Feb 27,  2015    We said a not sad at all goodby to Homestead.   It was 2:30 p.m. by the time the repair to the RV was completed.  It was an unexpected detour in our route, but “stuff happens”.  We are more than ready to move on.
Next stop … Fort De Soto County Park in St Petersburg, Florida.  The park is made up of five islands (Keys).  We have never been here before and have heard nothing but good things.  Our GPS tells us we should arrive at 8:00 p.m. It should be interesting finding our site and setting up in the dark.   It’s all part of the adventure 🙂

Feb 26, 2015   Hurray !!!  Our heater core has been delivered and they have started working on fixing our RV.   Unfortunately, the part did not arrive until afternoon and we’re lucky if it’s fixed by tomorrow afternoon.   So we’re at the good old Motel 6 for another night.

To do?  To do?      Key Biscayne Beach is on our list of places we’d like to take E T.   According to the GPS,  it should only take us  45 minutes to get there.  But, the traffic here is horrible.  We would have to get on the Florida Turnpike and then drive through part of Miami.   In all the years we’ve been coming to Florida we have never seen traffic like this year.   We’ve seen and heard of so many accidents and near misses that we’re really burnt out on driving around.

We find James Archer Smith Park listed on BringFido.com.  It has good reviews and bad.  It’s only a couple of miles from the service center so we decide to check it out.

Surprise!!!!  What a nice park.  It has the coolest dog park I’ve ever seen and was super clean.  I did a poop patrol and only found one small pile.  E T has a ball playing with the one other dog in the “big dog” park, Rowdy.   Check out the photo below, your in for a treat.  E T cried when Rowdy had to go home.

Below is a photo of the Big Dog Park,  it’s a “real” park that is surrounded by a fence.  David is standing under a pavilion that has picnic tables.  There are two fenced sections one for dogs under 35 lbs and the other over 35 pounds, both are huge.  There is a “people” park next door equally as nice, but not fenced in 🙂

You are not seeing double.  E T and Rowdy are like twins!!

Feb 24, 2015   How much fun is getting your car or RV serviced?  Not much!  We sent the morning in Homestead trying to find out if any progress was being made in getting our RV repaired.  It was easy to diagnose. They just plugged in the computer and “shazam”,  heater core.  The problem, it’s not a Ford part.  Oh wonderful!   They find the part and it will take three days to ship, unless we want to pay $50 for overnight shipping.  Well that’s a no brainer,  it’s costing us $110 a night for a room at the Motel 6.  Hopefully it will be delivered first thing in the morning and the job finished before they close for the day.  The estimated “hours of labor” is EIGHT!  Ouch!  The good news we have just a little over a month left on our warranty, Ford will cover it!  So, all that’s left for us to do is wait.

If it was just David and I waiting we would probably wallow in self pity,  maybe even pout for a bit.  Luckily we have E T.   We have to find “pet friendly” ways of occupying her.   As we were driving on the Florida Turnpike we had seen a sign for Black Point Park and Marina. What a find! There are awesome walking/biking/rollerblading trails.  But … What does that sign say?  Watch out for the CROCODILES!  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Is there any place in Florida that doesn’t have an “obstruction”?    We didn’t see any crocodiles, but I almost stepped on an iguana.  I was creeping up on a bird, trying to take a photo and was looking up instead of down.  David yelled “watch we’re your walking”.  It wasn’t 7 feet long, but big enough to totally creep me out.

I am missing our RV. There’s no place like our home away from home.  We’re eating out … mostly carbs.  Not good.  We’re living out of  “suitcases” aka grocery bags.  I have realized how spoiled I’ve become traveling surrounded by all the comforts of home at my finger tips.

This Motel 6 isn’t bad.  It’s right off the highway, six floors high and is surrounded by shopping plazas and other hotels.   Our rooms are no frills, but very clean. The pool and courtyard are pretty.

E T likes hanging out in the courtyard watching the cameleons run up the palm trees.  She has stopped chasing them and just stops when she spots one and watches.

Feb 24, 2015 David and I sadly left Curry Hammock and The Keys, but were excited to be heading out on a new adventure.
We’re driving down Krome Ave in Homestead, Florida enroute to “Alligator Alley” in the Everglades. This is one of our favorite routes to take headed from the south to the Gulf Shores and Panhandle.
For those of you that have been reading my blogs, Homestead is where my bicycle was stolen while we were shopping, a few weeks back.
Well, we’re driving down Krome Ave through the Old Historic Downtown section of Homestead and suddenly steam starts spraying out of all the vents in the RV. We get lucky and there’s a parking spot big enough for David to pull the R V over. We get out and water is pouring out from under the hood.
We are Good Sam members and David calls for assistance. The customer service guy is great! There is a Ford service center 1.3 miles from where we are (the RV has a Ford Chassis, Engine and parts.) The Rep says he’ll get a tow truck right out. David says hold off on the tow he thinks he can drive it the 1.3 miles. Fortunately, our fresh water holding tank has plenty of water. We fill gallon bottles and David refills the radiator. We make it to the Service Center and find out it has a bad heater core.
So, are we lucky or not? It could have been worse. We could have broken down out in the middle of nowhere. Now we have to wait for the Service Department to get the part… Tomorrow!. We have nowhere to stay. It’s Florida in February and beside all the “snowbirds” it’s school vacation week.
We find another, pet friendly, Motel 6. This one is not in as nice an area as the one in Pennsylvania and costs almost three times as much. We still considered ourselves lucky to find this one with a vacancy. My ex husband has a condo an hour and a half from us and had offered to let us stay there. If we hadn’t found the Motel 6 it was nice to know we had an alternative. Hopefully, the RV will be repaired in the morning and we’ll be on our way.

Feb 23, 2015    I know, the first thing your thinking … “Did she see the Iguana before or after Happy Hour?”   The Iguana sighting was first thing in the morning.  E T and I were out for a walk.  We were heading to a bridge that David and I would  be kayaking  under and I wanted to check the tide.  You can only kayak this portion of the trail during high tide.  Just before we get to the bridge I spot something HUGE in the roadway.   First thing I think “Anaconda” sunning himself on the hot pavement!  This thing is HUGE!   I had just zoomed in as far as I could with my camera lens to see what it was.  It turns it’s head toward me.   Aaaaarrrgggghhh!  It’s not a snake, but it sure is something ugly.   E T and I high tail it back to the Ranger Station.  The RANGER told me it was a 7 ft Iguana that someone had just hit with there car.  That’s why it was in the middle of the road.  Someone was on the way to “take care of it”.  Those of you that have had a hit or near miss with a deer,  imagine a 7 ft Iguana. I had no clue that they could get this big.  No photo, too gory.  I do have two taken from about 200 ft (proof).

David and I spend about 3 hours Kayaking.  The trail starts out in a canal at Curry Hammock State Park and takes you under a bridge and through very thick Mangrove patches for about a  mile.  Then you enter a shallow  bay, aka horseshoe crab mating ground (see photo).  Then we round the corner and are circling “bird island”.  I actually laughed out  loud in joy when I saw the 50 plus birds, mostly pelicans and cormorants, nestled in the trees.  It was like a page in a  Where’s Waldo book.  My photos are only so, so.  I had our old point and shoot.   I couldn’t take the chance with the new camera on the water.  But this might give you an idea of what a fantastic photogenic place this is.

While we were out in the ocean we saw hundreds of Portuguese Man of War (the photo that looks like a glass sneaker).  It looked like a hatchery.  There were some larger ones, but the majority were tiny.  Reason # 1 why I only kayak in the ocean when the waves are calm.  I would not have wanted to tip over  into that mess.

When we get back to shore,  I take E T out for a ride … she is a  “Sea Dog”.   Sorry,  no  photos.   We are just teaching her to Kayak.  David was on “shore duty”,  in case she jumped out of the kayak.   We haven’t seen her swim yet, so we don’t know if she can.  I read an article on taking dogs into the ocean.  It said that not all dogs can swim, some need to learn.  David was on standby if he needed to give her a quick lesson.

Happy Hour!!    If there is such a thing as an everyday holiday,  that’s what Happy Hour is in the Keys.  It doesn’t matter if your sitting under a tiki hut at the beach,  at the picnic table at your campsite or in your favorite Keys hangout, Happy Hour is to be celebrated.  Since this is our last night in the Keys we are going to make it special.    What’s better after a day “in the sun” then a cold beer ($1.50), wings (25 cents each) and shrimp (25 cents each) at Sparky’s Landing in Key Colony Beach?  E T is welcome too!!  I’m convinced in a previous life she was a Pirate!  She settles in at Sparky’s like it’s old home week. She’s greeted by wait staff and patrons like an old friend.  Although there was no parrot, a pelican did wave Hello!

Last but not least we walk over to Sunset Beach in Key Colony Beach for our last Keys Sunset … for this year 🙂  David and I agree this is our favorite place in the world.

Feb 22, 2015    It’s 8:00 a.m. and I just saw my fisherman off to hopefully catch his supper.  It’s already 80 degrees and sticky.  E T is sacked out in her favorite spot looking out the screen door waiting for some …. excitement???  Not here, this is one of the quietest campgrounds I’ve ever been to.  There are only 28 sites.  The most excitement we’ve had this morning was three Ibis (birds) walked in front of the RV.  E T thought they came to play with her, but when she went out they flew away.  What teasers!

My fisherman just called with the first “report”.   They are headed out of the channel and it’s pouring rain.  I’m maybe 10 miles from him and it’s not pouring here,  just a couple of drizzles.  Good news, he says he can see the Reef ahead and its clear and “flat ass calm”. That’s fisherman talk for no waves.  Hurray!!  I really hope he has a good day.  I was on the fence about going with him.  I love to fish, but my dilemma was how much do I love to fish vs a little alone time.  After a month of almost 24/7 togetherness,  alone time won.  Now that the wind has died down I know we are going kayaking tomorrow.  I’ll get my time out on the water.  I’ll have the best of both worlds 🙂

If the wind didn’t die down we were planning a trip into Key West.  I like Key West and David only goes because I like to.  If we were staying in the Keys longer I would go by myself.  I can spend a whole day just walking through the art galleries.  If we lived down here I would be tempted to start my own walking tour guide business.    I will never tire of walking by Ernest Heminway’s house, down Duval Street, through Mallory Sqyare or having my photo taken in front of Mile Marker 0.  I may have to change my routine of lunch at Fogarty’s and Happy Hour at The Bull.  I’ve been told E T is welcome for both at Schooner Wharf.  Next Time

E T and I spend the morning walking around the campground. There is one particular path that we like to walk.  I have noticed hundreds of holes in the ground.  There are even some that are on the path.  For a  fleeting moment, once or maybe twice,  I thought they might be snake holes.  If this were the case,  there would be hundreds of snakes slithering around and we haven’t seen any.  Have you ever seen or played that game Whack a mole?  As we are walking along, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye.  Little critters are popping in and out of these holes as we walk along.  One was as big as my fist.  If I didn’t have my trusty watch dog with me I might have been scared.  Instead it’s like playing a game.   As we approached the holes one darts in and further down the path another darts out and in.  I took E T back to the camper and got my camera.  I spent the better part of an hour trying to get a photo of one of these critters. I got tons of hole photos and only one crab (it’s just a little off center in the photo).  These guys are quick 🙂  I met people walking the path. We all stared into the holes.  You could see there legs, but they wouldn’t come out.  Along came a Ranger and guess what they are?  Land Crabs!!!   I like them a lot, not as much as the Kite Boarders,  but this might give you an idea how easily I am entertained.

I took this murel photo yesterday.  It is on the side of a building where The Marathon Lady, charter fishing boat, is docked.  It is SO Key like!

David caught 3 mangrove snappers and three grunts.  He came home happy.  It’s been a long time since he’s been out on the water.

Feb 21, 2015   Other than too much wind for kayaking and charter fishing it’s a beautiful day, 70+ plus degrees and sunny.  We are on Key Time, which means no set time to do anything or go anywhere.

We start our morning walking E T along the beach.  We are in for a treat.  Yesterday we thought seeing  4  KITE boarders was amazing. Correction:  Yesterday, I called them sail boarders,  then I googled and found out they are Kite boarders or surfers. oops!  Today there are (David counted) 14  fourteen on the water at once. There are at least 1/2 dozen on the beach waiting or setting up to go out on the water.   I am going to compare it to going to a Hot Air Balloon Festival. The KITES are so colorful.  It is so much fun to watch!  The Kite  Boarders are amazing athletes.  The acrobatics that they were doing were taking my breath away.  I’m hoping they’ll be back tomorrow and E T and I can go watch.  She likes watching them too.  I think she might think they are birds.

E T meets a couple of her favorite friends, two springer spaniels.  I asked the owners if I could borrow one or both for a couple of days to entertain E T.  I think E T is in love.  Good thing she is spayed, we could have been in trouble.

One of our favorite things to do in the Keys is walk the Seven Mile Bridge.  The  “New” bridge is really Seven Miles.  The pedestrian bridge is about 2 1/2 miles out to Pigeon Key.  The bridge was constructed between 1908 – 1912.  It was “modified” for autos and used between 1935 and 1982.  Now it is a wonderful way to walk/bicycle safely miles out across the ocean and enjoy unbelievable views. We have seen dolphin, tarpon, sea turtles.  Today we saw one boat with two fisherman.   We watched one of the men reel in a fish.   When it’s windy, die hard fisherman will fish the bridges.  If David’s brother was down with his boat I’m sure David would have been out fishing one of the bridges today.

I learned how birds (in this case a Pelican) ride the thermal currants.  This pelican was using the bridge.  I wondered why I would see birds gliding along the bridge railings.

There is also a very nice park/walking trail that runs along side the parking area for the bridge.   We took E T Iguana hunting.  In the past we have seen many Iguanas in the mangroves  and along the ocean banks.  Today not a one.   I’m wondering if they scent E T coming.  She likes the chameleon’s at the campground, I’m curious what she would think of an iguana. She’d probably want to play with it.

Because we’re on Key Time,  it didn’t dawn on us until we were driving past San Pablo Church that we could go tonight and not miss Mass his week.  David is going to go fishing tomorrow morning on the Marathon Lady.   We go to 4:00 Mass and who is sitting in front of us but an old friend of David’s.  Isn’t it funny sometimes how things just seem to work themselves out.

Feb 20, 2015       It was a beach and biking day.  The wind is not cutting us any slack.  We only have a couple more days in the Keys and we want to get in some Kayaking and David wants to go charter fishing.  We’ve got our fingers crossed for Kayaking tomorrow morning.  Fishing may happen Monday morning.  We have church at San Pablo Sunday morning.   God may be asked to forgive us Sunday,  if Mother Nature backs us into a corner and we must chose between Mass or going  kayaking or fishing.  We leave the Keys Tuesday morning.

First thing in the morning we are getting ready to head to the beach and E T is sitting like a statue in front of the R V.  David and I are trying to figure out what has her mesmerized,  It is this awesome bird walking up the road in front of our campsite.

We head out to Sombrero Beach,  another pet friendly beach.  Sombrero is pretty.  It has a park, pavilions and boardwalk.  There is a lot more sandy beach than Cocoa Beach.   If you’re looking for a romantic spot to watch a sunset, Sombrero Beach is it.

E T is becoming quite the beach bum.  She is making lots of friends, Canine & Human 🙂   We take a side trip to Cocoa Plum Beach on the way home.  There is a lot more room for E T to run and lots more canine activity there.  How spoiled is this?  She is not fond of the cold water rinse at the park so when we get her home  she gets a nice warm water shower from the outdoor faucet  outside  the RV.

Our afternoon is spent on  the Grassy Key Trail, a portion of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail.  If you are into biking long distances on a nice flat trail, this is it.  David and I biked for miles.  At one point on our return trip, headed back to Curry Hammock,   I say to David “Do you remember biking this far?”  All of a sudden we see a sign for the Curry Hammock Nature Trail.  We have biked a mile past our turn off.  We both laugh out loud. How can anyone get lost biking a straight trail?  When your relaxed and your enjoying the ride and the scenery,  it’s easy.

Before dinner, we are headed out to let E T run off some energy in a field across from the campsite and one of the campground hosts tells us that several sail borders are setting up on the beach.   We head on over to the Curry Hammock Beach and watch.  Even E T laid  down on the grass and watched.  It looks like so much fun. I’m sure I would have liked to have tried in my younger days.   If the water were warmer I might still try it 🙂

Feb 19, 2015   To do! To do!  What do you do in the Keys when it’s windy and cool and you have friends visiting that have never seen a Key Deer?  Take a ride across the Seven Mile Bridge to Big Pine and No Name Key to see if you can spot one or some.  Oh! and of course, when you’re in the neighborhood stop for lunch at the No Name Pub.  Surprise!!!  A couple of Key Deer had decided to hang out at the pub and see if they could spot a few people.

I’ve actually named these photos. See if you can put the names with the photo.

I’m so Pretty!   Attached at the Hip!   Peek A Boo!  Lean on Me!

Feb 18, 2015   Weather Report … Three nights ago we had the heat on in the RV. Two nights ago  no heat,  but windows closed.  Last night we had air conditioning on all night.  Tonight we have the heat back on. This is the craziest February weather I’ve ever experienced in The Keys.  Last night we had a storm come through with torrential downpours. This morning we had a brief bit of sun pop through the clouds.  The rest of the day was dark clouds and wind.  Good thing I brought my winter coat, rain coat, windbreaker and sweatshirts!

This morning we took E T to Cocoa Plum Beach.  One of the Rangers here at Curry Hammock has a dog and gave us a list of dog friendly places,  including a couple of restaurants.  I loved the Rangers descriptions  … Burdines Restaurant has the best french fries.   Sparky’s Landing has a great Happy Hour.  Florida Park Rangers know a lot about all kinds of things 🙂

E T was a happy beach comber today.  It was low tide when we got there and she was a lot braver in the water than at Jekyll Island.  The water is a lot warmer here than there, that helps.  She met a couple of friends and I’m sure she would have been swimming with them if we could have let her off leash.  She still has some “wild puppy oats” to shed before we can trust her off leash.

Our friends Gerry and Lenny from northern Florida  came to visit for a couple of days.  Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit.  We went to one of the local restaurants, The Wreck,  for dinner.  The company was better than the service and food, but it’s The Keys in February.   If you’re in a hurry you better head to the Mainland and find a McDonalds.

Crappy weather and all it was another good day.