After a day of relaxing, I was on the go again but this time with just the land dinghy and my tent and Therma-rest mattress to find Mile Marker “0” for Route 1. As I headed south for the last time, I stopped at Homestead at a produce stand highly recommended by Sue and Murray’s friends called “Robert is Here”. “Best smoothies in Florida” Not being a smoothie expert other than myself, it was a bit of all right.
As I traveled out onto the long chain of islands that makeup the Florida Keys I caught my breath because visions of Fiji came flowing in. The sub tropical environment had me in rapture. This was way cool driving from one set of islands to the next. Paralleling the highway was the old early century railroad that had been constructed to bring goods in from Cuba. When hurricanes proved too much for the system, the state took over and converted it into a highway. When the highway started falling into the sea in the 1970’s it was abandoned for a new series of bridges. So as you drove the 110 miles your companions were the high power poles and the old train/highway bridges so if you ever got spooked about being “over the sea” just look to the side and there were these two features to assure that you were not alone.
I made two important stops before my campground on Bahia Honda Key; the first and perhaps the most important The Wrecks Sports Bar and Grill. Being a good tourist I couldn’t find it so I asked a fireman climbing out of his fire truck (no fire) where it was located. I was informed that it was call THE Wreck and where it stood. THE Wreck was one of the thousand bars along the Over-the-Sea Highway, but Rick and Alix said to check it out. Sitting on a bar stool I ordered the conch fritters. If there ever was a pennant printed, it was stapled to the establishment’s ceiling. The radio was blaring out moldy oldies and someone yelled for Linda to fix the reception. “Linda” walked into the kitchen re-arranged the antenna wire and when the sound was clear, taped them into place. My plate of conch fritters arrived and Linda sauntered on by. We struck up a conversation that last 45 minutes. She had owned a restaurant near Miami and sold it. This was more to her liking. When she heard what I was doing, she asked what was the highlight of my journey. I said, “Talking to people like you.” We both lamented the loss of “local”. First it was the cities and now even the smallest towns have the national chains that look stamped out of the same mould, local architecture be damned. Even now the local dialect is becoming smoothed out due to national television. After finishing the delectable conch fritters, my waitress asked if I wanted any thing else. “Key lime pie?”
“Yes.” “Key lime pie.” “Yes.” I was served the largest and best key lime pie that I’ve ever had. “You order these things in?” “No, we make our own right here.”
The second stop of the day was at the Florida Sea Base where I put on my Sea Scout hat, so to speak, and talked shop with Steve Willis, the Program Director. I got an excellent look at a high-powered operation for the National Boy Scouts of America. Back in the early 60’s I had heard of the scout ranch in New Mexico called Philmount. But I didn’t know that Florida Sea Base was their next shining star. They serve 10,000 youth per season.
My key port-of-call was Bahia Honda (Bay Ya’ Honda, Spanish for deep bay – most of the keys have coral reefs that stop deep draft ships from approaching. Bahia Honda was one of the few that had deep water right at the shore.) What a delightful hole-the-wall state park. I got an exceptional tent site on the east side of the key. [Side Bar: In the Katrina Hurricane damage area everything is spoken of as “Pre” or “Post” for anything related to time. In the Florida Keys everything is spoken of as “Bay Side” or “Ocean Side” in relation to directions and locations.] The ocean side site was within 150 yards of the Atlantic Ocean. Sweet. When I was checking, an ad in the park brochure listed snorkel tours as one of the attractions. Next thing I know I’m signing up at the concession stand for a snorkel trip the next day at noon.
This whole trip down the Florida Keys was to stand at mile marker “0” for Route #1 in Key West and be the farthest away from La Conner, Washington that I could get. Also I wanted to follow Routine 1 all the way up through Maine in the months to come. I shall stand at this “zero” point.
No comments:
Post a Comment