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.

Christmas Day 2015

December 25, 2015

Christmas Eve at NAS (Naval Air Station) Trumbo Campground!

Dancing the night away!

Our little 5th wheel! (neighbors decorations)

This is our first Christmas away from family, up in New Hampshire, since we’ve been married (1970). Christmas Eve turned out to be a pleasant surprise for us and I think many of our fellow Trumbo campers. About a week ago, we had a community meeting and it was decided to try and do something at our pavilion. We would all bring appetizers and byob or drinks. No one knew how this would all turnout. I think the key to the evening success was a fellow retired military camper who does karaoke down in several places here in Key West. His music and his excellent voice got everyone in the groove. A few brave Trumbonians got up and did karaoke. Great time was had by all, not to mention tons of food and merriment all night. It was mentioned that we should do this again for New Years! It was a marvelous evening with a full moon! The temperature was 76 degrees with a gentle breeze from the East. We sat at a table with now, new found friends. One couple had lived in Alaska and we had plenty to talk about. Another couple was in our aerobic class and Chila (spelled correctly) recognized us. They sounded interested in trying Bocce. We’ll see if they show on Mondays and Fridays. Our schedule is starting to fill-up. Bocce on Mondays and Fridays, Aerobic classes Wednesday, Thursday and could be also on Friday, but we will stick with Bocce on that day. We haven’t checked in to the Soup Kitchen to see if they need volunteers for Sunday. We did see a couple of volunteers, who no longer work there for one reason or another. Things never stay the same and life goes on with or without us. We are grateful that we can live this vagabond lifestyle and meet interesting people.

94 year old Col. Bill signing WWII songs

Speaking of meeting interesting people, our neighbors Pat and Dan are retired FedEx pilots. He flew 30 years and she 25 years for FedEx. They flew together for 8 years (pilot and co-pilot) It’s neat to hear them talk about their travels. They flew all over the world. She would shop, say in Dubai and he loved to shop in Hong Kong. She also had her own flight school in New Jersey. They have a brand new Bentley Motor Home along with a Yacht moored at Boca Chica Mariner. Just another amazing couple that we have met here in Key West!
That is what we saw and did!

In The Groove...Workout

Wednesday, December 23th 2015
Today was a good start to actively keeping fit down here in the Keys. It was time for the shake down cruise on the mountain bikes. Oddly enough, there are no mountains in Key West, but that doesn’t stop us from getting a workout on the bikes. One only has to keep in the higher gears and the pedaling gets harder and the exercise get beneficial. So, for our first ride, we went across down over to Truman Annex, another Navy base. It’s only about three miles, but for a shakedown cruise it was enough to see if anything needed adjustment, after a long dormant time up in New Hampshire.

Christmas Cards filling the top rail of the slide in the camper!

The ride over was uneventful, I did need to adjust the kickstand from rubbing off of the pedal. A minor repositioning of the bike padlock was also needed. At Truman Annex, we explored the deserted beach. Things have changed since last year. There is a large petrified log that we used to sit on last year. To our surprise, the log is buried, nearly invisible. About two feet of coral rocks have been pushed ashore. This part of the beach isn’t really good for swimming, but mostly used for sitting under one of the shelters, looking at the ocean, reading a good book and relaxing the day away. It was early and we were on a mission of making sure the bikes were road worthy for our roundabout of the Kew West Island. On the way back, we detoured into Truman Annex, the civilian high-end housing district. This hasn’t changed, everything is prim and proper and also with a hefty price tag to live, rent or buy property. Vehicle traffic here is restricted to occupants, bicycles are allowed, but the gates are locked, I believe around 6 or 7 in the evening. It is a wonderful evening walk or bike ride, if you don’t mind walking or biking to a one and only access point.

Santa's helper down on the docks!

Once back at NAS Trumbo campground, Helen kept reminding me that we should be going over to the Olympic size swimming pool and join the aqua aerobic class. First, I was concerned that the water would be to cold, yes, that’s what I’ve been hearing. Secondly, I wasn’t sure if there would be any  guys in the class. Well, moving right along, I agreed to go. Helen said it was free so what did I have to lose!
It was free, except, we had to walk back to the camper and bring our military ID’s. I was surprised to see how many people showed up both from Trumbo and Sigbee campground. Ok, the water temperature was 78 degrees, it was cool to get into, but in three minutes, the athletic looking female instructor was moving us around and the temperature was a none issue. It was the first time that I have tried this type of exercise. With five bulging disks, (no back pain, just numbness in my left leg), I was surprised to see how this aerobic exercise seemed to work for me. The water resistance is the key. Look at me, talking like an expert! Will see how this activity will workout for my chubby waste line numbers. Oh, yes, there were enough males in the class for me to blend in!

That is what we saw and did!