April 13th

Today, we decided to drive to see Key West and to spend the night down there instead of staying in Estero. It is about a 5 hour drive with all the pit stops and construction areas. It was a nice drive though. Left Estero about 8:00 AM (depending who's telling this story) and headed for Key West. Hit Interstate 75 a couple of miles from our place here in Estero (after stopping for Dunkin Donuts coffees) and finally hit the Sunshine State Parkway with its multiple tool booths down in the Miami area.

Our EZPass doesn't work at the Florida toll booths, so stopped in a rest area and bought an electronic pass that you stick to your windshield. The pass looks like a safety inspection sticker, but is a transponder. It cost $4.99 and you had to call an 800 number to initialize it and to add money to use it. Thought we were all set to avoid stopping at toll booths, but NOOOOOOO - It takes 24 to 36 hours for it to be initialized. Still had to stop at the tool booths after all.

Drove through Homestead before getting into the Keys. I had been stationed at Homestead AFB on an Army HAWK site for two years, so thought about trying to locate the old HAWK site location. That area has changed so much, I couldn't recognize anything that vaguely resembled the Homestead I knew back then.

The ride from Homestead on to Key West varied from 35 mph to 55 mph and constantly changed. Seemed like local cops were sitting at every change in the speed limit signs for 100 miles or so. Still a nice ride and the water colors and sky were beautiful.

We finally arrived in Key West at a hotel Paul had selected, and it was really something. The address was 0 Duvall Street, so you know it was right on the water. Nice views of the ocean from our room and deck. Took a tour on the Conch Train around the city and many things had changed from when Sheila and I had visited Key West all then her birthday in January, 2001, after taking a jet ferry from Marcos Island. Had a ball while we were on the tour and then booked a sunset booze cruise that evening. Really quite a lot of fun.

While we were on the boat, two jets suddenly flew over at low altitude. We learned that the jets were part of the Blue Angels who had been performing earlier in the week. Quite a sight. Also was able to watch the Coast Guard training to rescue a couple of swimmers using their helicopter. Picked up two swimmers and it was quite a show. We enjoyed the day so much, we decided to spend another day in Key West. K

Key West is so beautiful!!! Our room is also very lovely, great view, large jacuzzi, makeup area, bath, and deck with chairs.
Took the cruise hoping to see the sunset on the water, no luck, very cloudy day. The legend is if you don't see the sunset in Key West you must stay another day, oh shucks if we have to. Had supper on the ship,plenty of food, but interesting cuisine, great for pulled pork fans. Before sailing off saw many beautiful yachts. One belonged to Dale Earnhart JR., very big and beautiful. Some of the yachts worth multiple millions!!
On conch train learned nice bit of history of Key West, a very fascinating city, millions of dollars worth of revenue built on shipwrecks. Did a little shopping to help the economy but realize I can't do it all by myself, well ok maybe I can make a serious dent. S