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- Day 222
- Friday, November 21, 2025 at 1:31 AM
- 🌙 22 °C
- Altitude: 8 m
United StatesHialeah25°51’14” N 80°16’4” W
Day 49: Drive to Key West
November 21 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 22 °C
Having read the book "Last Train to Paradise", and been utterly fascinated by the the building of the extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad to Key West, and after 3 visits to Florida to stayRead more
Traveler
The brick wall is crooked because the original owner, Bernice Dickerson, had a local plumber and handyman build it in the late 1800s, and he used locally sourced, often uneven, materials and a free-hand style that was common at the time.
Traveler
U.S. Route 1 is approximately 2,380 miles long, and runs from Key West, Florida, to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border.
Traveler
"The Kapok Tree, Ceiba Pentandra (also called the Ceilba tree or Silkcotton tree) grows to 40 m (130 ft) or more. It was the sacred tree of the Mayan people who believed that souls of the dead climbed a mythical kapok whose branches reached into heaven. This is not surprising, as a kapok tree can grow 10 feet taller in a year. Kapoks are beautiful trees with wide buttresses at the base and large, flattened crowns of leaves and branches. The trees drop their leaves once a year in the dry season exposing the branches. The dropping of the leaves may lead to the opening of large bell-shape flowers, though this only happens every 5 to 10 years. The foul-smelling flowers have 5 petals and are white or pink. They open in the early evening in time to be ready for the bats to arrive. Tropical bats provide most of the pollination for the kapok tree. Cross pollination is enhanced, since only a few flowers open each evening. The branches come from the top of the tree and extend horizontally which allows them to be covered with other plants called epiphyle. Most commercial kapok comes from the Island of Java in Indonesia. It was used to make furniture, insulation, and stuffing, and was found inside some life jackets because the fibre is light-weight and water proof. During WWIl these life jackets were known as Mae Wests, because when inflated they gave the wearer a buxom silhouette similar to that of the famous actress. Unfortunately, the fiber is not usable for clothing because it is short and breaks easily so you can't make thread out of it like cotton. Kapok oil is made from the seeds of the tree and is then used to make soap. The seeds are edible and are eaten in some areas of the world such as the island of Celebes in Indonesia. The wood is soft and is called bendang locally, It is used for making dugout canoes, carvings and caskets."