Beyond Doomsday

Well we have survived our departure from the Conch Republic and 

Reorganizing the RV

returned to the Mainland!  We spent nearly a month in Melbourne getting work done on our bodies and our home!  Refrig was rebuilt and is doing great, annual maintenance was also accomplished along with some other minor items.  BJ and I saw the docs and they declared we were alive and well.  We reunited with a number of our Key West friends that left KW before and after us and made it to Patrick AFB for a layover.  As usual we did not get as much done as we hoped to.  Did not get over to O-town to see some friends, did not get in as much paddling as we wanted.  But, BJ put the finishing touches on the beautiful quilt she has been working on for the last several months and it is spectacular.  I managed to improve my carving techniques on our Trikke and started thinking of upgrading to the bigger model. We did a major repack/reorganization of the RV, especially the basements.  Got rid of stuff we had not used and moved other stuff around to more evenly distribute the weight in the coach.  And, had to do a major reorg of the storage unit where the few remaining worldly things we have that are not on wheels are stored!!  That chore was a day long job plus a little.  

We moved on to NS Mayport in Jacksonville to visit Garrett, our son, and Gary, my brother.  Also, spent the first several days getting the front tire on my Trikke repaired after it blew out right before we left Patrick.  Met the Trikke dealer here in Mayport.  His name is BJ, too.  Turned out he was the only Trikke dealer I could find that had some T-12 models like I wanted.  Other dealers had them back ordered until June, which presented a problem since we move so frequently.  So I got my new T-12 which made BJ, my spouse, happy because she does not have to share the T-78 with me anymore.  Anybody interested in Trikke's let me know and I will send you BJ, the Trikke guy's, contact info.

One of the benefits of the Famcamp at NS Mayport is you are looking out on the St John's River at the mouth of the Navy ship basin!  So you get to see the Navy ships come and go for their sea duty.

One of the US Navy Ships departing NS Mayport for sea trials

A sub moving back out to sea after a short visit to the ship basin

We have enjoyed our week+ here but we both agree we are ready to hit the road and do some serious traveling which we have not done since last November!!  We are leaving here for Lake Waccamaw NC for a family wedding.  Then we will head on toward RI where the grandkids and their handlers are but don't plan on getting that far north until Memorial day.  We will do some touring along the way at Richmond, Washington DC, Philadelphia and other points TBD!!

We will try to keep you posted, but if you sign up to follow the blog in the upper right corner of this page you will be notified automatically when there is a new posting.  Any questions let me know.

Forida Key Deer

The Florida Key Deer is one of the many interesting things making the Keys such a unique place.  They use to be found throughout the Keys wherever there was a reliable fresh water supply.  Due to habitat destruction, both man-made and natural, they are now normally found only on Big Pine Key and, very nearby, No Name Key; in the wet season they may range on to other nearby Keys temporarily because water is there.  

In the late 1940’s the total population was thought to be only 30-40 deer.  However, since then an aggressive protection program has rebuilt the herd to an estimated 700-800.  They are use to cohabiting their territory with humans and show little of the fear commonly seen in their bigger White-tail deer relatives.  
It also leads to their biggest threat – the automobile.  Especially at night, they wonder freely around the keys and invariably some are hit by autos. It is estimated that deer-vehicle collisions account for 50% to 70% of the annual mortality of Key Deer.  The speed limits on Big Pine and No-Name are strictly enforced to try and reduce this lost.  Most human inhabitants take pride in “their” deer and take precautions to control their dogs and otherwise protect the deer.  
The Key Deer is not hard to spot along the road or in the pine scrub, especially near sunrise or sunset.  They graze nonchalantly as humans go by on their errands.  When some stop (usually tourist) they will sometimes even approach or allow the people to approach, but usually will keep their distance.  It is illegal to feed or bother the Key Deer.

The National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957 to help insure the survival of the deer sub-species as well as other Keys wildlife.  Its headquarters is on Big Pine Key and the refuge covers much of Big Pine Key and No-Name Key. Adult male Key Deer usually weigh 55–75 lb and stand about 30 inches tall at the shoulder. Adult females usually weigh between 44–64 lb and have an average height of 26 inches at the shoulders.  Except for size they closely resemble the common White-Tail deer found throughout the US. 

Another interesting part of the unique Florida Keys. This LINK is to an info sheet on the Key Deer.

Our Migration NORTH!!

As the sun sets on our season in the Keys, we look back on a wonderful three plus months enjoying many different activities and new friends as well as some old ones from previous visits. The weather got off to a bad start in December which turned out to be the coldest Dec on record.  It was rainy and windy and cold all at once!

However, Jan and Feb turned out to be beautiful weather interspersed with a few cool and/or windy days that gave us a break from kayaking and fishing!   We kayaked to some new Keys and revisited some we had visited on previous trips.  We, also worked on a new activity we have become involved in geocaching and are looking forward to that treasure hunting fun with our granddaughters.

This year we will visit our granddaughters and their handlers in RI before heading west to see Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon as well as many other sites out west.  We plan on overwintering in warm weather,probably in SW Arizona at least part of the winter.  There is a huge RV gathering there in Jan and we will be there for that.

In Summer of 2012 we plan on doing Alaska in the RV and after that start working our way back to FL and hope to spend winter of 2012-2013 back in the Keys!

About mid-March we will start our northward migration but will do it slowly to mitigate any shock from the cooler weather.  We will move to the Upper Keys for about a week to start the acclimation process for colder weather.  About a week later we will move to South Fl and the Everglades National Park to help us get our land legs back after being on the keys which are very "fluid"!   After that we will return to Melbourne to visit family and do some routine appointments for about 3 weeks.  Hopefully we will survive the chilly Apr temps there and toughen up for the next jump north.  We will go to Jax to visit our son and my brother and after that go to NC to visit BJ's family and attend a niece's wedding at end of April.  We will then move on toward RI and arrive there about end of May for a months stay before heading west!

Stay tuned for more of our story!

Treasure Hunting in the Keys

BJ and I got into geocaching which you can check out by clicking on this link.  Actually, I think I am into it more then BJ but what interested us about it was doing it with Reagan and Addie, especially Reagan.  Most of the cache's have trinkets included that you can trade with trinkets you bring - rule is don't take anything if you don't leave something!!  There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cache's worldwide.  At the website after you have registered (free) and agreed to abide by the rules you can get the GPS coordinates of caches where ever you are or are going to be!  We have found several dozen in and near Key West.
While BJ was working on here quilt the other day I decided to go up to Big Pine Key and do some treasure hunting for caches there; also was expecting to see some of the Key Deer!  I downloaded about 8 caches to the GPS, already had some along the route there downloaded, and headed out about 1PM.

First two were right on the edge of the Keys Deer refuge and I found the caches fairly quickly; one was in the hallow of a dead tree and the other was buried under some rocks at the foot of a phone pole, but no Key Deer.   I next headed to No-Name Key which is connected to Big Pine by a bridge near the No-Name Key Pub - a traditional watering hole in Big Pine!!  In this case there were two different caches in back country away from the main road across No-Name.  It is prime territory for the Key Deer.   I parked off the road near a path leading into the wilderness and headed down the path.  First think to greet me was a Key Deer.  She backed off the trail a little, but did not run or show fear.  Just watched me go by as I continued along the minimal path.

Shortly however, the path became even more minimal to virtually non-existent.  I was making my way thru the woods headed in the direction my GPS was pointing.

I was surprised to run across a very rusted out auto frame; no engine, no body parts, just a frame with a bright chrome bumper attached to it.  Not enough for me to tell the vintage of the original car, but was amazed that the chrome bumper still looked so good - they don't make'em like that anymore!!  See the pic of it I have included.  

Eventually, I broke out on a slightly more civilized (barely) trail that was going in the general direction I needed to go.  I continued along it thru several intersections with equally primitive trails until I came to a "road" thru some wetlands that were not wet, because this is dry season.  The road bed was raised and there were culverts under it to facilitate the flow of water when it was there.  The road continued toward the shoreline which is where the cache was located.  Shortly, I approached the shoreline and found a break that ended up right at the foot of the dock that was my "target". 

 After finding the cache and signing the log I headed for the second cache in this area.  It was about a half way back on the trail I came in on and off to the side.  Here are some links to the two caches if you want to see what the cache webpage tells you.
No-Name Key dock  and Dirty Dog Pond on No-name Key
Note the coordinates are not shown unless you are a registered user, but all info is otherwise there including all the logs and pics entered by the geocachers that have "found" these treasures!!

After returning to the Jeep and thanking the Key Deer that had been guarding it for me, I decided I still had time to do a few more.  Both were on the main N-S road of Big Pine Key.  One was a nice little one that Reagan would have been delighted with.  It was a box full of "treasures", it would have taken all day for her to figure which one she would have traded for!!  The other one was at the Blue Hole, a pond in the Keys Wildlife refuge that is a fresh water pond.  This was a virtual cache, i.e. there was no physical cache as is normal but you have to provide the person who placed the cache with info, and sometimes a pic, to show that you were there.  I collected the info I needed took a pic of some Key Deer and alligators that were hanging around watching the tourist and went on my way.

                                                        
It was getting too late and I skipped the great temptation to stop at Sally's Ice Cream shop where they hand make the best frozen custard in the Keys!

I headed on down what is I believe one of, if not the most, beautiful drive in the World, the Overseas Highway aka US Highway #1.  One of the reasons I skipped Sally's was because I wanted to see the vista's across the islands and seas the road traverses and it would have been after dark if I had gone for the custard!
                                                                                                                                                      
However, it was still light when I got to MM17 and I could not resist one more hunt.  There was a cache near Perky's tower which I have seen a dozen times because we frequently drop our kayaks in the water nearby.   I found the cache with minimal delay and signed the log book and moved on!  The tower was build in late 20's as the bright idea of a fine Yankee gentleman to control mosquitoes which were a real problem in the Keys in those early days.
He knew bats consumed prodigious amounts of mosquitoes so he reasoned if he built accommodations for them they would move to Sugarloaf Key where his bat motel was and make the area mosquito free!  In theory, it sounded good and he certainly did his part.  The bat tower has survived multiple hurricanes, including the 1935 killer hurricane, and stands today pretty much like he built it.  But, nobody has ever seen a bat in it!!   Meanwhile the Mosquito Control Commission has controlled the mosquitoes quite well, while unleashing one political turf battle after another!  The Executive Director is the highest paid civil servant in Monroe County!!  It is another of the many political entities that make life in the Conch Republic so interesting!