Monday was a rest day.

Lots of cigars

I wish I knew the story of this car

My boot

Short takes first.

• Needed new boots. Key West bikers’ footwear of choice is flip-flops.  The motorcycle store doesn’t carry boots. Went to Sears.
• Wind continues to be the keynote weather issue of the trip.  Tent stakes were ripped out of the ground.  On the advice of a fellow tenter, I went to Home Depot and bought 3/8″ X 8″ nails.  Heavy and bulky, but they fit the bill. On a positive note my tent continues to excel, though I’m beginning to think it won’t survive the trip.
• The advantage of staying on a military base is cheap price.  The disadvantage is that I must ride on it fully covered.  Exit the base, strip off long pants and long sleeved shirt.  Change boots for sneakers.  (Normal speed in town is 25.)  Reverse the process to come back on.  Gets old.
• No special pricing deals for visiting multiple museums.  Seems they could work a deal among themselves.
• Because of the large number of scooters, there are lots of free scooter parking spaces.  A Goldwing is on the large size, so fit’s a tight fit.  But it’s still free.  There is no free vehicle parking.
• Driving skills seem to be frowned upon.  But at 25 MPH, one can get away with a lot.
• The bridges connecting the keys were completely rebuilt in the 80s.  Though it’s still slow, the drive is a lot less nerve-racking than in the 70s, the last time I visited.  The old bridges still stand in some places as fishing piers.  They seem unbelievably narrow by today’s standards.
• Bring money.

There are historical markers everywhere.  I visited about seven museums.  There are perhaps seven more that I passed on.  The point is that one should study all the possibilities before beginning a museum crawl.  Nearly all cost money.  In order of preference:

1. Fort Jefferson.  Absolutely not to be missed.  Expensive, but worth it. A full day 70 mile fast ferry ride to an island.  The fort is huge and swimming during the visit is welcomed.  Fun and educational.
2. Truman’s Little Whitehouse.
3. Lighthouse, Custom House, Mel Fisher’s Treasure, Oldest House (tie).
4. Hemingway’s House.  Most people love this tour.  Me, not so much.

The bars are many and essentially interchangeable, though they do vary somewhat in classiness.  The key difference is AC or not AC.  I found a really good wine bar (Grand Vin).  Sloppy Joe’s, a tourist magnet, is actually pretty good.  Many bars have a history.

I spent most of one day simply walking down Duval Street, the main drag.  Lots of shops/bars.  On that note, honestly, Key West is not a town I’d take young children to, if only because of the inappropriate t-shirts being displayed.  (I never saw anyone actually wearing the t-shirts.)

The natives are universally polite.  It’s also pretty obvious the town has a drinking problem.  I rate the city much higher than New Orleans for things to do and people to talk to. Of everywhere else in the U.S. I’ve visited, I’d compare it most closely to San Francisco.  Speaking of coincidences, I attended a performance by Huey Lewis and the News.  Great show.  He really sells it.  On a down note, they don’t seem to have any smoking restrictions, or at least they don’t follow any.

It was a fantastic week, done without much attention to the time. If I had more money I could have done a whole lot more.  In my procrastination I did fail to map out my next leg to Alaska.  But I’m definitely staying in Florida until the 8th in hopes of watching a Space X launch at Kennedy.

This is actually not true, but it’s a nice sign anyway.

There are a lot of indications of the city’s proximity to Cuba.

An odd Circle K store. The same was true for Denny’s, Starbucks, etc.

This was the name of the bar Hemingway enjoyed. But it’s not the location. Full of tourists.

The original location for the Sloppy Joe’s. This was where Hemingway drank.

Key West has a superb war memorial.

The middle school mascot.

Picture taken from the Key West Lighthouse. No longer in operation. Surrounded by landfill.

Mallory Point. At sunset, filled with vendors and tourists. Madness. No sunset is worth the crowds.

Certainly a unique scooter.

This monument is about two thirds up the keys from Key West. Oddly, Key West has no suffered a direct hit from a hurricane in recorded time.

Two pictures says it all.  Success!

My view from the Naval Station Campground.

Easter. Hot today. Humid too. Yesterday I mentioned a desire to get away from people, so today I visited the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Not only were there few people, they were encouraged to be quiet.  2.25 mile hike on an elevated path over mostly swamp.  There were some informational signs, but not nearly enough. Then again, it took me 2 hours to get around it without more signs.  It was extremely pleasant.  Pictures.

From there I went to the Cypress National Reserve Visitor Center for some education.  I was saddened to hear that there are rattlesnakes here, along with three other kinds of poisonous snakes.  But all anyone really wants to talk about are gators.  I saw two smallish dead ones along the road.

Had a crab cake sandwich at the prototypical swamp joint.  Crusty old gal telling you what do to, signs saying “If you don’t like what we’re serving, go 41 miles west or 62 miles east and get something else!”

Took a picture of the country’s smallest post office.  I saw the sign for a post office and this little hut.  I had to turn back for a closer look.

Two lane roads with crazy drivers.  One guy figured that he didn’t have to fully cross to the other side to pass me.  Road rage wanted to kick in, but what could I do?

Staying at a campground that offers swamp tours.  It looks like the tours begin next to my tent!  Bugs are out.  Before now, I camped at places that were too cold for bugs.  Now it’s not cold, so I’ve got bugs.  Can’t win.

Tomorrow Key West.

The benefits of a zoom lens.

Nothing much today. No pics. Visited Florida Southern College campus, home to several FLW designs. They are certainly unique and entertaining. But already falling into disrepair.  Literature says he mixed concrete to get certain colors; nothing about longevity.  Oh.

Dunedin, FL, home of the Toronto Blue Jays Spring training.  Sold out!  Standing room only. Second pitch to the Yankees leadoff man; home run.  Hot dog and a beer.  Canada plates in the parking lot. Announcer said it was 31 degrees in Toronto.  Hot hot hot here.

Traffic everywhere. Must get back to nature. Everglades and Key West beckons.

I wore raingear all day.  I needed it for the first half, was afraid to take it off for the second.  There was about five minutes of intense rain with lightning, but mostly it was just heavy rain.  Since there was nothing to see, I drove as far as I wanted to.  But I did stop at the Tallahassee Automobile Museum.

What a place!  Not only do they have a tremendous collection of old cars with excellent stories and descriptions, there are a wealth of other old and very old collections.  Children’s cars, pianos, golf clubs, outboard motors, adding machines, guns, motorcycles, boats, etc. Nearly all in very good refurbished condition.  It’s incredible.  They have two of the Batmobiles and the Batcycle.  Not to be missed is an incredible collection of jackknives.  Don’t ask me why.  Thousands of jackknives.

An 18 wheeler jackknifed on the I75 near Gainesboro, necessitating a unmapped detour.  On one country road was two handwritten signs “Watch for motorcycles”.  I didn’t know how to react to that.  Anyway, the detours were also a traffic mess. When I rejoined the 75 in Ocala, still 90 miles from Tampa, it was slow traffic recovering from the reportedly 15 mile backup, so I packed it in.  About 350 miles of forward progress, 140 miles in the rain and about 3 miles of it at 3 MPH.  Tomorrow, weather permitting, I’ll try to catch a spring season baseball game somewhere.

My next bike.

The “before” pictures.

The “after” picture.

An early Tesla?

Doesn’t look like a Tesla.

An Amphicar. I could have used this one today.

I remember seeing this in the movie spin-off of the sixties show.  The sidecar is a go-cart.

Appears to have a rudder.

A 1923 Gibson.

Drove back on 98 west to Pensacola for bike maintenance and more touring.  The work was fast; they seemed more in a hurry than I was.  I think they missed some recommended work, so I may find another service center in Tampa.

Found forts near the Air Museum.  As with Fort Jackson, the forts were built pretty much after forts became obsolete, but no one knew what else to do.  As with so many other advances, they reached the height of their technology after the tech had become overtaken by entirely different tech.

The Naval Air Museum is as modern as they come.  Definitely the most impressively designed museum I’ve seen on the trip.  A zeppelin exhibit!  They have an Imax theater and Blue Angels flight immersion simulator.  Actually, there was a change of command today so the Blue Angels themselves did a little show.  The cafeteria/bar was decked out with plaques that had been at the Cubi Point Officer’s Club bar at Subic Bay.  I’d been in the that bar in the Philippines, so it was more interesting for me than for others.  I actually remembered some of the plaques.

I had been watching the sky all day and just as I was about to leave the museum I realized it WAS TIME TO LEAVE.  I quickly found a hotel about an hour east of the my location and dashed off.  I was battered by a lot of wind (again!) on bridges and some rain on the way, even stopping at an underpass to put on my raincoat for the first time.  But I missed the worst of it.  About an hour after arrival the skies really opened up.  Thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings, etc.  It was definitely not the kind of storm anyone on two wheels should go through.  The forecast is not good for tomorrow, so I may ditch any sightseeing plans and just push through to clear skies in Tampa.

I’m hopefully going to remember this quote in Alaska.

Marine One for Nixon and Ford.

Not the forecast I like.

In Crestview, in a hotel.

Getting out of New Orleans was more difficult than I expected.  Sunrise, lack of signs, and the fact that I10 East goes west in town all contributed to the troubles.

After entering Mississippi I realized that I had no “event” planned for the state.  My new rules dictate that must have a memorable experience in a state to say I’ve been in it.  So I turned off I10 and drove down to the coast.  Route 90 is so close to the coast there are work crews shoveling sand off the highway!  It’s a beautiful coastline, made poignant by the high water marks attached to the beach restrooms.  Katrina’s marker is 24 feet above sea level.  Even so, the houses along the shore are beautiful.  Its a road well worth taking.  I regretted turning back to the I10.

I learned about the USS Alabama Museum from a suggestion for the trip.  It’s really much more than the battleship, having a submarine and a building dedicated to aviation.  Timing and interest limited me to just the ship though.  I’d never been on a battleship and the 16 inch turrets were a revelation.  Hard to get into, and harder to move around.  I shudder to think about being in one while it was being fired.  The rest of the ship seemed very roomy compared to an aircraft carrier, I guess meaning that the size of the ship had more to do with providing a stable gun platform than crewing it.  There were a host of displays dedicated to other ships scattered throughout it’s interior.  Overall, a very nice museum that could do with some rework of the displays.  It’s been a museum for decades.  It’s so old it’s sort of a museum of museums.

Got my official “Retired” ID card at the Pensacola naval station.  I should now be able to camp in the naval station in Key West.  There are no other campsites there, and hotels are insanely expensive.  Now if it will just not rain, I’ll be fine.

On my way to Destin I stumbled upon Historic Pensacola Village.  I didn’t have time to see much, but it looked very nice.

DO NOT drive on 98 east from Pensacola.  Traffic and traffic lights.  Highways before interstates.

Gulfport

Note the Red Sign.

See the red sign?

More recent history.

Biloxi

This is the Visitor’s Center in Biloxi.

Mobile has some pretty buildings

This 5″/38 caliber gun mount is similar to the 3″/50 mount I was in when I lost most hearing in my left ear. Nostalgic.

The helm

View from the Helm

Interesting for tire freaks. (All MC riders are tire freaks.)

Shot 40 people, then became a lawyer.

You can learn all about brick making at the Pensacola Historic Village.

Just thought this was nice.

Rather than go back into New Orleans I drove along the Mississippi River nearly to its ending.  It’s an excellent road and goes much farther than I expected.  The pictures tell some of the story.  I stopped at Fort Jackson, site of a Civil War naval battle and more recently victim of two hurricanes.  On the return trip I used two ferries.

Obviously the peninsula is a company town, servicing the oil industry.  There are three helicopter airports, each with at least four helipads.  They all had large and full parking lots, testimony to the number of workers out in the Gulf.  There were three schools, all fairly new and all up on stilts.  Though the schools were new and very nice looking, at least 90% of the students live in mobile homes., of varying quality.  Down near the river’s end virtually every home is a mobile home.  The permanent homes are inconsistent, running in elevation from ground level to high up on stilts.  Storm damage was evident, though the roads were excellent.  Down very near the end I was on a road with water on both sides.  I failed to get to the very end because of flooding on the road.

Fort Jackson was an example of building for past wars.  It was built as a result of the British attack on New Orleans.  Obviously, that threat was pretty well over, but build the fort we did (to match one on the other side).  But it was perfectly situated to deny federal access to New Orleans in the Civil War.  Getting past it was a major victory for the Navy.  There is a new Visitors Center, where many relics are on display.  The Fort itself was flooded by Katrina, then again by Issac, forcing its closure.  Funding to repair the damage hasn’t been identified.

About halfway down from New Orleans there’s a ferry, which I took on the return trip.  30 miles upriver there’s another ferry to cross back.  They’re interesting ferries because they dock broadside to the shore, whereas most ferries dock bow and stern.  The reason, which becomes obvious when observing the river, is the current.  To say it’s rapid is to grossly understate the situation.  Ships going downriver just fly.

I returned in the afternoon to visit the French Quarter again.  It was weirder than yesterday, but I grew bored with it.  (Many people highly recommended the new WWII Museum.  I just didn’t have time to do it justice.)

Fort Jackson

Bayou Mardi Gras, First named location in the Mississippi

Looking east

Same place, looking west

Tombs

High school on stilts

Boat in the headlights

Second night in a tent was great.  I’m definitely getting the hang of it.  The moon is almost full, which, as I’ve learned, makes the nights surreal.  It was easy to see where not to walk, and there were lots of those places.

Getting to the Tabasco Factory/Museum was another trip through small town after small town.  I could never have done it without a GPS.  At the Museum I was preceded by two busloads of young children and many of their parents.  I timed my walking tour around their tours.  (At the Nimitz Museum I’d bought a Navy Veteran ball cap.  It has been a revelation!  Everywhere I go I am thanked for my service.  More practically, it has also gotten me discounts I didn’t know I deserved.  It’s saving me money.)

The Museum tour is extremely well organized and interesting.  Tabasco is still family owned and operated.  The family tree includes a volunteer rough rider, arctic adventurer, nature advocate, etc.  They hide any black sheep very well.  I tried all sorts of sauce; didn’t like any.  Full disclosure: I don’t actually like Tabasco Sauce.  But it was a really fun morning.  Ate my first boudin po’ boy.  Delicious.

Route 90 to New Orleans is largely elevated.  Thump thump thump.  I turned up the suspension setting on the Goldwing to 22, which helped a lot.  Love my ride.  There are a lot of high bridges crossing small and large rivers.  Lots of turbulence in the water.

Checked into the hotel, then went into the city.  It’s a Monday and it’s crowded!  So many walking tours!  Haunted tours, drinking tours, etc.  I did my own tour.  Pat O’Brien’s was my first.  Huge place, maybe five bars?  (Got a triple shot of 17 year old scotch “for my service”.  Not sure I wanted it.)  From there I found many other bars.  I had a Jambalaya with alligator meat (my first time eating alligator).  Very good.  Need more.  Police are everywhere.  Crowds are too.  Many weird stores.  The Museums I wanted to visit were closed today (Monday), so I’ll have to return tomorrow.  Drat.  Wednesday is a busy day though, so the bars will have to be largely avoided.

My tent was in the box.

Bayou Alexander Highway

Economy size

White Oak Barrels. The tops are covered in salt. Aged for as much as three years.

A police “car”

Carousel Bar. The chairs and bar top rotate, the bartender does not seem to. Must be confusing.