Keys Adventure...Part 1

Monday November 7- We are starting our way to some of our favorite parks, and area. Our route seemed simple enough but we had lots of road construction which was slow going. Both of us were happy to see highway 1. We know that it's only 2 lanes but the views help pass the time. We ran into some rain. That made our views not a pretty as usual. Our first stop in the Keys this year is Curry Hammock State Park. We have visited this park every year we have been traveling. It is Jeff's favorite park. Our site this time is #22. Haven't stayed in this one yet. We liked the spot but it was a little short for us. We had to be pretty creative getting the truck in. We had gotten mostly set up when the rain came back. We will finish unloading tomorrow.





















Tuesday November 8-I woke up early enough to go watch the sun rise...It was a beauty and a great way to start the day. We had to finish up with our unloading. Took the bikes, kayaks, and Jeff even put together my hanging chair. It was nice to get everything and make this site our own. This site has 50 amp service and water hook up. No sewer here but we are close to use the blue boy....

After getting everything unpacked we thought we would go get our prescriptions filled and take care of some errands in town. We came back and met the camp hosts here...Frank and Donna. We arrived a lot earlier than usual so we've never met them. We didn't have anything set out for supper so Jeff came up with the idea of riding our bikes in to a place called The Island Fish Company. We got super and had really great seats on the water. We watched the sunset...well what we could see.





















We rode our bikes home before it got too dark. It was a really nice first day here. Well except
 for the election was today...so happy all this is over...what a long political season.

Wednesday November 9- I like to start the day off with the watching of the sun rise...they are always different and you can never predict what they'll look like. Usually I'm the only one down there watching. We saw that the wind wasn't too bad so we packed up the fishing stuff on the kayaks and headed to the beach to launch. We caught fish but only had 2 keepers so let them go. After lunch went to enjoy some beach time. We watched a really cool schooner sailboat head in to the cove and went to take a look..We also keep our eyes peeled for iguana's, they are everywhere.





















Thursday November 10- Again with the sunrise, and Jeff took the kayak out really early this morning. I choose to hang out at the beach. It was so quiet and I was all alone until about 10:30. What a way to enjoy your coffee.

The afternoon just seemed to disappear. Jeff contacted some bloggers he has been following, Rob and Juley of http://robandmeinourlittlerv.blogspot.com/ He noticed that they are staying at Grassy Key RV Park, which is really close to us. We rode our bikes over and introduced ourselves. They sat on the best site in the park...so we had a wonderful view. We had never met them before but it was easy to talk when you have so much in common. It was a wonderful visit and we feel like we made some new friends.

Friday November 11- Up early this morning and we traveled in to Marathon. We had reservations on The Marathon Lady. Had to be there at 8 a.m. leaving at 8:30. We usually take this trip every year. Both of us forgot it was Veterans Day, and the boat was busier than we've seen it. We had spots toward the back and decided to just go with it.









































The weather was perfect, warm and sunny. The water was calm and we caught some fish. When we got back we collected our catch, and got in line to have them cleaned...(3 fish for $1.00) Well there are always pelicans there to catch the scraps, but this time there were others waiting to be fed...





















We didn't catch as much as usual, but we had enough for a couple meals any way. Still we had a wonderful time. They take really good care of you and never disappoint.


Saturday November 12- After witnessing the sunrise....again, I got busy. It's a work day, since we don't have sewer and there are no laundry facilities around I used ours. Jeff had to empty the grey tank. The dump station is so close it didn't take long. They do give you a large area around your site here. That also includes a big clothes line. Between loads I enjoyed the beach. Who gets tired of that?

We also ran into town to get our groceries for the holidays coming up. It is already a mad house there. The rest of the day we just enjoyed our camp site and all that goes with it. I tried to make the sunset but was a little late, all I got was the pink sky. It's nice here you are able to watch both the sunrise and sunset from the same beach.

We have been looking forward to this evening for a while. Ashton is in Wisconsin this weekend for his first hockey tournament of the season. They offer live stream. Jeff got everything set up to watch it. It didn't start until around 10. They were running late, but it was worth the wait. They won and it was a very close exciting game. Yeah Roughriders!!

Sunday November 13-Didn't make the sunrise this morning because of our late night. Walked around the loop but couldn't make it around without talking to a few folks. Had a brunch then got ready for Ashton's last game. This time the results weren't the same they got beat. Needless to say it was a lot more fun to watch last night. Went to watch the sunset and got a bonus a super moon was behind us.

Monday November 14-Sunrise to start and Jeff joined me. It was pretty for sure. I looked around for the super moon too. The water was very inviting so went back to grab the kayaks and fishing stuff and launched from the beach. We caught lots of fish but only a couple keepers.

After a while out on the water we headed a different direction. The fishing was really slow so we did something a bit different.. We looked for critters. We found lots of iguanas.

Tuesday November 15- This was the first day the weather wasn't perfect. Jeff has been wanting to ride our bikes over across the road to a cove he likes to snorkel. We grabbed stuff jumped on our bikes and away we went. It was pretty gray and I wasn't going to snorkel so I fished. When we got there Jeff was a bit disappointed because the wind was blowing in. The visibility was effected by that. We got in anyway. I watched him from the shore.

After this adventure we headed back and the rain started. It rained on and off the rest of the evening so we stayed in.

Wednesday November 16- It's our sons birthday today so I always start off by singing to them. Jeff always says I ruin their day. I think they really like it. With so much time inside yesterday we were ready to get back outside. First kayaks. It was a good day fishing. Grunts and mangrove snappers are what we caught. Some too little but still fun to catch. I had a couple that were close but just short. Them I caught a really nice one and just as I was showing Jeff he jumped off the hook. I know I know the big one always gets away. We skipped out on our plans to go out last night, so we decided to go tonight  instead. We cleaned up and got on the road heading south. We went to Boondocks. They have a putt putt golf course, a bar, and a restaurant with live music every night. First the golf. I have never been very good at putt putt. Well tonight that wasn't the case. I was doing really good. I ended up beating Jeff and so that made for a fun game for me. Next we went in to get supper. We had a wonderful waiter, but the food was just OK for us. The music came on and they could play good but again it was just OK for us. Not really our kind of music. 

Friday November 18- Today was suppose to be windy but we were surprised to see that wasn't the case. Thought we could put our boats in one more time before moving. The fishing started out slow but picked up. We got in around 9 a.m. and stayed until we ran out of bait. A great way to spend the morning.

The joined the hosts here, Frank and Donna for drinks at there place. We went the next couple hours sharing traveling stories. What a fun night. We also visited with some folks we have met here year after year....Ken and Sheryl. This year they did it. Now they are full timers too.

Saturday November 19- Today was a working day. We are moving tomorrow so we started putting things away. Also caught up the laundry. Went for a walk around the campground. It was really a pretty day. Frank and Donna invited us to join them for dinner at Bayside Grille. It's a restaurant in Key Largo. They also have live music. Tonight it was blues and they love the blues. We rode with them and I don't know if we would have found the place without them. It was tucked in behind the main road. We ordered off the bar menu, but our sandwiches were great. The entertainment started at 7 p.m. Lauren Mitchell was the singer and she was awesome. The musicians were great and so was she. It was a great evening. We will plan another visit there before we leave the Keys. Tomorrow a big move to Long Key...it's only about 10 miles away. We will have to hang out here until they kick us out. We want to make sure our site at Long Key is ready. It was a great stay here and we can't wait to come back. Bye Bye Curry Hammock.....

2 Short Stops

Thursday November 3- It's Jeff's birthday today....we will be driving through most of it. We packed up and set off. We had 290 miles to go on mostly 2 lane roads, but at least it wasn't crowded. It was a pretty ride but a long one. We arrived  at Blueberry Hill RV Park in Bushnell,FL We have used this park before and it's super close to the interstate and very well maintained. The people are friendly here and you can wash your vehicles. The sites are super close but easy in and out. They have about everything you need. They have 50 amp service, water, sewer, cable, wifi and laundry facilities. If you want to participate in any kind of activities, they have them. They also have a really nice pool. After we landed and set up I made Jeff a birthday dessert. He celebrated with shrimp for supper.


Friday November 4-This would be our only day here. We used the facilities here, I did the laundry and Jeff washed the truck and camper. So the morning was spent on cleaning. After lunch I went to the pool to enjoy the sunshine, Jeff even came up for a while. It was a short visit but necessary.

Saturday November 5- Another traveling day. We  As we were getting ready to pull out we checked the brake lights and the right side wasn't working. Jeff went across the street and got a bulb....that was an easy fix. Back on schedule. We jumped on interstate 75 which was right next to this park. The traffic was light to start but that didn't last long. You never know what to do. With the interstate's you can usually find a rest area to stop, and there is plenty of room. On the other hand you run into so many people and they are usually in a big hurry so they do stupid things. They don't realize you can't just swerve or stop to avoid there antics. With the 2 lane roads you can't always find a stopping place. You just have to weigh out which one works best for you on that day. We are going to Collier Seminole State Park. We have never been here. We always heard this park wasn't big rig friendly so we avoided it. We also heard they have redone it so we called to make sure there was a spot big enough for us. When we arrived it was arranged a bit different. We found our site #80,  a pull through. As we are setting up a someone in a class C pulled by us and started yelling something. I wasn't sure who it was. You meet a lot of different people and I don't remember everyone's name. The guy took off his sunglasses and then I recognized him. It was Jeff Allerman, I worked for him back in our home town. It's a small world. He now has a house here in Florida and does a lot of traveling in there motor home. We finished setting up and later I took Belle for a walk, they were sitting outside so I stopped and visited. They shared some of there travel stories and so did we.

We had a very nice visit. We went back had some supper and hung around home. I wasn't feeling good so I spent my evening laying down.

Sunday November 6- We got an extra hour of sleep last night because of the time change. Jeff went around the park loop to see if we would have any problems getting out of here. The dump station is in a real awkward place. Since we are only here for 2 nights and they have a brand new shower house right across from us we decided to use that. Jeff just used the blue boy to dump. There is a very low branch right in the way of us leaving our site. Jeff spotted another low branch as well. Today was our only day here. Since we spent a lot of time in the truck yesterday we thought we would walk around the park today. It's really a nice park. They have a boat ramp and a couple interesting things to check out on site.

These are a few of the things we checked out. The building above used to house the park care taker. The big black iron thing is a walking dredge that was used in to build highway 41. They told about the Indians in the area and the man who owned all the land. It was a nice walk with things to enjoy. We both kind of agreed that it's not our favorite park. We had a lot of road noise. The campground is still a bit tight. I did say that the shower house is brand new and really nice. After our walk we drove to town to fill up the truck with fuel. We also had a bite to eat at 5 Guys Burgers. Both of us have been missing this place. After we got back both of us are still not feeling 100% so we just laid around. Tomorrow we head a bit further south. We will be starting our special time in The Keys. We both really look forward to this time every year. We went over our route and think we've got everything figured out. We are arriving in The Keys earlier this year than we have in the past.

Monday November 7- Ready to move south....remember those low branches I talked about, well we were discussing how to avoid them when I spotted the camp ground  hosts. I asked if there was any way we could get them trimmed? They went and checked, got the tree trimmers and got the job done. Boy they really made our day a lot better. On to the Keys....