Key West…The Exercise Routine

February 24, 2014
As you probably know from previous blogs, that we’ve been using our bikes as primary means of transportation. This is a healthy means by itself, but not necessarily a way to loose weight. Helen has started going to exercise classes three times a week. I have decided to use this time to power ride by bike around the Island. It is a ten mile circle and relatively flat terrain. My goal is to pedal in both high gears to get the best workout possible. The first two to three miles are in downtown Key West which means traffic, traffic lights and a lot of stop and go on the bike. The itinerary goes something like this: from the campground heading towards the man gate at the dock, taking a right onto Caroline St, all the way to Whitehead St. (more traffic lights and four-way stop signs), left on United St. now the going is getting better. All of the tourist traffic is behind me. The blocks are longer and I come to a rolling stop and look both ways. Next is a right on White St. toward Atlantic Blvd. Here begins the bike lane that runs the rest of the way around the Island. Now, I’m warmed up and pedaling hard. A guy about half my age, about the same weight and riding a mountain bike goes by me and is moving. I’m thinking of by old buddy Jerry D. and his story of leaving way after his troupes started their morning run. Jerry takes off and soon passes all those young guys. Back to me on the bike. The younger guy is now about a hundred feet ahead of me. I started to crank it on until I’m directly in back of him. He has no rear view mirror, but occasionally tilts his head left and right for a glimpse of me. He knows I’m there, but can’t figure out who or what I’m doing. A mile goes by, we are now on the very wide bike path along Atlantic Blvd. Finally he stops! I whiz by him and never look back. Two more miles down the road I come to a park bench and a stop for me and a well deserved drink of water. I just had my first real workout with the bike. Two minutes later, here comes the same guy. He’s booking at top speed, I get on my bike and start pedaling. He is continually pulling away. I stopped trying after he was 500 plus feet ahead. Hey give me a break, he’s about 30 years old and I’ll be 69 years old in a month and a half. I still feel good about my first hard workout.
On the back side of the Island, I stopped at the Home Depot for (cold water) a restroom break and especially an A/C break in the store. I walked the isles in order not to have leg cramps. It certainly is a nice place to walk and checkout what is new in the store. I am now only two miles from the campground. The new bike lane is 10 to 12 feet wide. I feel good and pour on the power. Stopping at the gate to show my ID and back to the camper. Total mileage on the odometer is 10.64 miles.

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Helen caught my cold and today February 26, we did the round island circle, but at a slower pace (because of her cold). We actually reversed the course and went the other way. We stopped at many places and enjoyed the ocean views, especially watching fish just swimming by and doing their thing. This afternoon it was very hot and humid. Time to sit under the canopy and hydrate.
That is what I did and saw!

Key West…Farewell to New Friends

 

February 20, 2014

It is simply amazing to see the number of people we encounter on our journeys and befriend. Dan and Jan, whom we met only a couple of weeks ago are an example. They left this morning for their home in Congress Arizona. Normally, they would have stayed here in Trumbo Point until May, but Dan needs a shoulder operation and needed recovery time at home. Both Dan and Jan are wonderful people. Dan always has something good to say. Something like “A happy wife makes a happy life’'. We wish them luck in their travels and a safe return home. We might actually meet up with them next month when we head for Utah. A slight swing to the south into Arizona would bring us into their neighborhood in Congress, AZ. If we do go in that direction, we would also want to stop in Apache Junction and visit our old neighbors Vi and Norm. Time will tell on our route of march.

It is 8:41am and this morning. I am a little under the weather. I came down with a cold a couple of days ago. Last night I wasn’t sleeping as soundly as I should have been. At 11:11pm a Ranger platoon came jogging over the bridge, and of course, they always start singing a cadence song. I love it! They’ll jog off base and crisscross the Island of Key West before returning back over to Fleming Island. I still love it, as the saying goes “Freedom never sleeps” Go “Airborne Rangers”! I also discovered when and why they jump off the channel bridge into the swift tidal channel below. It is part of their graduation exercise ritual. All in all, I am so proud that I can be part, although, a small part of this mighty military family.

Remember that all of the people here in the campground are former military of all branches of service. When a person is on active duty they always seem to say that their branch is better than the other. All of that is forgotten here has we mellow in the sun. With one hundred and fifty RV’s, most having two occupants, it makes for a sizable community. At any given time of day, you will find their doors unlocked. Now, that’s trust! Need anything? A neighbor is there to lend a hand or a tool.

That’s what we did and saw!

Key West… The Iguanas…The Tortoise and The Hair

 

February 18, 2014

I have to tell you the story of these unusual creatures. It seems that there are a lot of them in Key West. What brought  my attention to these guys was a drive on a back street in Key West. I always assumed that Iguanas were very slow moving. Well, let me tell you that this one Iguana raced across the street as fast as a cat would. We were both shocked, with our mouth opened, to witness this. That’s when I decided to capture more of them with the camera. The beach at Truman Annex is beautiful and no Iguanas present, but on the south end there is a huge breakwater with a quarter mile of huge rocks… a perfect place for Iguanas to live. I’ve seen them from a distance, but now it was time to get closer. Of course, I am also using a 300mm telephoto lens. I have included a few pictures of these creatures. There is one reddish Iguana that is huge. I have not been able to get a picture of him yet. The Iguanas only come out to sun themselves in the mid afternoon, when it’s very hot. This big guy only shows up if it’s close to 90 degrees. It hasn’t been in that range for a couple of weeks. I’ll keep watching for this Iguana which I believe is in the neighborhood of five feet long. Most others are a couple of feet long.

Anatomy and physiology[edit]

Iguana can range from 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m) including their tail. The two species of lizard within the genus Iguana possess a dewlap, a row of spines running down their backs to their tails, and a third "eye" on their heads. This eye is known as the parietal eye, visible as a pale scale on the top of the head. Behind their necks are small scales which resemble spokes, known as tuberculate scales. These scales may be a variety of colors and are not always visible from close distances. They have a large round scale on their cheeks known as a subtympanic shield.^[2]

Iguanas have great vision and can see shapes, shadows, colors, and movement at long distances. Iguanas use their eyes to navigate through crowded forests, as well as for finding food. They use visual signals to communicate with other members of the same species.^[2]

The tympanum, the iguana's ear drum, is located above the subtympanic shield and behind the eye. Iguanas are often hard to spot, as they tend to blend into their surroundings. Their scale colors are a mode of hiding from larger predators.^[2]

Male iguanas, as well as other male members of the order Squamata, have three hemipenes.

Damage caused by iguanas includes eating valuable landscape plants, shrubs, and trees, eating orchids and many other flowers, eating dooryard fruit like berries, figs, mangos, tomatoes, bananas, lychees, etc. Iguanas do not eat citrus. Burrows that they dig undermine sidewalks, seawalls, and foundations. Burrows of iguanas next to seawalls allow erosion and eventual collapse of those seawalls. Droppings of iguanas litter areas where they bask. This is unsightly, causes odor complaints, and is a possible source of salmonella bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning. Adult iguanas are large powerful animals that can bite, cause severe scratch wounds with their extremely sharp claws, and deliver a painful slap with their powerful tail. Iguanas normally avoid people but will defend themselves against pets and people that try to catch them or corner them. The teeth of a green iguana are designed to shear plant material, but can deliver a painful bite to people and pets.

Credit:

Karen Wheeler, University of Florida, Ft. Lauderdale

As for myself, I am undecided wether I like them or dislike them. They are gross looking from a distance. When you look at them close up, I wonder what all of their features or parts are used for. Are the males multicolored to attract females? Yes, I’m told.

That is what we did and saw!

Key West…The Army Connection

 

Feb. 17, 2014

Key West is loaded with military branches. The Navy, Coast Guard, Naval Air Force and also the Army. What does the Army do in the Keys? The unit is called “1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne)” and according to the Naval Air Station “Flyer” news paper the unit was recently recognized by U.S. Army Operations Command for training 256 Special Forces, Ranger, Air Force, Marine Corps and Allied soldiers‘ students, who conducted more than 3,848 military dives, five static line airborne operations, five helocasting operations and 15 military freefall operations. Go Army!

All of these operations are within site of our Coast Guard RV Campground. I have witnessed the static line drop from a C130 aircraft and the helocasting from a Coast Guard version of the Army Blackhawk helicopter. Unfortunately,no camera in hand when jumping out of the C-130. The helicopter operation was at night and very little illumination involved, hence no pictures. 

Last evening, we were in the truck with all of my camera equipment and it was just about sunset. I said it would be nice to drive over onto the Coast Guard pier and shoot a few sunset pictures. I headed over to dock area when a uniformed Coast Guard lady put up her hands in ordered for me to stop. Another Coast Guardsman told me they were ready to lower the colors. For you who don’t know what this is… it is when the flag is lowered at sunset (a serious and formal time of day). I got out of my truck and stood at attention and saluted when the flag was being lowered. Thank God for this great country! Oh, no sunset pictures tonight. The flag goes down when the sun hits the horizon. This also applies to all ships. I did get a picture of this the night before on the same dock.

The same night that we were on the dock, we also observed, sort of a strange behavior, at least to us. There are always people fishing at the end of the dock. Also, we noticed a few Pelicans close by watching the fishermen and women. What really surprised us was to see the Pelicans dive after the fish on the hooks. Yes, a battle between bird and man. Now think about this, the Pelican tries to swallow the fish and remember there is a hook coming out of the fish’s mouth. Yes, the fisherman is now angling for a fish an a bird. The bird finally freed himself and the fish was landed.

I noticed on one Pelican a fairly large lure suck into his neck. I don’t know how recently the lure got stuck, but it didn’t seem to phase him a bit. What could one do after all? You can’t get close to the Pelican…he flies off when you get ten feet from him. The birds will come close to the bait box and if you don’t watch them the bait will disappear quickly. That is the extent of my fishing story for this blog.

The temperature has been cool the last few days. In the lower sixties with a wind. We actually had to wear long pants in the morning. I can only imagine how extremely cold it was in New England.

That is what we saw and did!

 

Key West…The Night Stalkers…Pictures in the Night

 

February 13, 2014

It was a windy day here at Trumbo Point. Most “Trumbonians” stayed inside their campers or did chores like groceries, laundry and such. We basically followed the crowd. The temperature this morning was 71 degrees and it actually did feel cold with the wind. My little “Tiki Bar” shelter blew over during the rain storm and lightning last night. I decided to wait a couple of days until the wind changed direction and decreased in speed to set it back up. The airport recorded a wind gust of 50 miles per hour. Twenty and thirty miles per hour was normal all day. Remember, this is the southern end of the storm that is or I should was dumping 18 inches of snow in New England.

This evening we walked to Front Street and ate at “The Commodore” …half price appetizers 4 to 6:30. We got Coconut Shrimp, Boathouse Bread and Boathouse Fish Bits. The best thing was meeting a couple of Trumbonian couples. We all sat together and had and enjoyable evening. The walk home was also a neat experience. A full moon followed our path along the many docks leading back to Trumbo. Incidentally, the full moon for this month is called the snow moon. Good luck New England with your 18 inch predicted snow fall!

The moon was a beautiful full yellow/orange. A photographer’s dream! I headed up the small and only hill to the channel bridge crossing. Time was a factor when shooting the moon. Only a few minutes before the moon rises too high in the sky with no reference to mother earth. Pictures of the moon by themselves tell no stories. You need backgrounds to show how the moon light pulls everything together. I did manage to scoot up onto the bridge, but already the moon was climbing higher in the sky. No earth shattering “Ah!” pictures tonight. I’ll keep trying, as they say practice makes perfect.

 

That is what we saw and did!

 

 

Ship Wrecked in Key West!!

 

Feb 9 and 10, 2014

Most of my blogs are upbeat and so is this one, in a humorous way. Everything can’t go perfectly all the time and so I tell my tail of a breakdown in paradise. Last week, I off loaded the camper for the duration of our stay here at Trumbo Point. All was well, until I had the truck parked in the sun for a day or so, in extreme heat. When I got in it, I noticed that my air pressure gauge, on one side, read zero. Normally, each rear air bag should read 20 to 40 lbs. Hence, I started to look for an air leak. The soapy water bottle and my trusty high powered LED flashlight were my tools of choice. Most of the fittings are under the dash with only one at the rear of the truck, at each air bag. This dilemma lasted a couple of days. I was thinking of different solutions to fix the problem. Several trial and errors later…after several trips to Advance Auto Parts, Napa Auto Parts, Home Depot and Ace Hardware store, I finally isolated the problem, but unable to find the exact leaking point. I now figured a solution on a temporary fix. You can’t run the truck without at least five pounds of air, or damage to the airbag would result. The solution was to isolate the damaged section and add a manual air fill near the rear tire. I have a bicycle air pump and was able to pump air up to 25 psi (pounds per square inch). This is more than enough, when I load the camper. This 25 psi will double to 50 psi. So, this problem has been put to bed. Other problems we encountered were: a windshield wiper blade that separated, the camper battery was not charging properly (I had it checked and everything was ok). I think it was a lose connection in the power cable into the camper. All is well now. The solar panel keeps the battery up very well. I use the generator sparingly to recharge all of electrical battery devices.

While we are on maintenance issues, I must say how wonderful it is to wakeup in the morning and just go outside and chammy (chamois) down the morning dew off the truck. The dew makes the truck shine after a good wipe down. This, by itself, is enough satisfaction for being here!

Now, let me talk about exercise. One of our goals for being here this winter was to live a better life style, both in diet and exercise. My high end pedometer says that we are walking in the neighborhood of five miles a day. (10,000 plus steps). We’ve been using our bikes as primary means of transportation. Yesterday, we rode around the Island and put 16 miles on the bike odometer. Helen’s been preparing healthy food and I’ve been cutting down on in between snacks. In the long run, it has to pay off. We also have been biking over to the Navy side of Key West at Truman Annex. Here, we often visit the recreation center. The remarkable thing there is the availability to select hundreds of movies to watch on a large screen. The seats are large stuffed, leather recliners, much like in your home. So far, we saw “Last Vegas” and “Captain Phillips” …The Somali pirate story of a container ship being held hostage. The Last Vegas movie was very funny. It starred: Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline. We don’t go to the movies very much back home, so it is sort of a treat and a change of pace to do so here. Oh, this activity, on base, is totally free. Going through the movie selection book, we noticed that some movies are so new that they can’t be shown until the release date, just like previews of coming attractions.

Other features, of the Navy side, are a well equipped gym, covered picnic areas and a quarter mile of beach also with covered picnic tables. We often spend  time here reading books, stopping often to watch sailboats and jet skis going by in the glistening water. Sunglasses are a must even with overhead cover.

Of course, one has to remember that all of these amenities are not here only for our enjoyment, but for the men and woman who are stationed here. Key West definitely has a big military presence! Many agencies are here from Customs, Border Patrol, Drug Enforcement and Home Land Security. Everyone knows that we are only 90 miles from Cuba, but also, all of Central America is not that many sailing days away. Many illegal operations are ongoing, just offshore, and these organizations keep them at bay.  

That is what we saw and did! 

Key West and Alaska…Same Friends…Small World

 

The other day we were up to registration office to inquire about bringing non military campers on base. The quick answer is yes, but not now, because of the massive influx of snowbirds here in the southern end of the road. Well back to my story…We were leaving the office and driving away when we spotted a white one ton truck with New Hampshire tags. We stopped and said hello and drove off. Then it struck me! I know those people. I turned around and went into the office and said to them, “you have a truck camper and you carry a distinctive yellow diesel can on your roof”. He said, “I sure do”. We both recognized each other. We had crossed paths in Tok Junction in Alaska. A little while later, we made plans to have lunch the following day. More on this a little later in this blog.

We had heard rumors that five campers would be moving to a permanent site today. We checked in with Marsha, the camp host, and sure enough we were on the list. Our new site has a tree which is good, but also made the site harder to access. Being a clever guy, I decided it would be better to come in from the fire lane side. This worked out perfectly. I down loaded the camper in a few minutes and we were figuring where to put the ten by twelve outdoor mat. Next came the awning… this year I was determined not to have the shelter blow over in five minutes. I had made some 15 inch HD stakes. The ground here in KW isn’t too stable and one needs long stakes. It did the trick. Soon the day was behind us and we were exhausted from all of the moving around. The temperature didn’t help as it was close to ninety. All in all, it was a good day. We were located between Mike, his wife Terry and Steve and significant other Cheryl. Mike is the campground maintenance guy. (A good resource guy to know). Mike also has a wide outdoor screen, which on Thursday nights shows movies. Great spot to be in.

The next day Sam and Joan Christman picked us up and we went for lunch at Caroline’s Café. Sam and Joan were our friends from Alaska, or I should say they are now our friends from our chance meeting both in Alaska and Key West. They were down here visiting their daughter who works on a sailing ship “The Sebago” and at the “Conch House,” an Inn down on Truman Ave. I must give a thumbs up to the restaurant. The fish I had was excellent. We had a long talk about many things, but what interested me the most was on their many “Space A” travels around the world. That is something Helen and I have to do. We are thinking of Europe, maybe in the fall. Sam and Joan gave us plenty of info when to go and when not to go. They also explained how to get on the rotator flights from McGuire, Dover and BMI over to Germany and Italy. Maybe we will actually go on a “Space A” with them, if things fall into place. Sam needs a knee operation before he travels abroad again. If he heals well, he said he might be ready for a fall trip.

After lunch, it was time for a walk around KW. They took us to a nice shady park with a bubbling fountain. We sat there awhile and watched those wild rosters roaming in and out of the bushes. Next we headed up to their daughters place of work at the Conch House. Carol welcomed us and we sat on the veranda by the pool and cooled down. It was in the mid eighties now and a little humid, but the shade and a breeze did the trick.

Back at the campground, we had been invited to combination birthday party and anniversary. Dan and Jan were given a surprise party. Our two neighbors had invited us to come earlier in the day. Dan had been over several times asking me questions about the truck camper. He had purchased one before leaving Arizona, but hadn’t actually used it yet and had worries about how to load it onto the truck. They were planning to go down into Mexico (the Baja area). Apparently, they have spent considerable time there and felt completely at ease and safe. Here again, is a couple who lived several years on a small boat. They had been down in Mexico into several small ports and camped on the beach with no problems. As Dan said to me, “people who live on a boat do five things. One…live on a boat, two live in a home, three live in a motor home, four live in a nursing home and five live in a funeral home”.

That is what we did and saw!

Key West…A perfect place to blog!




A couple of passing tall ships

The perfect way to travel in Key West!

What does one blog about when you are in a perfect environment for a winter  getaway. I guess I would recount what our days’ consist of. For only being here a couple of full days this is what we did. Saturday morning our neighbors Merle and Fran told us of a tall ship parade over by Fort Zachary Taylor and down in front of Mallory Square. The camper is in a temporary area due to the large amount of snow birds down here. That left us with the bikes as our primary means of transportation. That is just fine with both us. We intended to bike as much as possible. Our first jaunt to town…it was amazing how fast we could travel to Mallory Square. Once there we walked our bikes to the perfect view spot. Only a handful of people were lined up on the dock. The sailing ships slowly left their moorings under motorized power and once out into the channel raised their sails. The parade started further down towards the Fort. We could hear cannon fire coming from the Fort. Soon the tall ships came around the point. The view of them passing on parade was a good start of the day. They all came very close to the dock and they also fired small cannons to add to the excitement. 

We were surprised a few minutes later as a Disney Cruise ship was headed for the dock exactly at our location. It was sort of neat to watch this giant ship docking. The crew lowered these massive lines maybe two to three inches in diameter down into the water. A small motor boat picked up the smaller lead line and brought them over to the mooring crew. It probably isn’t a big deal to a lot of people, but if you’ve never seen this happening, it was interesting to us. We headed back to the campground for lunch.


Now that's a tall ship!

I should point out that I had purchased this cool pedometer. It measure steps, miles, calories and a half dozens other things. The ideal exercise day involves 10,000 steps. On this first day we were at 5,000 steps. I’m sort of anxious to see if I can maintain a 10k step program.
That afternoon we went for another bike ride a couple of miles away to the church to get the mass schedule. The church was having a large wedding and we didn’t bother going in, but walked the grounds only to find out that they were having a fun raiser for the church. Several pigs were being prepared for a pull pork dinner. Five live bands were scheduled to play. Well this sounds like a good place to eat, and normally we would have joined in the fun, but Helen and I are trying to watch our waist line. Two miles back to the campground.
Later in the evening we headed for church and went to the 6pm mass. I did forget that it would be dark after church. The bikes do have blinking tail lights, but no headlights. That wasn’t really a problem because of the many street lights and the many other bikes on the streets at that hour. My problem was that I had brought my street map of KW. The streets here stop short of other main though fares and also are sometime one ways. We weren’t really lost just wondering a few streets pass our intended turn.
That is what we did and saw!

Miami Connection and Home Run to Key West

January 31, 2014
The last of our many visits to friends and family was on this day. I had programed our GPS to limit interstates highways on this visit to our friends in the Miami suburbs. I wanted to see some of the Miami neighborhoods. I was pleasantly surprised that many of them are in well maintained areas with trees shading streets and avenues. Thank God for the GPS because Miami is very big…like 50 miles of city navigation!


JoBeth, Lucien, Helen and Cliff

We arrived at Cliff and JoBeth’s house mid afternoon with no problems. Cliff met us at the entrance to their development and we followed him around a few corners to their home. JoBeth was outside with a warm greeting. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about our and their adventure trips both here and abroad. JoBeth prepared a dinner meal that was very much to our liking.
After dinner, we had more conversation about their truck camper. They have a brand new Eagle Cap along with a new 2013 one ton pickup truck. They are considering selling both and possibly moving to a Mercedes Benz type of camper. Whoever buys this outfit will get a super deal, as far as getting everything being set up for the truck and camper. I have attached a link to the craigslist site for the camper. http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/rvs/4259595624.html 
We hooked up the electric in the camper to their house and soon we were counting sheep.
The next morning was still cloudy in Miami and I was anxious to head south to our final winter destination…Key West…and yes here the sun was, is and will shine! The temperature here is 86 degrees!
That is what we did and saw!