The finishing touches on Key West (Jan.3)

Pam and I went to Zachary Taylor State Park, which is on the far tip of Key West, for some beach time and possible snorkeling. The sun was nice, but the water was too stirred up for any good snorkeling.

Great view

Another day on the beach...

We also rode bikes around, walked the marina area, and ate at a neat bar called Schooners Wharf, where you can look into the water and see 4 foot tarpon swimming against the dock.

Tarpon in the water.

Mike relaxing at Schooner's Wharf - great food and atmosphere!  Highly recommend this gem!

Wharf in Key West

What can I say?

 We did a final walk around town, then headed home and had a final night drink at Sugarloaf with Susan and Popeye Charlie. Tomorrow we turn it around, and I start riding back towards the great white (and cold) north.

Good bye Key West!!!!

The boy goes home - January 2

We were at the airport and Bud was thru security before the sun came up. Pam had the jeep keys so she convinced me to stay in Key West and watch the sunrise near Smathers beach. We were there, all alone, except for a few passing runners, until we got out of the jeep, when all these Chinamen with cameras and tripods started showing up. So, Pam and I had a romantic sunrise with 50 of our closest oriental friends, and we managed to take one or two good photos of what turned out to be a perfect sunrise, as an orange ball melted right out of the ocean and all the upper level clouds were filled with colors. I'm not gonna do many sunrises, by nature, so I'm glad it was perfect on the first try. It was my first sunrise since June, when that damn bird in the tree right outside my bedroom window used to get me up for work at exactly 4:12 am.

Tell me this isn't worth it???

With a few of our friends!

Charlie and I got an early start ( for me, not him), on a ride to Key West. We did 46 miles round trip, with a little sight seeing, including a videotaped message that we each did for a South African at the US's southernmost point!

The KOA twins getting ready for a ride.  Is this a KOA commercial?  It should be!

Two pictures of Mike at the famous point!  Two!  Are there any of  Pam?  NO!

Charlie

We went with Charlie and Susan for a repeat performance at the Geiger Key Marina, with great food, sunset, and plenty of no-see-ums. Notice that I said sunset-----definitely the best sunrise/sunset combo of my sheltered life.

As all of this is going on, poor Buddy is travelling back home to Pittsburgh!  He had a delay in Tampa due to a late arriving incoming plane.  He finally got home to Pittsburgh around 5:50 pm.  Being the smart, college educated guy that he is.....while still at the Key West International airport, he saw a Key West SNOW SCRAPER!  And remembered that he didn't have one in the car waiting at the Pittsburgh airport, so he bought one!  He sent us a picture of the fun he was having while scraping off the snow and ice (after 10 glorious days in Key West)!

That's alot of snow that we aren't enjoying!!  HA HA

The combination of all the wind and the sun has totally fried my lips. This happened two summers ago when I was working in the sun 14 hours a day. Following advise from a doctor friend from Southpointe, I have been slathering my lips with Vaseline (yes, even in Key West) and they are not getting better. I looked online, and learned that most Chapstick products put ingredients in to make your lips dry out! ( so you buy more product). With further research I found that vitamin E oil is the best thing for your lips, or a product called Aquaphor. Even Vaseline doesn't heal lips, it just helps seal in moisture. I've been addicted to Chapstick since I started landscaping, 20 years ago. I'm quitting cold turkey and going straight vitamin E. There---- I said it!

New Years Day with no football January 1, 2013!

New Year's Day dawned with us sleeping thru Charlie's 8 AM 5 K fun run. However, more importantly, 10 people did come, which I consider a success for the inaugural event! ( next years time was moved until 9). We were awakened by a phone call from John Pennecamp State Park, where we had reservations for the three of us to go snorkeling. There was high surf, high wind, and a small craft warning, and they wanted strong swimmers only, so we decided not to go. I felt bad because I'm the weakest swimmer, but Bud and Pam agreed it might not be so much fun. Being Buddy's last day here, we were really bummed out for him.
We did, however, rent paddle boards for a couple of hours and went out right at the KOA, instead of the 80 mile drive it would have been to snorkel (silver lining). We went under the bridge with the incoming current, and paddled across the inlet to some canals, near some of the homes on Cudjoe Key. Getting back under the bridge against the current was a bit of a challenge , but we made it. We came back across the middle of the inlet to the campground, and NONE of us got wet. It was Buds first time, and Pam's and my second to paddle board. I figured it would be me who went overboard, but I give all the credit to the great, floaty board. Thank you very much.

Buddy also decided to jump off of the bridge that connected Sugarloaf Key to Cudjoe Key!

This was Buddy's view of the campground.

This was our view of Buddy jumping!

We had the traditional pork and sauerkraut at Charlie and Susan's, and prepared to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get Buddy to the airport. The weather channel told us it would be about 20 degrees there in Pittsburgh with snow when he landed. Ouch!

Unfortunately there are no pictures to post from our paddle trip because we belatedly remembered that Buddy took really cool pictures while we paddled and he and his camera are now in Pittsburgh!  Oh well, just imagine beautiful, clear blue green water, lots of fish and flowers on the bushes!

PS- We were so busy, that we forgot that it was a football game day!!  Even missed the Rose Bowl parade!

December 30, 31 - New Years Eve

I rode 16 miles on Sunday (to and from Boondocks to watch Steeler game in my new Steelers biking jersey), and 26 miles on New Year's Eve. The 26 miler was to the south end of Sugarloaf, just checking out the final road that I haven't been on.
Charlie decided to organize a 5k run on New Years morning, so we took my Garmin GPS out and walked the course, to get the mile markers and turn around marked out with spray paint, on the road to the burnt out bridge.
New Year's Eve was spent at Charlie and Susan's camp site, with a fire, food, and friends. We decided to pass on going to Duvall Street in Key West to see the conch shell drop at Sloppy Joes, or the red stiletto heel drop at the Bourbon Street Cafe. We really had planned on it, but old age must be setting in, not wanting to be with 10,000 drunken strangers, but a few friends. What is up with that?

Mike and Susan

Charlie and Mike - and I'm not saying anything else!!!!

There were some weak fireworks at midnight, so after a champagne toast and a few kisses and hugs, I decided to break out the quarter stick of firecracker that Shuba gave me as a retirement present. We lit it, and it was loud enough to let everyone know it WAS New Year's Eve! The second loudest bang of the night was the echo it created bouncing off the old railroad bridge! A few people got rocked out of their Rv's, and they were still talking about what it could have been three days later. Charlie denied being responsible for anyone else's actions that might have been present ! I just couldn't go down THAT quietly.

Captain Buddy and the snorkeling Roses

We rented the 17 foot motorboat again, and this time Pam came with us with all the snorkel gear. The skies were not as sunny as the last time, but it was still fantastic out there. We saw three sea turtles as we were going back out to the lighthouse.

American Reef Lighthouse

The Rose's go snorkeling!

When we got there, the waves were pretty damn big, and no one felt comfortable jumping in, so the captain, Budman, decided to get out of there and head to calmer seas. We explored some of the same area as before, but we also anchored in a shallow area off of what we believe was Lois Key. We all snorkeled for, about a half hour (ok, I just put a mask over my face and walked around), before Pam started to chill a little. Really?  Pam was the only one still in the water while the guys sunbathed on the boat!

I ask you, who was snorkeling?

And who was sunbathing????!

The highlight was a huge, red starfish that Pam found and Buddy video taped with his Go Pro underwater camera.  For the underwater pictures go back to the post titled "pictures from the ocean deep".

Discovering gems of the Keys Dec 27,28

Buddy and I rode 32 miles one day and I rode 52.5 the next day.  Buddy and I rode north from Sugarloaf Key and hit every back road we could find, just to see what we could see. One of the roads we took was Blimp Road, which took us back to the landing pad of Fat Albert. Fat Albert is a blimp type thing that you can usually see way up in the sky near our campground, and for miles around. My understanding is that it broadcasts from the U.S. to Cuba. I don't know enough about it to say exactly what it does, but Bud and I saw it when it was on the ground, and got as close as we could without alerting the security guard that manned the entrance road. We took pictures, and got a good view of Albert, which seems to be up in the sky, more than not, suspended by some pretty long cables. Pretty cool.

Fat Albert before "he" goes up!

Way up there!

Buddy

For dinner, Charlie and Susan took us to The Fish camp at Geiger Key, which is a hidden gem, off the main road, with no signs. It is also a marina and campground, with clear water, where you can see tropical fish, mangrove trees, and beautiful sunsets, all while having great food ( grouper sandwiches), and listening to the locals b s at the bar. Just the type of place that Chas and Susan want to show off, but really don't want everyone to know about, so it won't ever lose its 'hidden'appeal.

Pam's attempt at a Geiger Key sunset!

Buddy's masterpiece!

Enlarge this picture and look at Buddy's shirt!

The third 'find' of the day was the Howard Livingston Band that played at the KOA that evening. He played mostly original tunes, singing about the locals, and he could have been Jimmy Buffet if he wanted to leave the local scene in his prime. We all built a fire at our camp sight, and sat around listening, until we shut the place down, at 10 o'clock! Charlie was doing the Joey Shuffle by the end of the night, and we all enjoyed the atmosphere of a 75 degree evening in the keys at the end of December.
The next day I did my ride into Key West and explored some areas that I hadn't seen yet, and got a good workout. There really hasn't been a lot of bicycle riding going on, and not a lot in the foreseeable future. I'm worried about losing conditioning, because when I leave here, I'll be riding I to the northerly wind, until we make a left in north Florida, just to ride into the west wind for a few thousand miles.

Fire at our campsite.

Howard Livingston Band

A little PS on the end of these gems.......go to next post!

PS on the little gems....

        
                                                                       A little PS on the end of these gems.......


                   While we were having our bonfire, someone came by and told us that a  lemon shark had just been caught at the                                  KOA marina.  Of course we checked it out!!!

Lemon shark

Nice teeth!

On Mike's ride, he also saw a maybe homeless person riding in Key West.  Look carefully at the back wagon and you can see a lawn mower!  Mike says it's Grant Street Lawn South!!!!

And I will leave you with a lovely Sugarloaf Key full moon!