Chalk, Sea Cows, Roosters & Naked Men

Friends,

Over five months on the road -
We arrived in Ft. Myers, on the West Florida coast at the beginning of March. A totally different vibe from West Palm Beach. But before I get into that I'd like to share some highlights of our time on the East coast.

WEST PALM BEACH
If Palm Beach County has anything it's art festivals...and they are a cut above. No knitted toaster cozies here. We attended three and all were held on downtown streets. If my home were bigger than 420 sq.ft. and if my pockets were much, much deeper, I would have procured some fine pieces. The third festival was held, literally, on the streets of downtown Lake Worth. Local and national artists used chalks to create elaborate images directly onto the road. Some artists worked solo, some in teams, all were filthy...from the chalk. Art can be messy. Life can be messy. Some pics below.

We ate out a lot but only one restaurant was truly memorable. We had dinner in Delray Beach at an Italian restaurant named Angelo Elia Pizza, Bar and Tapas. Don't let the casual name fool you. It's gourmet all the way but won't break the bank account. www.angeloeliapizza.com

Hands down, the most memorable event on the East coast occurred on February 6th, the launch of the Falcon Heavy Rocket from Cape Canaveral. We were parked at the astronaut training center across the bay, six and a half miles away from the launch pad. Because this venue was an official NASA site there were retired NASA engineers giving us a blow by blow of the event (which could also be viewed on a Jumbotron) as well as some history of NASA and SpaceX - the company which made the Falcon and is owned by Elon Musk. (Did you know that Elon Musk was bullied in school and on one occasion was thrown down a flight of steps and beaten unconscious by a group of boys and hospitalized?) It was far better to view the launch with the naked eye than through binoculars or a cellphone screen. To describe: I saw a fireball propelled at a speed that didn't jive with anything I had ever seen moving in the sky before and with a force so strong that it shook my body as I stood miles below it. The fireball disappeared from our view and eight minutes later two of the solid rocket boosters landed on two specially designed pads. We saw only a glimpse of them as they descended but did get to see their precision landing on the Jumbotron. And, about 10-15 seconds afterwards, just as the NASA engineer had informed us, BAABOOM, BAABOOM, two fabulous sonic booms. Kind of like getting one more gorgeous firework after the grand finale ends. To quote Lilly, a character from Kevin Henkes book, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, "WOW!"

On February 8th I had arthroscopic knee surgery. Lots of arthritis and a torn meniscus. All went well. I’m still healing but everyday is an improvement. Dr. A. Seltzer of Palm Beach Orthopedic Institute performed my surgery. Great guy.

FT. MYERS
I don’t know if I liked Ft. Myers more than WPB because I liked where we were staying more or because we finally started using our kayaks. Perhaps a combination of both... We stayed in Cypress Trail RV Resort where the sites were very large and nicely landscaped and where the people were just so darn nice. By the end of our very first day there, we met down to earth, unpretentious campers. Jerry met musicians who invited him to come to their practice and then asked him to perform with them a few days later at the resorts’ season-end party. What a delight!

Kayaking in Ft. Myers
We put our kayaks in at San Carlos Bay-Bunche Beach Preserve. We started in tidal wetlands waters surrounded by dense mangrove forests and headed out to the San Carlos Bay where the water was clear and the coastal birds, abundant. We were paddling on a 190 mile kayaking trail called the Great Colusa Blueway. Four miles down. 186 miles to go. It was the perfect first time out. Go to leegov.com for more info. We also put in at Manatee Park (in Ft Myers) on the Orange River. As with the Manatee Park in WPB, the Florida Power and Light Company releases warm water into the river and the manatees huddle there when water temps drop. The temps dropped the night before and manatee were expected in the dozens. As we paddled past the crowded viewing docks and other kayakers looking for manatee all I heard from hopeful voices was ‘Did yah see any?’ Did yah see any? I thought...here is a time when a little white lie wouldn’t hurt and as I paddled I mentally fabricated notes of interest to report to the next person to ask. I was ready to give hope to the deflated but in the end my Catholic guilt wouldn’t allow it. We saw nary a one...and that’s the truth.

We recommend eating at Rum Runners in Cape Coral. My sister and brother-in-law met us there for dinner. Linguine with shrimp. Excellent. Margaritas. Excellent.

LOOPKAT
What? The kitchen slide is not functioning probably? as we prepared to depart WPB for Ft. Myers. Jerry and Bob rigged the slide to stay closed for the ride to Ft. Myers with a hammer and part of our bicycle rack mounting. On the road, I stared at that fix with the same intensity that Sampson stares at her frisbee.

What? The tire on the tag axel has only 30 lbs of pressure and you have to remove it to check for damage? The mechanic’s report at the shop where we stopped to have our tires checked before we crossed Florida to pick up our friends and head down to Key Largo. Luckily no damage. Two weeks later and the tire is still inflated. My reward for not giving false hope to the sea cow lovers.

What? My passenger seat foot rest won’t extend and is stuck in a semi-closed position? How am I supposed to be a lady of leisure if I can’t put my feet up while we’re on the road? Did someone call the whaaaaa mbalance?

KEY LARGO
We were warned about RV camps on the Keys. Packed sardines in a can. Very accurate. I must take a moment to lavish praise upon Gerard Alois Konecny. The man calmly drives 44 feet of metal 12 feet high towing an suv on narrow roads, along construction sites, on busy highways, on tall bridges with ever so short walls and among careless, stupid drivers. He can back-in into spaces barely wide enough to accommodate Loopkat and often between obstructions like huge rocks, posts, trees, hanging branches and other rv’s. We’re talking barely inches to spare on three sides. Where the hell did he learn how to do that? In Key Largo there was a total of five people trying to direct Jerry into our site: the camp park escort, Bob, me and two neighboring campers who drive trucks for a living. Jerry just listened and executed perfectly. Give the man a beer!

We stayed in Colusa Camp Park and DO NOT recommend it unless you enjoy spending time in a dumpster. Kinda like ‘Hey, I just found this piece of corrugated plastic. I think I’ll nail it to the piece of metal I recently found and nailed to my trailer roof to make an awning.’ This park’s only redeeming quality is the view of the gulf. Kinda like viewing the Grand Canyon from a port-a-potty.

We ate lunch at Snook’s which is on the water. Don’t recommend it at all. But we do recommend kayaking from John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
http://pennekamppark.com. Crystal clear water. Beautiful. As with much of the Florida coast waters, lots of mangrove forests.

KEY WEST
You gotta go. You gotta go. You gotta go.
If not for the diverse culture then for its natural beauty. It is a place to sit back and watch. Watch the people. Watch the peoples’ dogs. Watch the street entertainers. Watch the pelicans watching the fishermen.
We stayed in Boyd’s Campground which is on Stock Island just five miles north of downtown Key West. What a hoot! Tight doesn’t describe it but the people were friendly and there were roosters everywhere screeching cock-a-doodle-do all day long. I’m not a farm girl but I thought roosters crow at sunrise! Must be the laid back Key West attitude. Crow... whenever...

Hemingway’s House
Kris and I toured Hemingway’s House. The house was nothing special. It was Hemingway’s history and the six-toed cats that intrigued me. Hemingway was a talented, handsome, tortured writer and alcoholic who took his own life and was later said to have suffered from bi-polar disease. Madness in the genius.
The cats.
To quote a John Lennon song, “most peculiar momma”. They are called polydactyl and were thought to be lucky to mariners and excelled at catching rodents aboard ships. This extra toe looks just like an opposable thumb. There are currently 54 cats (from the same genetic line started by one named Snow White) at Hemingway’s house but not all are polydactyl. What’s interesting is that the cats are selected for breeding and only the ‘family’ cats stay on the property yet there is nothing preventing them from leaving AND ‘non-family’ cats don’t intrude on the property. Many of the names these cats have been given reflect Hollywood in the 50’s when several of Hemingway’s books were made into movies: Barbara Stanwyck, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Clark Gable... We were on a tour of the house, came to the master bedroom and there, on Hemingway’s bed, slept Barbra Stanwyck, curled up between two pillows. While our tour guide spoke another feline joined Barbra. I love the ‘cat’ attitude. I imagined Barbra thinking, ‘If you must - tour, but I am taking my afternoon nap so please make it quick.’

Duval Street
It is a bit touristy but it is so much friggin fun. Boutiques, souvenir shops, bars, restaurants, clubs. While we (Tina, Alan, Jerry and I) drank at Blue Macaw (it has a Bloody Mary bar) our friends, Kris and Bob, went in search of a restaurant at which they had eaten five years earlier. While walking they heard what they thought was live music and followed it. They ended up in a club courtyard which had a pool occupied by men - all very naked. Slowly I turn. Step by step. Inch by inch...

I've got two words for you: plantain nachos. On our first day in Key West we headed to Mallory Square to view the sunset. More on that later. We stopped for drinks and apps at El Meson de Pepe. There we met our bartender, Mitch. Mitch was a wealth of knowledge about Key West and had some great stories to tell. He also told us that they don't serve nachos with corn chips, only with plantain chips. Don't knock till you try it. They were delicious.

Mitch, in addition to bartending, owns a kayaking business and is a nature photographer. He told us about a great place to put in for kayaking and the next day we did exactly that. Bob came with us - it was his first time out on a kayak and he couldn't have picked a better trip to start. Mitch told us that this particular area was the most beautiful in the country to kayak. Having been on my kayak exactly five times I can't say he's right but I can say that Jerry, Bob and I were paddling in heaven on Earth. The water was a few inches deep to several feet and we could see the bottom at all times which gave us a clear view of the sharks, stingrays and fish around us. We were completely alone; so fortunate to have this playground all to ourselves. I don't think any of us really wanted to leave. As we head north I know we won't see water like this again so the bar has been set pretty high.

Mallory Square
It's on the northwestern end and just off Duval. Apparently, every evening, hundreds of people come to see the sunset on the water and as that time nears entertainers of all type set up in the square and work their hardest to get your attention: acrobats, sword and flame swallowers, musicians, psychic readers... Touristy...yes but like much of Key West, fun. Even the pelicans entertained us. A group of eight waited patiently as a fisherman reeled in his catch again and again - all too small to keep. Each time, he threw the fish into the group and the loud clacking of their bills commenced as they fought for the free meal. If they had a tip jar I would have thrown ‘em a buck...or a fish.

It was great to see Tina and Alan from our old neighborhood. We didn’t spend nearly enough time with them but glad we had what time we did.

We recommend eating at New York Pasta Garden on Duval. I think it’s an unimaginative name for such a good restaurant. We ate outside in a beautifully lit courtyard. www.newyorkpastagarden.com

BOONDOCKING
In the rv world boondocking is when you set up camp in a non camping area with no services. For example, a Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lot or out in a field or wooded area. You run your generator for power. We dropped off Kris and Bob in Lake Worth and had one night to kill before heading to St. Augustine. We boondocked in a WallyWorld parking lot. I fought Jerry on this idea for a long time but gave in when it became obvious that there were no other sensible options for a quick, one-night stay. All in all, not a bad experience and...free!

We're headed to Asheville on Thursday. If you have any suggestions for things to do, see... Let us know. We look forward to reading your comments. M and J.Read more