After a short visit to Big Cypress National Park, we
continued further south to the southernmost point of the continental United States – Key
West!
On Monday, December 30th, we drove down US Route
1 as far as it would take us. Called “the
Overseas Highway”, the drive itself is quite the adventure. Sometimes we were driving with water on each side of us, and sometimes we drove as slowly as 35 miles per hour!
We arrived at Naval Air Station Key West, also known as Sigsbee NAS, and parked our RV. But that’s all we did was park – no hookups again. None whatsoever. This was our first time fully dependent upon the mechanics of the camper to survive.
“No hookups” means you park in the middle of a field. Luckily, there was a fine bath house with
showers, toilets, and sinks, plus a laundry room, only a short walk away. But for living in the camper, we minimized
the need for electricity and water as much as we possibly could. Since the weather was so temperate, we didn’t
need to run our air conditioner while we were there. In the evenings when it started to get dark,
yet we weren’t ready for bed, we ran the generator for a few hours in order to
provide lights and to recharge the camper’s battery. We used jugs of water in our sinks and
toilets, which we refilled near the bath house.
Our refrigerator ran on propane while we were there. And thankfully our wastewater holding tanks
didn’t need to be emptied until we were ready to leave Key West. Yes, we managed to survive several days
without being hooked up! Quite an
accomplishment when there are eight people living in the camper!We arrived at Naval Air Station Key West, also known as Sigsbee NAS, and parked our RV. But that’s all we did was park – no hookups again. None whatsoever. This was our first time fully dependent upon the mechanics of the camper to survive.
Key West is well-known as a preferred vacation spot for the
LGBT community. We were hesitant to
visit Key West due to concerns that it would be "in our face", but we figured that since we were staying on
the naval base that we would have minimal exposure to it. We did venture into the city several times
during the daytime, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t anything like
I was afraid it would be. Sure, there were
several obvious examples of LGBT couples, but it wasn’t as “on display” as I
had needlessly worried it would be. The LGBT
couples that I saw were actually quite… “normal”. Imagine! (Note the sarcasm.)
However, even with that, we did choose NOT to venture into
the downtown area for New Year’s Eve celebration. If it had been just Steve and me, we might
have. But we just didn’t feel that the
atmosphere of New Year’s Eve festivities was something we wanted our kids
exposed to, LGBT or not. Instead, we went to another side of the island to the
Boca Chica military beach and chose to miss out on the midnight "Lowering of the Conch Shell" that is traditional on the island.
The Boca Chica beach is owned
by the military, so it’s not open to the public. As a result, we pretty much had the beach to
ourselves! Imagine, a private beach in
Key West! We had a great time that
evening and stayed until past sunset. The
kids discovered some amazing wildlife while we were there. We found a small conch on the beach (and it
was alive!), several lion fish and clown fish, a huge crab, and many jellyfish. Afterwards we headed back to our camper for a
quiet and private “ringing in of the new year.”
Early the next morning, while the new year's revelers were sleeping off their previous night's excesses, we rented snorkeling equipment and
drove to the Zachary Taylor State Park which is renowned for its coral
reef. It’s a destination for snorkelers,
to be sure. However, since it had been
so unusually windy since we arrived at Key West, the water was churned up. Steve and the boys couldn’t even see their
own hands in front of their faces once they were in the water. Tried as we may, snorkeling was pretty much a
bust. We stayed at the park until
lunchtime, and then returned to the naval base to do some shopping for
souvenirs. Not a bad way to spend the
first day of a new year!
On Thursday, January 2nd, I had the opportunity
to meet some fellow Escapees whom we have coincidentally been following down
the east coast since Boston. Preston and
Andy are a fun couple who, like us, are “living the dream” of fulltime
RVing. They keep their travel blog
(called “Epinephrine Adventures”) at www.epi-rv.blogspot.com,
and they even mentioned me in their post of January 8th! We had a short visit, but I really liked both
of them and hope our paths cross again someday.
Later that day, I took the kids into the city for a
glass-bottom boat tour. We bought the
tickets for a discount through the naval base, but it was still a bit of money
for seven of us! Regardless, it was a
fun adventure. But again, since the
water was churned up, we didn’t get the best viewing possible. We did see some neat things on the ocean
floor, about seven miles from the shore.
It was a fun afternoon. It was
too bad that Steve had to miss it due to being required to telework that day,
but the kids and I made the most of the experience regardless.
On Friday, January 3rd, we packed up our camper
and headed back up Route 1 to the mainland.
Key West is a unique place, sort of half Caribbean and half Savannah or
New Orleans. I am so glad that we took the
time to drive down and experience it, as we might not get the chance to go
back.
