And The Beat Goes On!

36 annual Key West World Championships Super Boat International

Super Boat 1st ~ Little Bird ~ Helicopter 2nd!

I never realized how retelling one’s daily activities would be so difficult with all of the events that continuously happen on down here in Key West, Florida. We just finished Fantasy Fest week. Next, the International World Cup Speedboat Races this past week. I’m not a connoisseur of any boat racing, or, for that matter anything to do with boats.

Race Start

It was truly an eye opener to view, not so much the races, but to explore the staging area where all of these boats and trailers, trucks and equipment parked. This was open to the public, but at an entry fee. This event took place on Navy property and with our, handy dandy, military ID we walked right in. On racing days, they charged $20.00 a person. “Thank you very much for the ID cards, Uncle Sam!” If you bought a pass for the week, it was a mere $800.00!

Tilt Super Boat

If you owned a boat, it was $$$$$, but who’s counting. Speaking of money, these racing boats do not cost thousands of dollars, but millions. They are not made of fiberglass, but of carbon fibre…same stuff as the stealth fighter planes. They have specially designed trailers that tilt the boats nearly vertical. so they can be transported down the highway. Why would they have to be tilted, you might ask? They are 12 feet wide and some 50 feet long. The trucks pulling them are show pieces in themselves. Some owners have matching color show cars that enhance both the boat, truck and poshness of the rigs. Most of these racing teams are large corporation sponsors, hence an advertisement right off. An example of this would be “Stihl”… you know, the chain saw people.

Stihl Super Boat

They’ve been racing every other day with the last big event tomorrow. I’m not sure how everything is talied, but winning points play a big part in the scheme of the winning. The Super-boat heats are capable of hitting speeds of 180 miles per hour. On the day we watched, they were doing 140 miles per hour. It’s the wave conditions that limit the speed. Even at 140 mph, we often saw them getting airborne as they screamed by. There average speed was 111MPH on the 4.2 mile course. It was a cool sight to see! Actually, I should rephrase that and say it was a very hot sight to see, as we were on the Mole (pier) watching in the very hot sun!

Cowgirl ~ Racing Fan

Earlier during the week, in the early evening, the racing teams had a parade down Duval Street strutting their stuff, with trucks, trailers, cars and boats! Money, money and more money to advertise their companies and/or products!
Sunday rolled around and the final day for racing was here. Before getting into the racing details, I have to mention that it’s not only the racing boats that show up for this week’s festivities, but several dozens, so called “Cigars” boats made their way down from the Miami area to watch and run around the Keys. These smaller boats are not your typical 75 HP outboards, but usually two automotive type engines “300HP” each. Even at idle, these guys sound very powerful! One night, at three in the morning, most likely after the bars on Duval Street closed, one of these “Cigar” boats, cruised the channel between Trumbo Point and Fleming Key.

The rescue

At first it sounded very much like a diesel locomotive chugging along until it passsed the bridge pillions. It rounded the corner, parallel to Fleming Key with exhaust pointed towards the campground and the guy or girl hit the throttle. At three in the morning, with the windows opened, it sounded like I was at New England Drag-Way, with a Dragster coming off the line!

Back to Sunday’s final race

In the morning, we weren’t sure if we were going to attend. The temperature would be very hot and little wind on that side of the island. This is such a difference from the Northeast side where the campground is located!

1500 HP Super Boat

Well, our neighbor Lou Schadie came over and was telling us that some of the other Trumbo campers were there early to get good shady site at Fort Zachary Park. Before we knew it, we were pedaling over across the Island to the State Park. Lou, a disable veteran has a “Veterans Disability State Park Pass". He was able to get as many as eight people on his pass. Once in the park, we were amazed at how many thousands of people lined the beach!
The race started, with three helicopters flying low covering the boats as they flew by at ear piecing noise! With only a dozen boats in the race, the engine noise doesn’t last very long.

Turn Three

The pack soon spread out as two boats took the lead. The 4.2 mile course is visible nearly from one end to the other. My 18 to 300MM lens got a good workout. From our position, I could get some good shots as they turned from turn three. I really won’t get to see exactly which photos will be the best of the hundreds that I took until I get home to my large monitor and Lightroom software.

Closing In !

In turn two, I was able to get one of the boats getting air borne and flipping over! It was a mass confusion from the air as well as from the water. Rescue personnel, from one of helicopters performed the rescue of the two crew members. They (the rescue team) have things pretty well covered in that department.
That is what we did and saw!

A Long Ride to "Mile 0"

We made Key West, Florida this morning at 9:30am. Wow, I was tired and still winding down from four and a half days of driving. I averaged over 500 miles everyday! My total for the trip was 2,153.7 miles. Last year it was 2,003 miles from Berlin, NH. The reason that it was 150 miles longer was the recent hurricane that havoc North Carolina. On the radio today, I heard that North Carolina still has 620 roads closed due to flooding. We stayed in the Appalachians Mountains on I-81 to skirt around the flood area. I-81 is a good road, but it is hilly and is also a heavy truck route. My F-250 Super Duty had no problem going up the mountain passes, but some Diesel trucks pulling larger 5th wheel up and over the passes left me chugging along at 38 miles an hour on some of the extreme mountain ascents!

Sunset at Sigbee's Naval Air Station Key West, Florida

I did have a few close calls with people drifting into my lane. I honked on the horn a couple of times and they moved over. Another time, I had to really stomp on the brakes to avoid a tractor trailer that just pulled out from a construction area. I smoked the trailer tires! No damage done. Other than that, the weather was good, the Cracker Barrel Restaurants that we selected were excellent! Quiet is the main requirement. We only rejected a couple that were located in large cities with no easy access for our RV parking. It is sometimes very stressful to be trying to maneuver a 53 foot truck and camper in city traffic, trying to turn into small parking lots with vehicles and curbs all over the place. In any event, we are here safe, sound and happy.

It Doesn't Get Any Better !

Our arrival at Sigbees RV campground was another first experience for us. One of the whole ideas of coming early to the Keys was the chance to get a prime RV site at Trumbo Point campground. Some campers prefer different sites for different reasons. Some like to be next to water, some like being close to the restrooms. My favorite site was to be closer to the WiFi repeater to get good internet reception.

Double Rainbow at Our Destination in Key West

Here is how the process goes. You arrive and sign-up on a (non official) sign sheet and put your name and site number. The catch is that you have to stay at the signup station until they call your name on Monday at 9 am. Yes, that means sleeping at the office outside! That’s the price you pay for first come first served! So, sixteen of us spent the night sleeping in lounging chairs, trucks or what ever was comfortable. Helen was in the 5th wheel and I stayed and slept in the cab of the truck. It wasn’t that bad, I had a sleeping bag (not needed for being cold, more for added padding) I actually slept most of the night, only waking up when I rolled over. I sort of enjoyed looking straight up threw the windshield and watching the stars above. On Monday morning, at 9am, my name was called and we got our preferred site number 522. We can’t move over there until Wednesday when the campground opens, but I did manage to go checkout the site and mow the grass at our site.
Our next to do, on our checklist was a few groceries. A stop at the Sigbees’ Exchange was to see if we could get a PO Box. The last box was sold just before we got there, but we are first on the standby list. The clerk said that if a guy didn’t call in by the end of the day, we would be next. Time will tell.

Thats what we saw and did!

When & If ~ Cuba??

The "When and If"

This blog update starts off from the next upcoming blog! Confused? A few days ago, we did a dry run to the dock area to find the Appledore and Jeff. Jeff sold the tickets for our sail around Key West. I struck up a conversation with Jeff about going to Cuba. It was on my bucket list. What developed from the conversation proved to be very interesting. His son, Seth, is Captain on the schooner “When & If”, which is going to Cuba in late March. They will be taking six passengers along with a crew of four. Jeff gave us his son’s business card and location of the “When & If” over at the Stock Island Marina. We biked back over to Trumbo Point for lunch and you know the conversation was on a sailing trip to Cuba.
After lunch, our curiosity got the best of us and off we went in search of the schooner. I drove into the marina and parked the truck. The marina has hundreds of sail boats, but, to our luck, right there along the main dock was the “When & If”. A young male person walked by us and jumped onto When & If! I asked, “Are you Seth”? “No”, he said, but “He’s onboard”. I mentioned the Cuba trip and soon we were talking to the young Captain Seth. He explained the details of the trip, from the legality of the trip to accommodations.
A little about the “When & If”: Built in 1939 for General George Patton to sail around the world “When the War is over, and If I survive”.

Anchored at Stock Island Marina

When and If has just undergone a two-year restoration and is open to the public for the first time this summer.
Designer: John G. Alden
Year: 1939
Length On Deck: 63ft
Length Overall: 80ft
Beam: 15ft
Draft: 9ft
Sail Area 1,700 sq. ft

"When the war is over and If I survive"

Just walking on the “When and If" was inspiring. I would have not, in my entire life, thought or dreamt that I would have walked the same deck as the famous WWII General. He didn’t get to sail around the world with his wife Bee, but did sail on the “When and If" before the war. For those of you who did not know, General George Patton was killed in a vehicle accident in Germany, after the war.
Captain Seth told us that we should change our American dollars into either Euros or Canadian dollars. American dollars are exchanged in Cuba at 13%. We have our passports and a Visa is available as we enter Cuba. Until recently, when Americans entered the country, the Cuban Customs would give Americans a paper stating that they entered Cuba legally. Today, with relaxed regulations, Americans can get their passport stamped without a problem coming back into the United States. It is still not 100% travel free restriction.
The trip down there would be a ten day trip, give or take, depending on the weather. At the end of March, the winds change from Northeast to the Easterlies, favorable for a good fast return to Key West, Fl. On the other hand, if the winds are still northeast the return trip would be slower. Normally going down to Cuba is about an 18 hour sail. On a return trip, the last time they made a nearly record 8 hour return trip.

At The Helm

Now comes the not so positive aspect of the trip. The cost and even worse…”The Obama Visit”. Yes, President Obama plans to visit Cuba on March 20th and the 21st. We would be leaving on the 28th. Knowing Obama, he will screw something up and could possibly effect our entry into Cuba or for that matter our return.
The cost per person for the sail is $2,200 per person. We could stay on board the “When and If" while there, but there is no A/C onboard and it could get buggy at times. Capt. Seth said that we could get a hotel room for $100 a night or rent a house for $300 a night. We could easily run up a $6,000 bill for just wanting to cross off a check mark on my bucket list!

The trip is not dead yet! I will keep options open and see if the “When and If" has its six passengers before sailing. Things will work out one way or another. As I always say, “We are in a canoe going down a river without paddles. Let’s see where it brings us”!

Captain Seth also mentioned that we would be going into three or four other ports in Cuba including Hemingway’s port of call.

That is what we saw and did!

Cold Days in Key West!

Why blog about the weather! You can’t do anything about it but move south! Well, if we move further south, we will have to swim! Last night was cold for Key West. It dropped to 63 degrees here at Trumbo Point campground. At the airport, I’m told, it was a mere 56 degrees. The problem with this is the constant wind. The same wind that makes us comfortable when it’s 87 degrees, also makes us feel cold at 63 degrees. This morning at 5 am, I got up and fired up the furnace for the first time. It worked flawlessly. I had it set to 67 degrees and that was just enough to take the chill out of the camper. I got breakfast going and with the water on for coffee and a frying pan going for grilled toast it was toasty!
Offshore the weather was even worse. Twenty to twenty-five knot wind, with three to five foot waves inside the reef. On the Gulf side of the reef, the waves ranged from eight to ten feet. Not a pleasant place to be. The Coast Guard rescued two guys on a sailboat way offshore in 20 foot swells. The two had to jump off the sailboat into the water and swam to the Coast Guardsman tethered to the helicopter. A commercial salvage company is going to recover the sailboat.

Action in the sky

This morning I was outside when I noticed another one of those C130J Super Hercules flying over the water near Fleming Key. A sure sign that they were going to parachute into the water. Four safety boats were spread across a broad area and a Coast Guard rubber rescue craft with several crew members came up the channel from the other direction. Oh yeah, a sure sign for a drop zone off shore. The pattern is nearly always the same. They do several dry run flybys. You’ve got to be patient, if you want a really good photo. After several passes and 45 minutes of waiting, I zoomed in towards the rear of the C130J and spotted five or six objects coming out and straight down into the water. Maybe sandbags or something similar to see how the wind was blowing. Another half-hour and no jumpers out of the plane. Ok, I’ve had it and leave, so did the C130J.
The WiFi Repeater Test

We left the campground and headed for my new antenna/repeater wifi system test. We would do the test first by login into my new personal network (Travelnet1). Than do a site survey and select a WiFi free hotspot such as McDonald, Wendy’s or in this case Publix’s Supermarket. My login went flawlessly. Now comes Helen’s iPad which at 400 feet would not be able to access the hotspot. My repeater was set to WPS which enabled Helen’s iPad to sync in quickly. One more login with my iPhone and now we were ready for the ultimate test. I went on line and went to YouTube and streamed a video. Helen did her thing and put the phone through its paces. Success! We continued for a good half-hour with no drop in speed. I’m happy! We’ll be able to access free WiFi hotspots easily in the truck camper as we head out to the West Coast next summer.
Traveling back to the campground, what do you think I spotted floating down from the sky? Yeah, six parachutes and the plane banking to the left. No camera in the truck! Oh well, maybe next time I’ll be lucky.

That is what we saw and did!

Winter in the Keys!

Storm Clouds over Key West

Amazing how connected we are in this small world! I just finished texting two old friends, Rod and Jerry. Actually, they texted me. We haven’t connected in a long time for reasons of just being busy in our own little worlds. We certainly have had some good times being in the military and also in civilian life! The above, is just the moment’s thoughts, as I sat down to start the next blog. Another good reason for wintering in Key West…The ability to stop and reflect ones ideas!

Seaweed making a slippery mess

The one really good thing about Key West is our commitment not to watch TV. We do have a TV in the camper, but no satellite which makes it easy. I’m able to write my blog, take time to read books, which never happens back home and do so many more healthy activities. Maybe this state is setup for retirees! Don’t get me wrong, when we do need to see what is happening around the world, we just “walk” about a quarter mile to the Fly Navy Lodge building and sit in the lobby and tune in to the news. Where else can you sit in an easy chair and talk to Navy pilots, in their off duty hours about world affairs! They all come here at one time or another for training.

Key West Half Marathon 13.12 miles

This afternoon we did a recon of where we will be standing giving out water to the runners. Now let me explain that this past week, the weather here in the Keys has been raining, with extra strong winds. This has pushed seawater and sea weed over the sea walls. The running surface is covered with three to four inches of sea weed along with hundreds of jelly fish. I’m sure the city will have to deploy their sweepers to clean and pickup this mess! This is also the same bikeway, walkway, that we use, when we do our tour around KW ride every other day.

Marathon Update Jan. 17th

I had set the alarm for 5:30am. We had been told to be on our dedicated water station for 6:30am to setup tables, four of them 200 feet or so apart and wait for the first fast runners in about an hour or so. So much for plans!

Toni's Selfie during the race!

The winds started picking up during the night. The 5th wheel camper which weighs 13,000 lbs., or 6-1/2 tons, was wiggling from the gust. It was predicted that we would get wind and thunder storms during the night and day. At 5am, we both had enough tossing and turning and got up. After morning duties and breakfast, we decided to head to our assigned station and wait. We brought reading materials. As we walked out the door, our neighbor Toni came out and asked if we could give her a ride to the starting line. She is an Army veteran and not retired but AGR.
We got into the truck and Helen’s phone rang. Carol, our water station leader, informed us that the race was to be delayed one hour because of a severe storm coming our way. I started the truck and we decided, all three of us, that we were up and going to our individual points would be better than hanging around the camper. I dropped off Toni at the Half Shell start point and headed to the other side of the Island to our station.
This is where it gets interesting! After a few turns, I was on South Roosevelt Ave. Wow, even before getting there, down at the famous Buoy, the ocean waves were hitting the sea wall and spraying the houses across the street some 75 feet away! Back on S. Roosevelt, the highway had orange cones every 50 feet to keep the runners and cars separated. The cones were flying all over the place. We came across two Porto Potties that had slid across the highway. One had flipped over. The seaweed covered much of the runners’ lane. This was all on the windward side of the Island. Our station was on the leeward side, with little wind. I found a spot to park the truck and settled in, for what I thought a long wait. Jack and Carol, our team leaders showed up soon and we were quickly setting up four stations with water and Gator Aid. The race started about an hour after the scheduled start time.

Here She Comes...Halfway Home!

They run rain or shine. Luckily, the heavy rain fell in that one hour delay. I was shocked to see the first runner coming towards us! No one else was even in site. No water for him! He was on a mission. The halfway turn around point was just a short distance up the road. The runners have their numbers and a special digital tag that registers as they go by different check points. No cheating here!
Jack warned us that it would get very busy when the bulk of runners started to show up. He was so very right! Four thousand runners is a lot of water cups to fill and give out. They didn’t all take water, but most did and surprisingly many stopped for a potty break.
How many gallons does it take for that many runners? Well, I didn’t count, but a U-Haul truck was filled with milk style crates. I’m going to guess around 250 gallons. Thousand of cups and dozens of trash bags!
Our neighbor, Toni, came through and was gracious enough to stop for a selfie with us! Go Toni!! The real nice thing about the Key West “Military” campground is the nice people you get to meet!
Once the 99% of runners came by, we still had a few chores to handle. Remember those thousand of cups? Well, 99% of them were on the ground. My exercise for today was thousands of “squats” for those “bend and reach” to those cups. Surprisingly, it didn’t take that long for the cleanup.

Our Volunteer Team at the
New York Pasta Garden

Jack and Carol said, “You’ve got to come to breakfast”. This was at New York Pasta Garden. Arrangement were previously made and the restaurant was waiting for our team to arrive. Around thirty-six of us were on hand. Drinks were on the house, well we are not big drinkers especially in mid morning, but a Bloody Mary did go well with the breakfast. We spent some time chatting about everything from the race to hurricanes. Jack invited us to go sailing on sailing ship, which for the life of me, I can’t remember the name.
This was a memorable day for our “first official" Half Marathon volunteering day!

That is what we saw and did!

Holidays Behind Us..2016 Head

Friday, Jan. 1st 2016

Usually, New Year’s Day for me is a quiet day sitting at home, maybe watching a parade, a football game or visiting relatives. What we did here, was to go to our Bocce court for a game. This was pre-planned from the week before. Sharon, Georgio’s wife's sister was coming to town. Sharon and Georgio are locals who run the Bocce games for us “rv-ers”. Sharon wanted to have her sister see and play Bocce, so Bocce was scheduled for this day. We had a good turnout and both Helen and I won each a game. Helen, scored the winning point for her game.

Lunch with the Bocce Gang at Salute

The game started at ten and ended around twelve. The time frame makes for two games. Eight of us decided to have lunch at Salute Restaurante. We should have broken the group into fours’ as it took a long time to get a large table. In any event, we had another good time chatting not to mentioned a tasty lunch. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sally had her dog with her and “Angel” was quiet as a mouse. (Black Lab) Angel is being trained as a service dog and is doing very well in learning commands. I’ve mentioned before that there are many dogs at Trumbo Point campground. 99% are super good! We have one guy “Jose” who used to be a military dog trainer specializing in bomb sniffing dogs. He is retired now and has a dog (part German Shepherd and something else) that is amazing to watch, as he walks around the camp on a leash. I’m getting off track on our activities of the day. After lunch, we headed back to the ranch and I spent some time trying to get my new WiFi antenna up and running.

Technology…Great or Not So Great!

The antenna problem! I have a Mac Air laptop with no CD disk drive and Mac OS X version 10.10.5 What this means is I would have to download from the Internet the driver to enable the Mac to use the antenna. I’m still working on it! For the fun of it, I installed the driver on Sally’s laptop (Windows OS) and it works flawlessly. She can stream Net Flicks without any buffering problems. The antenna works up to 1500 feet away (over a quarter mile away from the camp repeater). I know I’ll get it up and running, but I’ll just have to go through the hassle of getting a “Certificate of Authenticity” in order for Apple to let me install the driver. Amen!

Update January 6th

The antenna problem will not go away. My update... Mac software
is so new that the drivers for the antenna haven’t been created and will not be for some to time to come. I sold the antenna and the 32 foot extension. I have found a solution to the dilemma. Another manufacture makes an antenna which will also not work on my Mac, but here is the best solution I could have ever come up with. They sell the same antenna with a repeating router at the end. No drivers are needed and with this set up we’ll be able to get to Wifi with all our devices. This will be a great benefit when on the road with access to free wifi such as McDonald, Dunking Donuts and such. The antenna will reach a mile away providing it is in line of site. We will be able to be parked a good distance from the WiFi location and get on line easily. Here in Key West, we will be in our fifth wheel camper and not have to be sitting outside facing the GoWIFi antenna. Of course, all of this comes at a price, but in the long run we will save on phone data usage. This unit will also work in our truck camper. Pacific Coast Highway, next summer, here we come!

Update on Technology; 15 January 2016!

Patiently waiting for my wonder “Super USB WiFi” antenna and repeater to arrive by Fed X, from California, I’ve busy doing other projects such as selling antennas and installing them on RV’s here in the campground. No, I haven’t started a new business, but just selling my first antenna and also selling another guy’s antenna, who also had the same problem with the new Mac OS X 10.10.5 upgrade software. Well, to make a long story a little shorter, I received the antenna a couple of days ago and set it up. The antenna and repeater works fine except for one little problem. It doesn’t work here at the campground because the Navy “GoWiFi” does allow more than one Mac ID. I needed one for the Mac, one for the antenna and one for the repeater . I called GoWiFi Tech support and they will not budge on giving me more than one Mac ID. So I have a choice of keeping the antenna/router, or returning it to CCrane which will take it back. I did spend over an hour with them on the phone and they were very helpful in determining that everything was working correctly on their end. I will take the unit into town this afternoon and see how it works login in at a McDonalds. If it does work, I might keep it for the truck camper.

Weather Crimping our Style?

Wounded Warrior taking a break for lunch

Two days of clouds and showers…I’ll take that back, it’s been now nearly a week of overcast with rain off and on. Can you believe the temperature has gone down to 64 degrees at night! I know all of you (non) snow birds up north are laughing hysterically! It’s no laughing matter here in Key West when one has to wear long pants and a hoody!
When you are in a camping mode down here, most of your activities are outside based! So what does one do if the weather is inclement? For starters, we down load books from our public library both from Berlin, NH and from the Navy’s online library system. Next, we gather up some of our cabin fever friends and skip over to Truman Annex to the Beach Patio Recreation and fitness center to select and watch a movie in their large comfortable recliners. Our latest movie view was “Steve Jobs” Apple computer story.

Lunch Break

In between the rain showers, we went and cheered the “Wounded Warriors Marathon”and got to talk to some very courageous warriors. One girl, with a leg missing, didn’t look older than 19 years old. It just makes you think of their sacrifice they endured for us.

Each Has a Story

We volunteered for the Key West Half Marathon coming up this Sunday. We will be giving out water at the half way point. To our surprise, we went to a pre-marathon gathering at Viva’s Bar on Duval Street. Drink tickets, meal and a very nice commemorative tee shirt was included. We were told that there will be an after marathon party at some pizza restaurant on Sunday afternoon. The marathon is rain or shine. We’ll be ready either way.
Rapping up this “what are we up to blog” well, I’m here typing in our comfortable camper watching large flocks of birds enjoying the strong breeze, soaring nearly still in a distance. The warm front has brought back warm temperatures (75 degrees) at 10:50 this Friday morning.

That is what we saw and did!

A New Year of Adventures

Helen, Me and John

Wednesday, or was it Tuesday or Thursday? Where does the time go? I guess I have to recall some of the events of the past few days. My old coworker, John MacDougall, spent some time with us exploring Key West. Lunch at Pepe’s (the oldest restaurant in KW est.1909) was the spot we picked for lunch. John’s dog Pappy came with us to the restaurant. Yes, most dogs are allowed in restaurants in Key West! Pappy is well behaved and was very quiet until the chickens started to come into the restaurant. Yes, chickens in Key West roam into restaurant at will. Pappy became the bouncer near the front door. One bark and a quick jump and the chickens retreated to the street in a hurry. The restaurant was crowded and we had a good half hour wait for a table. I had a pull pork sandwich with coleslaw…delicious! The wait gave us a chance to reminisce about our old working days for Brennan Inc. back in Berlin, NH. We talked about our coworkers who have passed on and the ones who are still kicking around.

Aqua Aerobics

Lori (Our Instructor) on the far side

The following day John spent some time on the beach and we went to our aqua aerobic class here on base. Our instructor, Lori, is one fit gal! She does this boxing routine with us, who are in the water and she on the deck. She’s got the jab, punch, hook and upper cut down to a science. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was into kick boxing. She can catapult herself with both feet in the air. I feel healthier just watching her do those moves. We have an hour of aerobics with her and after 45 minutes, we keep checking the clock thinking that time must be up. It is a real good workout! When we come out of the water, we feel like astronauts coming back to earth’s gravity. This is a MWR (Moral Welfare Recreation) activity and is free. A military ID card is all that is necessary to enroll in the class. The class varies, but on this day 34 was the enrollment. Eleven were men.

Pre-New Year’s Eve Party

Like the Christmas Eve party at the Pavilion, everyone brought a dish and our fellow camper DJ was on hand with the Karaoke for entertainment. This gathering was even larger than the Christmas gathering. Some old friends had just come into Trumbo campground and came to the party. Wow, we had a good time remembering last years’ gatherings. Many of the ladies were up dancing the night away. The party was a pre-New Years Eve party because KW is a wild place downtown on the actual eve event.

New Year’s Eve

The End of 2015 &
A New 2016!

On Thursday morning, aerobics class was our time to workout again. The afternoon was spent doing chores around the camper. John wanted to spend the day hanging around the beach and soaking in sun and the breeze. We had made plans to join other couples and have a picnic dinner over at Truman Annex (The Navy Side) and watch the last sunset of 2015. We had the beach to ourselves. The girls setup the food at one of the shelters and we all had chairs to line up on the beach and watch the sailboats sailing around in front of the setting sun. I feel we are so blessed to be able to share this type of moment not only with ourselves, but also with new found friends from all over our country.

Downtown Key West

Yes, someone drives that van
in Key West!

As expected, Key West has some pretty wild New Years’ Eve parties. Thousands and thousands of revelers crowd the streets in front of bars and along the docks to see many things drop at the stroke of midnight. It is very similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. All of this, I’m told from people who have braved the crowds and were there. We didn’t attend! After our sunset dinner with friends, on a private beach, we elected to stay away from the crazy crowds and head back to the ranch. Are we getting old? You bet, we are and not scarred to admit it. I just didn’t need to get into the pushing of the throngs. The fireworks were appreciated from the secure comfort of Naval Air Station Trumbo Point campground.

That is what we saw and did!

Unschedule Adventure ~ Sailling!

25 foot Catalina

Leaving the Marina

Sailing, Sailing!!

On Tuesday, Dan our neighbor needed a ride up to Boca Chica Marina. He needed to exercise is sailboat. I said I’d be glad to give him a ride considering that I was expecting a package at the Boca Chica Post Office. My package didn’t arrive and I drove Dan over to the Marina. Dan said, “Do you want to go for a sailboat ride”, I said, “sure why not”. I got on board and the first thing Dan says to me, “Take you wallet and phone and put into the cabin”. I’m thinking, “What I’m I getting into now?” It was incredibly hot sitting there while Dan untied about a hundred ropes holding the sails and rigging. He next started the engine and checked the gauges. We backed out of the slip and turned around towards the channel. He said to me, “Do you want to steer the boat?” I answered “Ha”, what do I do”? He said, Steer between the red and green buoys”. An alarm sounds and the depth finder warns of shallow water. He said we need at least four feet of water before we hit bottom, steer more into the middle of the channel. Like a helicopter, if you move the rudder to the right you’ll go left. It sort of like rubbing you stomach and the top of your head at the same time. got the hang of things pretty quickly. 
He had now raised one sail, but because of the islands to our left, we were shielded from the wind. The Boca Chica Channel is about two miles long. Once we cleared the islands and the channel, things changed quickly. Now that the wind caught the sail, the boat leaned over to the right. Dan trimmed the sail and it felt better. The next amazing thing happened all of a sudden He shut off the engine and I felt like we were in outer space! Quietly, gently sailing along Stock Island and further unto the Key West coast. He said, "It's even better when sailing at night with the stars above." 

Juan Valdez heading North

Now, he was teaching me how to really sail. He pointed to little strands of rope five inches long sewed into the sail. When they are tight and horizontal, you are sailing at its best. He then pointed to a feathered triangle, high on the mast. Above the triangle was an arrow, also with a feather. When the arrow feather is to the left you are sailing at top efficiency, at about five and a half knots. 
Now comes another encounter. When you want to head for a, let's say, buoy, you can’t always just point and sail to it. Wow, there is more to sailing than walking the plank! He said, “Head for those shrimp boats, several miles away”. I gently turned the rudder to the right and headed left towards the shrimp boats. All of this time, Dan is explaining rules of sailing, shrimp boat, no, no’s (they have authority if their nets are out). He said they feel that they are working and careless about sailboats. "Hence stay clear to be safe".

It was time to turn around. He said, "When I tell you turn the rudder hard to the right and keep it there". I knew enough that the one and only sail would be shifting to the other side. We had enough wind that he didn't even have the main sail up. He hollered and I moved the rudder. In a flawless moment, we came about 180 degrees. Wow, I’m thinking how does he do all of this when he’s all alone? He did give me all the details, but he’s been sailing for a long time and he didn't go around the world to get back to the slip at the dock!

Boca Chica Channel

It was hard to take pictures, but Dan did use my iPhone to document me at the helm. I hadn’t brought my wide bream hat because it doesn’t have a string to keep it on my head. Dan loaned me one from the sailboat. I look like Juan Valdez bringing coffee up from Columbia!
I can now see how one can have the love of the sea! I had a feeling like being in outer space on the space station. Quiet, peaceful, all alone and I was still insight of land! Thank You “Captain Dan”.

That is what I saw and did.

Things have changed...The New Security

Sunday Dec. 27, 2015

The security situation has changed since our last year’s visit to say the least. Number one on the list is a directive from the Pentagon. If a gate isn’t manned 24/7 with armed guards, it is to be locked and secured. (This directive is military wide) So how does this effect us? Well, first of all the man gate down on the West end of Trumbo Point was manned by the Coast Guard from 6 or 7am to 10pm with unarmed Coasties. Hence this gate is closed permanently. We now can’t walk to KW tourist districts as quick. It is about a 15 minute walk or 5 minutes by bike. We’re here for sun and exercise hence, thank you the extra security and health benefits. Up at Sigsbees, the other campground the Navy now mans their gate 24/7 with armed guards. The Navy hospital even has locked gates. For the life of me I can’t figure how they operate! It is still open, but the main gates are locked shut.

Another major step in our campground is the elimination of one huge overflow field. What this means is that many, many campers who head down here after the holidays will be turned back. Last year, at one point there were 750 camping units here. Only around 400 units will make the cut this year. I really feel good that we came down early in mid December! This last down sizing of the campground area is in part from, as the gossip goes, a retired Admiral who was parked in motor coach over in the 700 area, refused to move when sites became available in the 500 and 600 block areas. The base commander took care of that this year.

Another issue came up concerning campers walking along the former seaplane landing zone. They said that helicopter operations would be happening and this might be a safety issue. So, Helen and Carol won’t be walking the shore and looking for Conch Shells at least in this restricted zone.

We’ve also noticed more vehicle patrols around the fence lines. That makes us feel safe. Of course, there is three tanks filled with three million gals of aviation fuel just feet away from the campground. We wouldn’t feel a thing if that went off.

A Good Biking Day!

Enough on security, this morning we set out early for a round, around the island. This gave us ten miles with another mile of cruising around the Bohemian back street just below Duval and Thomas Streets. Things were pretty quiet in the neighborhood. At a corner stood two women and a man, nothing unusual, as the man took a swig from a giant bottle of Budweiser protruding from a brown paper bag. Moving along, we pedaled toward the community swimming pool and the first class public park. The city has put a large chunck of money in this section of town. With the new there is always the old. Here the old stands out with Bohemian art that adorns a home here and there. Of course there is a fine line between art and just plain junk.

 Cruise Ship leaving just after sunset!

How the other half lives!

This afternoon we went up to the Navy Gateway Lodge to watch the Patriots and Jets, but a few southern boys were already watching some sun belt teams playing. No problem, we plugged in our computers and did stuff online. This evening, it cooled down a few degrees to the low 80’s and we were due for a night ride with the bikes. This year we decided to wear some reflective vest for extra safety. Our lights, front and rear were flashing, our helmets on, and we set out for our first ride down to Mallory Square. The sunset was history, but we did manage to see a cruise ship pulling away from the dock. I snapped a couple of photos for the blog. The ride continued past the waterfront to where the super rich yachts are moored. A stop for another picture of how the other side lives. Our attention quickly turned to the street just beyond the Westin Hotel. A fire truck, ambulance, police were gathering around an injured pedal biker. We never did find out if he got bumped or took a flop. He was holding his left shoulder. One has to be careful in KW both in the day time and especially at night. Soon our illuminated bikes, vests were heading north towards the campground.




That is what we saw and did.