kyotesue

3-02-2014 Alexander Springs with Alison

Current Location: Blue Springs State Park Overcast and 58 F High today 76F

When I managed the soil survey project in Sonora, California, I had a delightful young woman from Illinois “detail” into my project for two seasons. With an emphasis on completing millions of unmapped acres out west, my agency would send folks from other parts of the country to help out with soil survey where they were needed most. I was lucky enough to get Alison. I don’t think I have ever known a more vibrant, strong, hard-working, constantly positive, cheery person ever, and that girl could dig a pit faster than any guy on the crew! We all called her “Scoopy” for the way she handled those shovels

Soil sampling with my crew in Tuolumne County, Alison in the cowboy hat

We had great times together in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, and have remained good friends. Alison took a promotion to Florida, and I have visited her a few times since that move. Last year I came to her lovely new home just after her baby boy was born. On this trip I planned specifically to be somewhere near Eustis on a weekend so that we could get together again this year. Alison’s parents are in Eustis for the winter, so they all decided to drive out to Alexander Springs for an afternoon.

With warm sunny skies, after some snacks and drinks and visiting, we decided a walk to the springs and a swim was in order. I wasn’t so sure I was warm enough to swim, even in the 72 degree water, but after watching that little baby laughing and playing in the gorgeous crystal clear pool I decided to join in as well.

I just wish there was some way to show in a photo what it felt like to swim out over the roiling water of the spring. The pool is very deep, more than 30 feet or so, and deeper into the depths of the cave where I couldn’t see. It is cobalt blue in the deepest part, and various shades of turquoise and pale blue along the edges where the underwater grasses don’t grow.

While Mo visited with Alison’s parents who watched the baby, Alison and I put on snorkel masks and swam across the white sands and dark green grasses to the spring. Then the breathtaking blues opened up below us. I had no idea, just looking at the spring from the shoreline that it held all this complex rocky reef of blues and crystal water. Of course, since I was swimming, I have no photos to document what for me was an incredibly magic moment.

Floating over a spring emitting 70 million gallons a day of crystalline water is a surprise. Alison and I both laughed afterward about how hard we were swimming and not getting anywhere. It was a magnificent moment, and a thrilling end to our last day at Alexander Springs. It was also great that after sharing so many good memories of working together in California, Alison and I had a chance to experience this little bit of magic.

There are 27 first magnitude fresh water springs in Florida, each of them completely unique, and I have only seen a few. There are rivers and spring runs to keep a kayaker happy for a very long time, so many that we can’t begin to see them all this time around. In spite of giving ourselves a month in Florida, we have only scratched the surface of the amazing network of Florida’s fresh water wonders. Still, many of them are either dark and spooky, or the manatee are there so there is no swimming allowed, or they are completely commercialized and artificial.

Alexander Springs was an afterthought, a piece of the travel puzzle that wasn’t planned. I am so grateful for the serendipity that brought us to this beautiful gem of the Ocala National Forest.

Up next: Blue Springs State Park, Manatees, and Magic Kayaks, and Sherry and David are our neighbors.

3-02-2014 Florida Heaven

Current Location: Alexander Springs Ocala National Forest CG

It is a little after 9am, and the sun just emerged through the misty fog shrouded trees. Alexander Springs campground is a forest service campground in the heart of the Ocala National Forest. I love this forest. There aren’t many places in the US where several varieties of pines and oaks are interspersed with palms and magnolias. The trees are huge, many topping over 100 feet tall, and the understory is thick with vegetation of all sorts, dominated by the saw palmetto.

Mo and I walked the Timucuan Trail yesterday, before the fog lifted, and it felt like we were in some primordial space where dinosaurs could emerge at any moment. I guess alligators are as close to dinosaurs as we will get in this lifetime, but the fact that bears also roam these forests is another crazy juxtaposition. Bears/Alligators = Palms/Pines. It all seems just goofy to someone well versed in the habitats of the western forests of the US. Guess that is why I love it, it feels so foreign and unique, and so incredibly lush and full of life.

I have a lot to write about, and the only way I can seem to do it is to step into the moment and write about the here and now. Eventually this particular blog post will work its way backward to the events of the last few days as I slowly write about “now” and let “then” slip into my thoughts. Gimme a break folks, I am on vacation, and the best vacations allow us to completely lose track of time. I have done that very well, it seems.

Campsite: This story is fun, actually. I originally planned for us to spend three days at Patrick AFB, Merrit Island, but speaking with some new fellow military famcamp friends recently, we thought better of that plan. (More on the new friends later, I don’t want to get sidetracked)

I picked a site here unseen, with a bit of difficulty, since we needed three days over a weekend, and most campgrounds were already booked. Alexander Springs is a bit more remote, and there are no hookups here, and I imagine that contributes to the availability of sites.

When we arrived on Friday night after a lovely day exploring Merrit Island NWR (more on that later, remember I don’t want to get sidetracked), the park was nearly full. Driving through the campground we were tickled to see private shaded spaces that looked pretty nice. Until we got to ours. Space 65 didn’t look bad on the internet, but in reality it is in the center of a large group area and there were already several large families settling in for the weekend. Before we even set up, there were small children running and screaming through our camp, climbing our lantern pole like monkeys, and crawling all over our picnic table in their shoes. Hmmmm.

For the first time on this trip, I felt tears come up. The campground was so lovely, how in the world did I manage to screw up this badly? I told Mo, “Don’t set up yet”, and sought out a camp host. Terry was a great guy, new at camp hosting for this park, and an employee of the concession that now runs the NF campgrounds in this area. He was sympathetic, talked to the families with all the kids (there seemed to be at least 12), and said that while he didn’t have any encouraging news, he would talk with the campground manager to see if it would be possible for us to move.

A bit later, he came back to our site and said we could move to site 56, but would have to move again on Sunday, and that it could be possible that there would be no place for us to be on Monday. He said for me to come to the gatehouse and talk to the manager. The gatehouse was just closed, but they let me in. I was nice as I could be, dripping sugar as I said, “Of course children should have camping space as much as retirees, but it IS just a bit much and we would be happy to take number 56 and then move”. The manager, Phyllis, took a look at me, and then looked at her employees and said, “Put them in Andy’s site”.

What that meant was that we got to park for the entire three days in a camp host site with power and electric right at the back of the nicest bath house in the park. Our price for this bit of serendipity is possibly being mistaken for camp hosts, in spite of the black plastic sack placed over the camp host sign. The US flag still brings some folks our way. The other funny part is that our parking area looks a bit like a pathway to the bathrooms, and we have a parade of various kinds of people coming through our site on the way to the bathroom. Makes for some interesting conversations.

With the little kids, Mo just says, “Please walk over there rather than going through our site”. With some high school boys, she started talking with them, and they turned into the most polite creatures imaginable, saying “yes maam” and “no maam” and such. Seems as though they were ROTC kids doing an orienteering weekend in the park. They turned out to be really sweet kids, who still say hi, but walk around behind the rig rather than through our site to get to the bathroom.

Yesterday morning was Mo’s birthday, we we began the day with her favorite poached egg breakfast in the MoHo before exploring the area and hiking the short trail. The springs were full of divers taking an instruction class, and the happy children were everywhere on the trails. The Timucuan Trail boardwalk was quiet, however, and we met only one couple walking.

Checking out the little camp store was nice, and the new manager has added a great inventory of swim and snorkel gear, flotation devices, and reasonably priced snacks. This is definitely a diving, swimming, snorkeling, and family park. There is a canoe concession with a great supply of canoes, and a launch that costs $6 per boat. However, another one of the park hosts, a nice guy who knows everything about the area, told us about the free walk in launch back on the highway on the south side of the bridge.

At first for whatever reason, I wasn’t all that anxious to get on the water. Seems pretty crazy, since the main reason I came to Florida was to kayak the spring runs! Somehow photos of the tangled vegetation and low water made me a bit nervous. I have no idea why I felt this way, but thank goodness Mo didn’t take me up on my tentative comment, “Well, we don’t HAVE to go kayaking this afternoon.”

The launch just off the highway was perfect, with hard packed fine sand and only 50 feet or so from where we parked the Tracker. Slipping into the water was a perfect moment, and I knew that finally I was in my version of Florida Heaven.

The water at the bridge was crystal clear, although a dark tea color from staining by the organic matter in the riverbed. We slipped into the gentle current, paddling upstream toward the spring and took our time going the 1.37 miles or so to the barrier between the spring run and the actual spring. The sun was gorgeous, the plants were brilliant green with some trees beginning to leaf out. A single kayaker and another canoe passed us going back downstream, but other than that, it was totally quiet.

I marveled at how different this forest sounds in the breeze. The palm fronds almost sound like waterfalls, and the splash of turtles dropping into the water is another different sound. On our morning walk, the birds had been fairly quiet, but this afternoon they were in full song, and I heard a barred owl although we didn’t see him.

When we first got on the water we were greeted by a very playful, and very curious otter, who swam right under my kayak, surfacing in front of me. He was too fast for me, and by the time I dropped the paddle to pick up the camera he was already swimming away in front of the boat. We saw a couple more on the lower edge of the run.

As we got closer to the spring, the water lost its tea color and turned a gorgeous shade of blue and then to no color at all. Alexander Spring is another first magnitude spring, with more than 70 million gallons a day of fresh pure water pouring from its depths.

I loved seeing all the fish swimming beneath us and my favorite bird of the day was a happy little blue heron who wasn’t the least bit concerned about me being close by watching.

Just thought I would mention here that I decided to skip hauling the big lens on the river and only took the 17-70 for photos. So this photo of my favorite little bird is without telephoto. I was literally this close to him and didn’t disturb him in the least.

We also finally found a small gator, very well hidden in the brush along the bank. The turtles were wonderful, enjoying the sun. I guess it is time for me to get up on the different kinds of turtles found in these waters. I know there are several varieties.

Backtrack writing is still in the works, of course, but I am in the present moment, listening to birds, enjoying the sunshine, and thinking about preparing for a visit from Alison, one of my favorite soil scientist friends who lives nearby in Eustis. Alison will be bringing her baby boy Damen ( old time readers might remember the quilt I made for Damen) out to visit us here at the spring. I can’t wait to see her again.

We did have a magnificent day, our last day in Key West, and an even more magnificent evening. While camping at Sigsbee, one of the greatest delights of the place is the friendly atmosphere. We got lucky our first day there, and met a lovely couple from Panama City, new to RVing, but accomplished sailors. Judy refers to her RV as their “land yacht”. The two of them also had new Trek bikes that were pretty darn sweet, and a couple of kayaks with sails.

Something about kayaks in your campsite makes for easy conversation, and on our last evening there, Tom and Judy invited us for wine and sunset. I must say, being a Florida girl from Panama City gave Judy some big points on sunset viewing and she honored us with her conch blowing skills to accompany the setting sun. Such a great moment.

I have a feeling these are friends that we will see again, whether in Panama City as they invited us, or in Rocky Point where we invited them to visit.

I can’t keep going back in my mind any more, and writing about our first night at Cracker Barrel in Fort Pierce, visiting the beach at Fort Pierce, our flat tire and AAA experience on a rainy night, and exploring the Merritt Island NWR will have to wait for another post. Next time hopefully I can get caught up before more stuff happens. You know how it is when you are traveling and having fun and I just decided the heck with it…I’m not going to try to keep everything in order, it is too much work!

2-27-2014 Traveling North from Key West to Fort Pierce and a flat tire!

Our last day in Key West was a day of preparations for traveling north. We took the opportunity to stock up on some groceries at the commissary, bought supplies at the Exchange, and filled both the MoHo and the Tracker with gas. The car wash near the camp ground was reasonably priced as well, at a buck and a quarter for several minutes, we cleaned off all that lovely salt air on the MoHo and had time to wipe her down to a nice shine.

Must mention a side note here. After more than six years on the road, the MoHo paint is as shiny as new, with no oxidation or discoloration. Something called whole body paint rather than decals makes a big difference, I believe. Mo uses a simple combination cleaner/wax when washing the rig and we have never put any other kind of wax finish on it.

Other errands for the day included taking Abby to the groomer to get all that long hair trimmed back. She was visibly cooler and happier when we picked her up and the price was reasonable as well. Good thing I didn’t read the reviews but it was the only place available and all we needed was a haircut. The name of the place was “Doggie Style”. Hmmm.

I spent the afternoon cleaning the interior and doing laundry, taking a shower, and enjoying the beautiful day before we ambled off to the Sunset Grill for Happy Hour. Hoping for some coconut shrimp, I was disappointed that that particular menu item wasn’t available, but settled instead for some nice peel and eat shrimp, better for me anyway.

We spent some time listening to folks laughing and partying, watching the view of the sun toward the west, but decided that waiting another 90 minutes for the sunset just wasn’t high on our agenda. So glad we left, because walking around the campground we came upon some folks we met earlier in our stay who had managed to snag a great waterfront site after just two days in the park.

Tom and Judy were gregarious folks who know how to make friends quickly and carry on a lively conversation. We enjoyed every minute of our sunset time with them and exchanged emails and addresses for future get togethers. Judy’s sunset conch blowing brought out the neighbors with their own conchs and they all created a lovely harmony with the big shells.

The next morning we were on the road early, traveling north again along the Overseas Highway. I especially loved being high enough in a motorhome that we could see over the road barriers to the gorgeous water. On this last morning, the skies were cloudy and storms were brewing all along the route, with a few momentary downpours, but nothing extensive.

The route was straightforward, and we had already decided to use the Florida Turnpike to miss the most extensive area of traffic around Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I had no clue what the final cost would be, but checking the website for our Florida SunPass it was about $30 for the route from Homestead to Fort Pierce. The transponder worked just fine and all four axles were documented with no overcharges or undercharges.

Our reservations at Alexander Springs allowed for one overnight stop somewhere along the route, and with a point on the map, we picked Fort Pierce. Another reason for choosing Fort Pierce for our overnight stay was the convenient access to a Cracker Barrel restaurant at the point where we planned to exit the Turnpike and get on I-95 to continue north. I called the restaurant and they confirmed that we could stay overnight in the RV parking area so we took a little extra time to explore the small town of Fort Pierce.

There is a small historic area downtown, and a nice Manatee Center near the wharf and beach. Again, we discovered several parks on the beach that prohibited dogs, but closer to the main beach there was an access area that said not a word about no dogs, so we took Abby out for a run. The water was rough, the winds strong and the temperatures were quite chilly. That encouraged the kite surfers, however, and they were out in force.

We arrived at the Cracker Barrel in time to get a nice level spot along the edge of the parking lot and decided on an early supper. By the time we landed, it was raining misty, so a warm home cooked supper was nice. Cracker Barrel seems to focus most on home style farm style kinds of food, with things such as meat loaf, pot roast, and mashed potatoes on the menu. I laughed because we had both green beans and carrots and they were very tasty, but not “tender-crisp”. They were well cooked and highly seasoned mid-west style, the way our mothers did.

When we walked back out to the MoHo, I noticed a tire seemed low, and a closer inspection revealed a more serious problem. Our passenger side inner dual tire was completely flat! Whew. No idea that it was low as we traveled a couple of hundred miles along the turnpike. We choose not to have sensors because my trucker daughter insists that they cause more problems than they solve. Don’t need a discussion here, I know lots of readers feel differently.

We couldn’t have had the problem in a better place, all settled in for the night in a safe spot off the road. I called AAA RV in Oregon, and was routed to a Florida agent who then said someone would be out within an hour. After the designated time came and went, I called again and was told that there was no one in the vicinity who knew how to do RV tires who was available. Daughter Deanna, who drives this route often said, “Mom, the Pilot, the Flying J, and the Loves are all right there within a mile of you and they all do truck tire fixes”. I could have called them, but then I would have had to pay and try to get reimbursed from AAA and didn’t want to do that.

Instead we just waited, and finally at 10:30 PM, in the rain, our truck repair guy showed up, traveling all the way from Miami, a two hour trip. Yon was all smiles and I couldn’t understand a word that he said, even though he was speaking English. I also couldn’t imagine how he was going to jack up the rig with just the little bit of equipment he had on his pick-up. Yon’s smiles came and went and he fought with the jack in the rain, and finally hauled out some kind of hydraulic jack that operated on his air system and got the rig up.

He was also expert at hoisting those tires around, and immediately knew we had a valve stem problem. I did understand those words. He was right, and once he got the rig hoisted, within minutes he had the tire off, had the valve stem replaced, and the tire checked and re-inflated and reinstalled. Quite a guy.

Mo bought all new tires just before this trip, but the tire in this position was the spare, one of the vehicles original tires, and the stem had cracked. We fell into bed at midnight in the rain, happy that all ended well and our tire repair happened so easily in such a good place. That kind of good luck with what could be a serious situation just seems to follow Mo around. Pretty nice.

02-26-2014 Key West, a Different Perspective…or Two

Current Location: NAS Key West Sigsbee Campground 78 Degrees F, 87 % humidity

First, let me say that this is not a travel blog about Key West. There are plenty of places to go to read all about the delights and attractions of this historic town. I am writing about Key West and how I felt about being here. The history and delights are well documented elsewhere.

I am relaxing in the MoHo this morning under high overcast skies and warm temperatures. The generator is going again, but the air conditioner isn’t on. The breezes are lovely, and sufficient for cooling the rig as I write. I took a morning walk down to the water to check on conditions for a kayak to discover a surface smooth as glass. Might have been nice to slip those boats in at just that moment, but those little details of living life now and then get in the way of recreating.

Today will be our last in Key West at Sigsbee Campground and we need to make a much needed shopping excursion at the Commissary and the Naval Exchange for some supplies. In addition, we finally managed to snag an appointment for a haircut for Abby. (Mo has yet to be successful in this endeavor and her hair is quite lovely with all that wild humidity contributing to her wild curly look)

When we first arrived last weekend, I attempted to find a groomer for Abby, leaving messages as directed. So far not one groomer has returned my call. I would imagine that they prefer repeat customers when appointments are at a premium. Yesterday, however, on our route home from town, in an attempt to avoid the construction on Highway 1, we took a side route. Lo and Behold! A small local dog groomer was just closing his doors and we begged for an appointment and got one for 12 noon today. Hence skipping the morning kayak in favor or an afternoon sojourn on the water. Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate.

It is a bit humid, but for me that isn’t intolerable, different for sure, but not intolerable. We couldn’t be in a better place right now for balmy temperatures and no storms. Looking at the national weather maps this morning, I saw all the rain hitting the southeast with the Floridian Peninsula completely out of the path of that bright green radar. Southern Florida seems to be spared for the time being. We have been sleeping with a very light cover and all the windows open, even the front door, and the Fantastic Fan running. It is another nice thing about being in a military campground, it feels fairly safe.

I have learned an invaluable lesson on this trip to Key West. Several lessons actually. For one, sometimes returning to a location for the second time after an amazing first visit can be a bit of a disappointment. The second big lesson is that there actually ARE some places that are less fun in motorhome with pets than they were at a delightful little B&B within walking distance to town. We first spent a short vacation in Key West in 2010, (post here). At the time, I couldn’t wait to get back with the ‘freedom’ of our own motorhome to enjoy the area and with our bikes and kayaks and snorkel gear along with us.

Most people who stay here at Sigsbee ride their bikes to town rather than dealing with the traffic in a car. For us, a ten mile round trip in the heat isn’t all that exciting, in addition to competing with the crazy traffic that includes all sorts of motor scooters, motor cycles, bicycles, and lots of cars and crowds of people. We followed John Herr’s advice and found free parking down by the Coast Guard Cutter and walked the mile or so to downtown with Abby on the night we decided to watch the sunset at Mallory Square.

Our walk was fun, and we took the back routes toward the square before negotiating our way through the heavy crowds toward the famous point for sunset watching. Getting there an hour early was perfect, since we got a place to sit along the seawall where Abby could rest and be comfortable. The sunset was interesting, quite lovely part of the time, and then a cloud obscured the horizon as the sun descended and no one seemed to know exactly when to cheer. I missed that big group chorus to honor the setting sun, but loved watching the sky change and shift.

Our plan included trying to get into the Hog’s Breath Saloon for dinner, one of the few places we could find in town that had a patio for doggie dining. Once we arrived, however, the crowds and the noise were completely overwhelming and we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We walked back toward Whitehead Street, past our favorite old haunt for happy hour, Kelly’s. I asked if they allowed dogs on the patio, and nope, not an option.

Giving up on my fantasy of great gulf shrimp for supper, we wangled our way through the traffic and construction back to the base and slipped into Five Guys. It was our first experience with this burger chain, and it was pretty darn good, although it wasn’t exactly my idea of the kind of food I was hoping for during our time in Key West.

Another lesson, is that number three? that I have learned is that Key West is not necessarily “The Keys”. The middle keys and upper keys are much more quiet and quaint, with lots of wildlife, trails, secret kayaking coves and beautiful beaches. Reading back over my own blog I was surprised that I hadn’t remembered that my best meal in the keys was not in Key West, but back on Islamorada. Karen and Al and several other blogging couples are camping in RV parks at various locations along the Keys, and choose to come to Key West for a day or two of entertainment.

I do know that Randy and Pam and Carol and John love staying at Sigsbee, but maybe that is because they are here for extended stays rather than just a few short days. Hence the title, two perspectives. For a long term stay in Key West that is affordable, this is the very best option. I probably will never return for a short term stay, but that in no way diminishes the excellent experience of other friends who love this place.

I also thought that perhaps our timing was a bit off, and that the folks who love staying here and spending more time are visiting in November, December, and possibly January. We are here right after President’s Week (did you know that is now a week, not just a long weekend?) and right before Spring Break. Might have something to do with it as well, so keep that in mind if you want to come to Key West.

A friend made a comment suggesting that perhaps they could change the policy for the campground and allow fewer people into the sites. I would hate to see that happen. If this park became a reservation park, it would end up like all the others in the Keys where it is nearly impossible to find a place to stay. At least if you drive several thousand miles to experience Key West, it is a given that there will be a place to park at the end of the line, right here at Sigsbee. That was so reassuring as we drove the long distance to get here.

Another great treat was the Atlantic side beach for military personnel inside the gates at Truman Annex. We drove there yesterday, having learned some side routes to avoid traffic, and settled in to a great shaded table overlooking the turquoise water. The skies were a bit overcast so the photos didn’t catch the amazing color that I saw as I swam south toward the rocks. I snorkeled a bit but didn’t see anything, but the water at 78 degrees or so felt fantastic. The water was clear and clean and beautiful, with no sign of the dreaded Man-o-War jellyfish that could plague the beach later in the season.

Mo sat under the shade and read with Abby, since there was a sign proclaiming no dogs on the beach. After a time she came down to take a photo of me swimming and took a chance and brought Abby down to cool off. No one seemed to mind and Abby loved swimming in the warm water as much as I did.

We thought that around 2 would be a good time to once again try the Hog’s Breath Saloon, thinking it was before happy hour and after lunch. What we didn’t realize was that Key West is a big cruise port, with 1 to 3 ships in port every single day. Have I been under a rock somewhere to not know this? Looking back at our photos from our last visit I was right, there were way fewer people on the streets last time than we found this time. The place was a horror of crowds and weaving our way through the throngs with Abby on leash was not a bit fun.

The Hog’s Breath was again jammed and loud and Mo said, “I’ll wait here on the bench while you go find your Key Lime stuff.” I had to get at least a slice of key lime pie and also bought one of those key lime pie slices on a stick covered in chocolate. No clue if we would get dinner since I didn’t take anything out of the freezer expecting to eat a late afternoon lunch.

We continued walking along Duval when suddenly a cool, shady path leading back to a quiet restaurant beckoned. I left Mo on the street, walked back to talk to the waiter, and sure enough, dogs were completely welcome on his patio. There wasn’t another soul in the place, the birds were singing, the trees shaded the table, and he brought water for Abby. Our food turned out to be pretty darn good, and I got some nice pink gulf shrimp cooked Cuban style, with Cuban rice and a green salad with fresh fruits added to the classic tomato and cucumber. We decided that Cuban food was excellent, especially in a shady patio with the dog.

As I was writing this blog, I had no idea of the name of the place, and had to hunt and hunt using Google Street View to find it. It is called the Jungle Café, but there are other reviews for another place called Jungle Café that is NOT this place. Then I did find a review or two, very outdated, that said it was closed. In case you want to find it, it is right next to the Diamond International just a door or two down from the Smallest Bar on Duval Street.

Something else I should comment on: Several people have suggested that we do some of the wonderful things to do here. The Dry Tortugas are beautiful and remote, and we loved taking that all day boat trip the last time we were here. We also climbed the charming Key West lighthouse and loved the museum there, and visited the Hemingway House, another great treat. Didn’t feel we needed to do those things again on this visit. On this trip, we found the great Higgs Beach Dog Park, a bit of a misnomer because it is a dog park near Higgs Beach, not a beach dog park, but still quite nice for a morning playtime for Abby. The dog park here at Sigsbee is quite nice as well, although not as shaded.

We had parked the car a couple of blocks north of Duval, in front of a lovely old church, no charge and no signs prohibiting parking except for Sunday and Wednesday afternoon. On the way back to the car, I stopped in at my favorite place from the previous visit Pelican Poop Shop to purchase something I had daydreamed about since the last time I was here. The brilliant turquoise fish sculpture is all wrapped up in bubble wrap so there won’t be a photo till I get back to Rocky Point and hang it in my tropical themed bathroom. Last time I refused to pay shipping to buy it, so this time I didn’t have to since we had the MoHo along. Another one of the good things about having our rig along on this visit.

I also found a nice little shop, a bit less crazy than the tourist shops on Duval, that had some nice pastel visors that I wanted. I found a perfect one for Mo’s birthday, coming up shortly. She had been looking at my Hell’s Canyon visor with a bit of envy so it was a good present.

We kayaked from the rocky shore here at the base on our first day, and plan to do so again this afternoon. That is the other good thing about having our rig, bikes, and kayaks along. The water is beautiful and clear, but there is a lot of boat traffic that requires vigilance to avoid. We heard there was a manatee hanging out in the channel we explored the other day but we didn’t see him. Today we will know what to look for and maybe we will find him.

This has been a difficult post to write, trying to capture the good parts of being here and not let the disappointments overwhelm overshadow the delights. I am so glad we made it here, and glad we experienced Sigsbee camping, glad we were in the keys when the weather was so awful elsewhere. Still, I will have a better idea when we get back to Northern Florida and the fresh water springs if my disappointment is directly related to Key West, or if I am possibly just a bit worn down from moving too quickly across the landscape. However, moving out of Key West tomorrow may not come quickly enough. I am ready.

02-22-2014 to 02-26-2014 Days in Key West

Current temperature at Sigsbee NAS Campground 83F Humidity 74% Partly Cloudy

At the moment, we are holed up in the MoHo with the generator on and the air conditioning running full blast. Being in the dry camping area at the NAS Key West (what used to be called Sigsbee Field) the air conditioner is imperative, even with our lacy shade trees overhead. At the moment Mo is trying to get our CO2 sensor to quit beeping. We don’t have a special stack for the generator as suggested, however even if we did, all the other generators going at the moment in these tight quarters might set that sensor off anyway.

Jeremy decided to add to the humid, quite warm ambience of the MoHo by adding something of his own. Albeit in the cat box, still requiring a nice kitty bath to make it all ok again. Very indignantly, he is trying to lick himself dry now. Nice to be able to not worry about him catching a cold. The last few times I have given him a bath in Mo’s collapsible bucket he seems to enjoy it, at least for the most part. I think his favorite part is getting all swaddled up in the bath towel and cuddled until he is at least partially dry. He doesn’t complain.

This is our second full day in the campground, having arrived in late afternoon on Saturday. The campground office was closed, but after reading several accounts of the procedure, and an emergency call to John (our recent new friends at “Our Trip Around the Sun”, we had an idea where to go and how to proceed.

Within minutes of calling the phone number posted on the office door, a campground host showed up in his little cart and went over the process of signing up officially on Monday morning and led us to what was to be our site for the weekend. We were tucked back in a circular area with several rigs around us, all running their Honda 2000i’s to ward off the heat. I guess one of these generators will power a 30 amp rig, but it takes two to power up the big guys with 50 amps. Only planning on dry camping for 5 nights, we were content to use the generator on board the MoHo.

Camping here is an experience at what is most definitely an inside culture of folks who know how to do it, how it works, and those who don’t. Lucky for us, most of the folks know how to do it, and we have communicated enough with blog friends who have camped here that we had a basic understanding of the rotation system and didn’t give our host too much trouble. He wasn’t so lucky with some folks arriving just before we did, with a lady waving her arms and looking disgusted trying to wangle a better site on their first night here. We did know better than that, and Walter, the host, told us that the rotation at the moment is about 4 weeks with more than 200 rigs signed up on the rotation list.

Trumbo Annex, at the Coast Guard facility down the road, is completely full with long time sites that have been filled since Christmas. We were told there is no chance of getting into that part of the family camp. Dry camp in this part of camp is mandatory rotation, but with only five nights here, that isn’t an issue for us. Tired from our journey across the keys, and the traffic and surprising heat and humidity, we settled in with the air conditioner and the generator going full blast.

We had a bit of a hiccup with the generator, being set for high elevation, and no doubt a bit moist from all the humidity, it coughed a bit and died. Unsure what the problem was and with darkness falling, Mo decided to wait until morning to check the oil and the altitude adjustment. All was fine after that, but our first night here was a bit of an adjustment for us as well. With normally balmy temperatures in Key West, we weren’t expecting mid 80’s and little breeze. From what I have learned, it happens sometimes, but not usually this time of year.

During our evening walk around the campground, we ran into the camp host and asked what exactly you had to do to draw one of those primo waterfront sites. He said, “Well, I have one coming in tomorrow that is too big for the site, so you could move in there after ten AM”. OK then!

We went to sleep pretty tickled, got up early to go explore town and get our bearings in the car before our scheduled move. Back at ten sharp, we checked the site as instructed, and with it empty, we made our move. No sooner had we dropped the jacks and opened the slide that another camp host arrived to tell us, “Sorry to tell you this, but you have to move. This site has come up in rotation and you can’t be here.”

Instead of staying in our very hot, very fume filled site however, Buzz led me to a shady site that was a bit smaller and was right by the garbage cans. Oh thank you for a small rig. Garbage cans or not, this site is shaded with two lovely, lacy trees that are actually nasty invasive species that are overtaking the Keys. At the moment, with the shade from those trees, we can sit outside in our site and enjoy the cooling breezes, and the MoHo doesn’t get all that hot during the day with just the Fantastic Fan running and the windows open.

There are several hundred RVs on site at this moment, and as I said 200 or so are waiting to rotate into a full hookup site. Generators are allowed to run between 7am and 11pm, and there is a dump and water station. We learned that if you try to dump during the dark there is a $15,000. fine. Yup, you read that right.

With all the complexity, it might seem easier to just go to a regular RV park, but at the current rate of $147 per night at the local KOA, and no other parks around, we decided that paying $13.00 per night to camp here was worth it. Thus far, after about half our five day stay, we have used about 1/4 tank of gasoline to run the generator. Pretty inexpensive digs to stay in Key West.

Next post: Some of the more delightful aspects of staying and visiting in Key West and why we decided it was worth it.