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Our Farewell Tour on Duval Street
Key West, FL |
We have been relaxing and enjoying the great weather here in the Keys for the past 3 months. The weather has been terrific but it is time to move on….We are ready for our next journey, The Last Frontier. Remember we tried to get into Key West, but the campground was full by the time we hit the road last January. So this year, we arrived on 28 November, lots of space, but wow did we see it fill up as time went on. This is a great place (the weather is fantastic) to spend the winter, and we met alot of nice folks and made some great friends. Prior to beginning our full timing journey more than year ago, much of our preparation to our RV was focused on living in temperate climates with very little infrastructure, like water and electricity. Well we dun good….Lots of self-contained water pressure, and plenty of electricity with our solar system. We live our day-to-day life the same with or without full hookups. (power and water).
Of our 90 days here in Key West, 32 days were with full hook-ups and 58 days we were in dry camp. Awesome! While there is much to see and do here in the Key West, make no mistake, this is a tourist town on a tiny rock 120 miles away from the “mainland”. There are two or three cruise ships in port almost everyday. Peddlers and shop keepers on the side walks selling their stuff and trying to rip you off, just like any tourist port city.
The prices are high, (well they do have to pipe their water from Miami !).
There is a tourist bar in every other building (not a bad thing..), bicycles, mopeds, and people rule the streets. Did I mention the weather is awesome! Yep, deal with it…..”It’s not perfect, it’s Key West.”. Kick back, have a drink, and enjoy the sunset….. The Navy—- They own or have owned a large portion of real estate here in Key West; NAS Sigsbee, aka Dredgers Key, Trumbo, Truman Annex, and Boca Chica NAS We are staying on NAS Sigsbee. There is a PX and commissary, gas station, MWR, military housing, and 400 campsites. Coconut palm trees, the Gulf of Mexico, great weather, and awesome sunsets. At Trumbo, on the north west side, there is a big Coast Guard presence there to keep our shores safe. Among other things, Special Ops, Seals, GB, train there at the Special Warfare School’s Underwater Warfare Center and the US Army Special Operations Scuba School.
There is also a large dry campground with about 200 sites with no rotation to full hookups Truman Annex is on the west side, where Truman’s Little White House is located, also a pier that the Navy leases to the city. Lots of renovation going on there. 6 miles north of Key West is Boca Chica NAS. A very active air strip protecting our country. Top gun pilots get some of their training here. So to drop some names/titles/places, here is the short-list of some of our activities: Dry Tortugus- Fort Jefferson- 75 mile, 2.5 hour boat ride and the snorkeling was awesome! Mallory Square- nightly circus acts hawking for $$ while many hundreds gather trying to watch the sunset from the pier. (The cruise ships must depart before sunset) Fort Zachery Taylor and the beach…awesome sunsets without the circus of Mallory Square. Truman Annex military only beach- great! Jonathan’s boat – Lots of fun boating around the Keys.. great fishing, sharks, groupers, grunts, did I say Sharks?
Christmas was different but fun in Key West.. go figure… Missed Evan, Brandon, Julie, and Jerry. Hemingway’s House- About 56 six toed cats live there all descending back to Ernest.. Beautiful Sunsets and Happy Hour with good friends Truman’s Little White House Cuban Queen – the best Cuban sandwich Mile marker “0”. The start (or end) of US Hwy 1. The “Most Southern Point in the U.S.” The most photographed Bouy..
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Bad Boys Burrito – Diners, Drive in and Dives- huge burritos Duval Street – non-stop, never sleeps ( I think, was home by 9pm most nights) Winery Tour in Miami- Schelby Terrific Sunsets DJs Clam Shack Diners, Drivein and Dives – Clams ! Garbo’s – Diners, Drivein and Dives- Korean beef tacos Bien – Awesome Cuban food Hogs Breath – awesome booze Sloppy Joes – awesome, ah, er, yep.. Sloppy Joes. Delores’ cooking – everything she cooked Gas Monkey- beer Sunset Dinner Cruz with our friends, Delores and Virgil Rum Runners Mud Slides – the Sunset tradition….. Seafood – wow, lots of it Roosters – They are everywhere ad they cock a doodle do all the time. Iguanas all around. On the rocks, in the trees and just walking down the street.
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