Spring of 19 - #11 - Side Trip to Key West

Wednesday May 8th, 2019
We decided that as we were this close to the Keys we would do a road trip to Key West.  We found a 2 bedroom mobile home for a reasonable rate on the Navy Base at Trumbo Point and booked a room for 2 nights.  We left Lily in the RV park where we were staying and off we went.  Tilly(car) was going on vacation.  A nice long drive without being towed behind Lily.  This would blow some of her cobwebs out!!!
Here's our route.

It was 176 miles and would take 3 1/2 hours.  That was without stops and we intended to stop for lunch on the way.

We chose a route that avoided tolls.  This did add about 15 minutes to our trip and 3 miles!!!!

We drove through Homestead, Florida.  There is a reserve base here and we will probably stop on our way back.  It used to be an Air Force base but was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Just follow the signs.

Key Largo was the first island we came to and the largest one that was part of the Keys.

Key Largo

Pink Flamingo

Islamorada is a village located on five islands in the Keys.

Islamorada

Unusual statue of a lobster

Windley Key is one of the islands incorporated in the village of Islamorada.  Are you confused yet???     😕

We got delayed in traffic due to an accident which added about 30 minutes to our drive.

Approaching one of the islands in the Florida Keys.  Highway US1(Overseas Highway) runs south linking the small islands (keys) on the way to Key West.

We stopped and got KFC for lunch and took it to Sombrero Beach, Marathon.  I had read that you could see Sombrero Key Light from the beach and there it is!!!

It was a nice place to take a break from our long drive.

As we were getting back to the car, a woman returned to the car next to us and proceeded to take her wet clothes off, and stand there naked, before putting her dry clothes on.  There was no towel wrapped around her or trying to cover her body, and she was in no rush. Bryan was just feet away from her.  He got quite an eyeful, and I think he was a little shocked that the woman didn't care. It wasn't a nudist beach and there were quite a few adults and children around.

On the road again and we were soon on the Seven Mile Bridge that connects the Middle Keys to the Lower Keys.

"Fred"the tree on the seven mile bridge has a FACEBOOK page and gets decorated at Christmas.

We reached Key West at last.  What a long drive.

This sign, outside a hotel, made me smile

We found the base and got the keys to the mobile home that was to be our house for the next two nights.  The skirting around the bottom of the homes was torn away in a lot of places and I'm sure home to all sort of critters under the house but the home itself was clean.

There are a lot of roosters here and they make a lot of noise.  We had a welcoming committee, it was quite funny.

This was the sunset from outside our place.

We will go exploring tomorrow.