Florida Keys

Going to the Florida Keys was on the list for a long time like kayaking on the coast of Maine. The trip wouldn't have been complete if I hadn't made it.

Key Activities:
Airboat ride in the Everglades (think Wild Kingdom)
Paddle through the mangroves.
Snorkel in the keys.
Walk Duvall Street.
Longboard on Key West.
Camp with the RV on the beach.
Watch the sunset and sunrise on the water.
Paddle board on the ocean.

Key Food:
Conch chowder
Cuban shredded beef
Key lime pie (frozen and chocolate covered)
Lobster salad
Blackened grouper
Fried plantains
Guacamole
Ceviche
Grilled Cuban steak
Cuban coffee

Key Thoughts:

The Keys are good for those who want tropical but not have to fly.

To many ex-New Yorkers who still drive like they are in NY. Bad tailgaters.  Turn signals optional or better left on all the time.  Why waste energy tuning them off when you have a 50% chance of being correct when you make a turn.

What can be developed has been. Driving on parts of the road you couldn't tell where you were with it looking like any other small town. Shopping malls and connivence stores. Sometimes it's hard to find the quiet spots.  The state parks where the place to be or out on the water.

From mile zero in Key West the southern most spot on the continental US  it's 3,500 miles to Seattle. It was a strange and interesting feeling sitting on the beach in Key West knowing that it was time to turn around. Like making the turn south from Maine. Not the end of the journey but it's time to go a different direction. Depending on which way the wind blows I'll be back here sometime, maybe soon. Stay tuned.

Paddle through mangrove at John Pennekamp SP, Key Largo

Sunset paddle from Long Key

Sunrise from camp site on Long Key

Air boat ride in the Everglades

Land paddle along the beach in Key West

Mangroves everywhere

Nurse shark on the bottom off Key West

Nice ray off Key West

Camp site at Long Key State Park

A nice place to put my feet up.  (New Teva's)

Sunset on old Bahia Honda Bridge

Camp site at Bahia Honda State Park

End of the road

Sunset and Moonset from Bahia Honda

The bridge to and from the keys.

Myakka River SP, FL

It's easy to see Florida as only beaches and people and retirement developments and shopping malls if you don't get away from the coast. I drove west across the state through farm lands and horse ranches. The state park is only eight miles inland from Sarasota but another world. It is a forest and wild place filled with wildlife. 58 square acres of wetland prairies, hammocks, and pinelands. In the short time I was there here is a list: to many birds I don't know the name of but including two bald eagles, a family of wild pigs, vultures like crows in the trees, I can hear owls and other crazy bird noises at night, turtles, deer, and alligators!

They have a canopy walk that's 25 feet above ground and 100 feet long through the trees with 75 foot tower climb at one end.

Some pictures of the sights. I barely scratched the surface.

Rainbow Springs, FL

Florida is truly a strange place.  Maybe unique is better.  Maybe just new to me.  They have rivers that start from nowhere.  A pool in the woods that water flows up from underground. And a lot of water!  I guess that's why it's called a "spring" but this is instant river.

The camp ground was about a mile and a half down stream from the head waters.  Definitely a good current maybe 3 knots but not to bad paddling.  Lots of people in kayaks and canoes.  Also pontoon boats bringing up scuba divers.  Since all the water is filtered up through the limestone it's very clear.

Head waters of the Rainbow River.

Sunset on the river.

Paddling up stream.

Forest along the river banks.

Scuba divers in the river!

I decided to give the water a try myself.

A forest below the water.

Lots of grass and sandy bottom.

Lots of turtles in the water too.

Underwater self portrait.

Video in the river.


All of the photos and video were taken with my iPhone 4 in a LifeProof case.  I've had the case for awhile but this was the first time I tried it out in and under the water.  Happy to report the phone is dry and still works.  Great case.
Lifeproof iPhone Case for the iPhone 4S/4 - Black (Google Affiliate Ad)

And to end the day an armadillo walked through my camp site.

Tour de Ponce de Leon

Yesterday was a bicycle tour of St Augustine. As the oldest city in the US it doesn't have the best streets for RV's so I was glad the park was only a couple of miles from the old part of town. It seems I keep going back in history. I thought New England was old but stuff around here is from the 1500's.

I stopped at the "Fountain of Youth" historic site that is speculated to be the place Ponce de Leon found. I did drink the water but it was pretty sulfurous which they said was good for you. I guess if you had been on a ship out to sea for months any fresh water would taste good.

Also checked out the old Spanish fort Castillo de San Marco. Very cool structure made out of the local limestone rock. Complete with moat and drawbridge. Same history lesson. Europeans move in to the neighborhood. Wipe out the local with war and disease and then fight with each other over who owns the land.

I think it ironic that the Fountain of Youth is in the state where the old people go. The search for answers is universal. I felt better for the bike ride then the water.

Ps: one good thing New York style pizza!

Pss: why its called the "barrel" of a gun. I watched a cannon firing demonstration. The original cannons where made like a wooden barrel with iron strips held together with stays.

Florida !

I reached another goal today: Florida. Seems like it's been awhile coming but I've crossed into the Sunshine State. I found a nice state park for a couple of nights. A walk on the beach before sunset. A fire to cook dinner and warn the evening chill. Clear night full of stars. The sound of the ocean surf to sleep by. All good reminders why I'm out here.

Not that it put a damper on my evening but I got another windshield rock and this time a crack. I stopped by a local window shop and nothing to do about. Some day a new windshield.

But taking those dents and dings is also why I'm out here.

Miles driven: 157
Music : Wheels on the road.
Toes in the ocean: Ten

Charleston,SC

(NOTE:  It appears this post did not publish when I originally posted it and so may now appear out of sequence.)

My journey south through history continues. It interesting that much of what is tourest activity is visiting monuments to past wars.  On my trip out to Fort Sumter the lecture included this fact.  The civil war caused and estimated 600,000 deaths which was 2.5% of the population.  In todays numbers it would be 7 Million.


Some new vocabulary words/definitions:

Carolina. Latin for Charles.

SeeWee. The local coastal people befor the colonists.

Gullah. The low country descendants of the African slaves.

1500 foot long cable stay bridge.

View from the pedestrian walkway.

USS Clamagore.  Part of Patriots Point Navel Museum.

Hatchways trough the sub.

Torpedo room.

Sick call on the sub.

First crew of the USS Clamagore sub now mored at Patriots Point.

Fort Sumter sits out at the mouth of Charleston bay and is of historical significance as being the place of the first shot fired in the Civil War.

This is the original flag the flew over the fort during the first shots of the war.

Impeded projectile found during restoration inside the fort walls.

View from Fort Sumter.

USS Yorktown

Catapult room.

Shipboard operating room.

Old photo of ice cream stand on the aircraft carrier.  Seeing pictures of the men puts faces on the cost of war.

Boone Plantation: besides being the reminents of an original plantation given in a land grant to Boone by King Charles. Besides cotton and pecans one significance was that it was a major brick making slave operation. Some of which went to building the forts.