. Now I know where all those plants and trees at The Lowes come from. We followed this road up until it intersected Rt. 41, the Tamiami Trail. This road heads due West toward the coast. The road is in abominable condition, the truck traffic has ruined it. We followed it across and stopped at another Everglades Park entrance called Sharks
Bay. We hiked another short nature trail (yes Wes and Vickie actually hiked a little) and saw some more interesting wildlife. Then we headed further West. Along the way there was this road that cut off 41 called the Loop Road in the Big Cypress National Preserve. I decided to take it. It was really a backcountry little lane and a half barely paved road through the boondocks, until—it turned to dirt. I told Vickie, this finally made it a real road trip when we ended up on a dirt road. Based on what the GPS told us, we still had a good piece to go on this road, but the sights were so good we forged ahead. The road literally had water on both sides, and every so often it would have these green stakes with an opening in the side brush and a vista on both sides of the native marsh. We saw so many birds, alligators, fish, and even a deer. It was worth the trip. Often we h ad to pull over to the side of the road so we could let another car pass in the opposite direction. By the time we were done, the Vette looked like a powdered sugar donut. We finally got to Everglades City, and had lunch at Susie’s Restaurant. What a quaint little place, and what good food. A killer fish sandwich for me and hand ground burger for Vickie. We went down to the Everglades Park entrance, and found out they had a boat tour titled “10,000 Island Tour” that went out after dolphins and manatees. We signed up for the 5:00 tour which included the sunset. We then left the park and checked into our place, which was great. The desk clerk told us we could use the boat wash to hose off the car so we did. We hung out for a little while at the motel (I wrote, and Vickie discovered a group of trained pelicans that she got to pose for numerous pictures) and then set out for the boat tour. It turned out to be great, with a beautiful view of the sunset over the Gulf. While returning to the dock a dolphin swam and frolicked alongside the tour boat. I got some great video footage of his performance along with the sunset. We had a nice dinner at the seafood restaurant next door, and crashed for the night. Tuesday A.M. we set off for my cousin’s place in Estero, near Ft. Meyers. We enjoyed driving up the coast through Naples etc. and arrived at Herb and Linda’s house in the early afternoon. They live in a fairly new gated community fairly typical of the retirement communities in this area. Very nice, and with minimal maintenance required. It never dawned on me till reading the local paper last night, how seasonal the population in Florida is. Linda was telling me this particular development (one of thousands in South Florida) has 1200 or so “doors” as they put it. In the non-winter months, the occupancy rate is less than 30%. This means the population here swings 70% winter to summer. Another big issue down here is water. They go so far as to pipe the waste water tre atment plant discharge into special piping used to water lawns etc. It really is a different world. We’ll be here for a couple days—plan to give the car a serious wash job, and then head on up the coast.

More later.
Wes and Vickie

Day 13 The True Meaning of Cheap

Well not too much to report today. Yesterday we left Key West, took the compulsory pictures at Mile Marker 0 on Rt. 1 and the Southernmost Point do dad, and headed North. We had made reservations at an Econo Lodge in the Homestead/Florida City area. Along the way, we stopped at the T-shirt outlet again, to replace a Croc Letter I had lost. You could say, "Wes lost his S in Key West" (as opposed to those who loose their S’s in Las Vegas or Atlantic City). We Easily found our reserved motel, and then the fun started. When we walked in the front door, there was no one around. Vickie rang the bell a couple times, but no one around. Finally the phone happened to ring, and all of a sudden this 300-year-old Pakistani woman came out from the back room looking like she just rolled out of bed. She answered the phone and then tried to check us in. After banging the mouse on the counter several times she looked for help. About that time the second shift desk clerk arrived (a pretty red head in tight jeans with a stunning body) She also tried the computer, but with no luck. Then the owner came in who was apparently the 300-year old woman’s husband. After much very loud talking, it was established that the computer was locked up. They gave us keys and told us to go on to the room, we could check in later. We got to the room, which was ok, nothing special, but clean and discovered a unique set up. It had said on the board at the desk that the refrigerator and microwave were an additional charge. The way they accomplished this was totally hi tech. There was a crude wooden box affixed to the wall, and the plugs for the fridge and microwave were locked inside. After I agreed to the $1.00 per day up charge, they told me to tell the cleaning woman in the hall to turn the things on. Well I told her, and she looked at me like I was speaking Swahili. I waited for 15 or 20 minutes, and then checked again. They told me they had given the approval to another guy. He finally met me in the room and we got everything plugged in and tested. Of course to save money, the AC unit had been left off, (it was 92 outside) so it took quite a while for the room to cool down. Another interesting aside about this particular establishment: they are apparently in the middle of a large painting project (roller and tray with paint in them sitting in the hall most of the afternoon) but the person who is doing the painting is blind. All over the motel, there are large globs of paint on everything possible that isn’t supposed to have it. Since the place did have a coin laundry, we decided to do that chore because we really needed to. All that went reasonably well, and while the clothes were drying, we went just down the road to Sonny’s (Sonny Tillman who is apparently famous) Barbecue, and had "Ribs for 2" which was quick and good. We returned and forgot to look at the lunar eclipse. After a good night’s sleep (listening to the AC unit cycle on and off 745,692 times, I believe t he control logic of these particular units could use some massaging) we arose to the free Continental Breakfast. As I have espoused before, there are different levels of Continental Breakfast service. This particular one was not advertised as "Deluxe", so I figured it would be basic. What it ended up being was downright cheap. You had your choice of toast (wheat or white) margarine, grape jelly, coffee, and tea. There was instant oatmeal, but no milk. There was no fruit of any kind, and the usual weird juice machine with orange and apple. They had also taken (what looked like) Little Debby Honey Buns, and cut them in half, still in the wrappers. Of course, there was no microwave (unless you had sprung for the $1.00 one in the room—but the sign expressly forbid returning to the room with any food) so what you got was what you saw. We dined gloriously, then set about planning our Everglades adventures for the day. More later.

Wes and Vickie

p.s. Had meant to write about this sooner but it was again this morning emphasized to the greatest degree I have seen so far. As frequent travelers may already know, Holiday Inn Express started a great idea by using curved shower rods that greatly expanded the area inside the shower (a good idea which I adopted at my own house). Since then, most (even the small ones) motel chains have stolen this idea. Only problem appears to be in execution. No one seems to have told the installers that the desired end result is more space in the shower so 90 percent of the newly installed rods are installed 6-8 inches back from the old rod mounting points (which are usually visible due to patched mounting holes). End result is they actually make the shower smaller. A good idea gone sour.

Days 11 and 12 in Key West

We just returned from the ferry trip out to Dry Tortugas National Park. What a day. We got up at 06:00 to make sure we were there by the appointed check in time, so no time this morning for writing. Yesterday, we toured Key West quite a bit. We spent some time in the pool in the morning, and then wandered around Duvall St. etc for the balance of the day. We had lunch at the famous Hog’s Breath Saloon, and appeared on their web cam during lunch. We had drinks and dinner at the Roof Top Café on Front St. watching the sun go down and then joined the Sunset Celebration. At the Roof Top Cafe, we sampled 2 of their specialties. They have Blue Crab Bisque that is better than anything I’ve had in a long time, and they are famous for one of the best Key Lime Pies in town. Both were incredibly good. We wandered around town as the evening wore on taking in the redundant junk stores, and the increasingly interesting street life. This place reminds me of New Orleans before it was devastated. It sort of comes alive at night. Only difference is they don’t close Duvall like they did Bourbon St. As I said before, we had an early morning today catching the Fast Cat to Dry Tortugas. We boarded the boat and enjoyed a good continental breakfast as we left the harbor. The Fast Cat is a catamaran that can hold about 100 people. We had about 60 or so folks on today for the trip. We hadn’t quite expected how rough the trip might be. The further we got out into the Gulf, the rougher it got. Vickie and I both managed to not blow chunks, by sitting quietly, concentrating, and looking out at the horizon full time. The trip takes about 2 hr and 20 minutes. I would have loved to read my book, but was not possible. We finally arrived at the park (Ft. Jefferson) and got onto dry land. They offered a tour of the fort, but Vickie and I sort of went off on our own, and saw most everything. The history of the fort is amazing. They had to haul all the supplies to build it there by ship, along with all the supplies for the builders. There must be 10 billion bricks in the thing, and it’s 70 miles from Key West in the middle of the Gulf. They had a horrible time just keeping the garrison in food and water. The fort was constructed with 1,500,000 gallons of cistern storage for rainwater. Even today, the park rangers that man the place use stored rainwater for sanitation, and reverse osmosis for potable water. It said the rangers do 3-year tours of duty on this remote island. Must take a special breed to want to do it. Just beside the Fort Island was a bird island that is host to millions of nesting Sooty Terns. It was nesting season, and the racket from the swarming birds was incredible. After touring the Fort, we had a great lunch on the boat, and then set out to snorkel. We met some folks from Michigan that had been camping on the island for 3 nights. When I say camping, this place has no water, no ice, no showers, and no food. It is totally primitive camping. You ride t he ferry out, and bring everything you need with you. They said they’d been three days without a fresh water shower, but after all the tourists left and they were there with only a few campers, it was worth it. Like being on a desert island. We were afraid the water would bee too cold for snorkeling, but as it turned out, it was cool but not unbearable. We had a great afternoon sharing the water with coral and fish. We saw a great big Parrot Fish, a bunch of Groupers, Yellow Tails, and I saw about a 3-foot Barracuda. I’d have loved to have a wet suit and about 2 days to spend there (hence the camping). We also learned from the boat crew, that Dry Tortugas is very often the landing place for Cuban refugees. The way it works is, if they make it "feet dry" to the island, they get to go to the US. If they get intercepted prior to that, they are sent back to Cuba. Someone told Vickie that to get on a "fast boat" with some guarantee of success costs about $6,000. By the time we got on th e boat and headed back, I must have had my "sea legs" because I picked up my book and read it most of the trip back. The book and I were swaying in unison, and other than continuously having to refocus my eyes, no ill effects. We got back to the harbor, took advantage of our 10% discount at the Fast Cat’s T-shirt store, and can literally say "been there, done that, bought the T-shirt". We cruised back to the Simonton and enjoyed the early evening with a good drink, good shower, and time just sitting on our porch overlooking the bustle on Simonton Street as twilight engulfs the buildings sort of like a blue and pink fog. Will have to search out some food and drink for the evening, but then as they say, "the evening is young" Tomorrow its back on the road to the Everglades. More later. Well didn’t get this sent last night, so now it’s Saturday morning. Last night we got to experience Key West on a Friday night with a full moon. Place was wide open. Unless you were DUI or peeing in th e street, whatever you were doing was probably OK. We found out today that Kenny Chesney made an unannounced visit and 3-hr concert at the Hog’s Breath Saloon. Oops, we were out snorkeling and surviving the boat trip. Folks we talked to said it was quite a crowd however became extremely rowdy.

Wes and Vickie

Day 10 Landed in Key West

After a beautiful drive down the Keys yesterday, we landed in Key West. Our room wasn’t quite ready, but our parking space was. Parking in Key West is problematic at best. To illustrate, we walked past one parking lot that had a sign "All Day Parking $10". This was around 1pm. A couple of hours later this same lot was "All Day Parking $15" (less time for more money assuming the day ended at midnight). Our pre-reserved parking spot was one of 8 spaces owned by the inn that go for $20 a day. With the car safely disposed of we adjourned to the Conch Republic located on the waterfront for Margaritas (many) and lunch. Vickie and I split a cup of conch chowder and a Caesar salad with blackened tuna. End result was a $63 lunch but the scenery was great. After lunch we wandered around the harbor and then went back to claim our room. The room is unique and great. This whole inn is like an oasis in the middle of old town Key West. There are four small heated pools and a labyrinth of corri dors almost completely engulfed in lush tropical foliage. The structures are all tin roof and clapboard that appear to have been here for a hundred years (which may be true because the inn was created from the original Simonton cigar factory and outbuildings. Mr. Simonton was the man who originally purchased the island of Key West for $2,000 from the Spanish). In any event, it a superior establishment that warrants it’s relatively steep rates by non Key West standards. After claiming our room, some mysterious time warp happened that may be due to the Key West latitude. But somehow, there was an interaction between the room clock, Vickie, and a derelict watch (left over from the Aruba trip in a beach bag). End result, we thought it was two hours later than it really was. We went to the pool to get some relaxation prior to heading out to the sunset celebration. I should have been suspicious when we were at the pool for a long time and there was no hint of the sun going down. Finally I decided we had better get going or we would miss the sunset. Once again I should have been suspicious when we got to the room and it was 6:30 and there was still no sign of the sun going down. We changed clothes and headed for Mallory Square only to get there and realize that it was only 5pm according to the cell phone. We found a spot in the shade and watched the wild chickens run in and out of the restaurants while the Mallory Square sunset celebration slowly materialized. The performers have a unique method of establishing their turf. They lay out ropes on the ground around the perimeter of their performance area. This pseudo fence keeps the crowd at bay and establishes their territory. The performers are a motley crew of jugglers, sword swallowers, acrobats, unicycle riders, and generally all around lunatics. The stars of the "show" are first the sun and second the Cat Man. The Cat Man is indescribable but I’ll try…..He is a performer who trains common alley cats to do intere sting tricks like a mini lion tamer. However, he is a late 40’s Frenchman with long blonde hair and about three bricks shy of a load. He reminds me of a mime that talks. I understood one percent of everything he grunted. The cats, however, responded to his every command. He is a total demonstration of the saying that there is a niche for everyone. The whole sunset scene at Mallory Square has to be experienced to be totally appreciated. There were boats of all descriptions going in seemingly random directions. A pirate ship passed by in full sail. All the performers were plying their trade. The vendors were selling all manners of trinkets and outrageously overpriced food and drinks. I bought Vickie a small $4.00 bag of popcorn which she said was excellent but I thought tasted just like popcorn She questioned the vendor about the price in jest and he simply said "Hey it’s Key West….what do you expect?" From here the evening gets slightly blurry. During the Cat Man’s performance I dis covered an interesting little bartender quietly plying his trade across from the Cat Man. He made something for a man in front of me called a rum punch with a Bacardi floater. Not sure exactly what was in it but it looked big and tasty. I ordered one of the same. I suspect the Bacardi floater, which was an extra cost option, was 151 proof dark rum. All I know is that it tasted real good and had a nice hunk of pineapple on it. After cheering the Cat Man to glory, I invited Vickie to join me for another rum punch with a Bacardi floater. We got our drinks and she commented on how tasty they were. After that I remember buying a couple of over priced hotdogs from a vendor with a huge assortment of mustards and hot sauces. We at our hotdogs sitting on the curb and then attempted to trek back to the inn. What time we arrived is anybody’s guess (or for that matter how we even found the inn). The next thing I remember is the garbage truck coming in the middle of the night and sounding like it was crushing a car directly under my window. The operator cycled the mechanism on the truck numerous times at the maximum engine rpm to make sure everything was crushed. Since we were on the second floor, his exhaust stack was about even with my window. I was glad the old glass had been hurricane tested. Then he proceeded to leave with the compulsory beep, beep, beep, of the back up alarm and yelping air brakes. I went back to sleep only to be awakened by Vickie telling me we had to get up for breakfast because it was 8:30. I once again was suspicious of the time as it was still dark. She went outside to check and low and behold the sun was just coming up and it was really 6:30. We ended up down at the pool around 7:30 awaiting breakfast at 8:30 and me dictating this report to Vickie as I sip my Bloody Mary. The clock has now been assigned to the correct time zone. All is well with the world and Key West is pretty close to Paradise. As we saw yesterday on the police car "To Serv e and Protect Paradise". Send money….we love it here.

Wes & Vickie

PS More pictures