A Florida Keys Getaway

Jim says to Kim - “let’s go to the Keys for a few days”. Kim says, “When?” Jim says, “first week of January?” Kim says, “Yay!”

Jim and Kim have never been to the Florida Keys. A new adventure!
With the pandemic surging here in Florida, being able to quarantine in our RV is a huge blessing! We can get away from our home and at least travel the highways to a different location, for the most part, safely.
At one point, in 2018, when we returned from our Great Loop Adventure, we had talked about taking the boat, which was our home, to the Keys and then crossing to the Bahamas for a spell. We never did that. I felt it was to costly. And it is. The Florida Keys are a tourist destination. We found that out on this trip we just took. Going by boat is not much different than going by RV. In a marina, they charge by the number of feet your boat is. On our loop, we spent most every night in a marina. Depending on the location, we were charged anywhere from 50 cents a foot to $4.00 a foot. In the Keys, marinas charge anywhere between $4.00 and $6.00 a foot, which for a 42 foot boat means over $200.00 per night! It’s crazy!
RV parks and campgrounds charge what they want also. Location, location, location! We have stayed at State Parks that charge a minimal fee. Let’s say $18.00 a night. We’ve stayed at KOA campgrounds that charge $60.00 for the privilege of parking in their lot. It all depends on the campground.
The campground I chose for our getaway, Jolly Roger RV Campground, in Marathon Florida, was pricey. But, for the cost, we were right on the sea wall overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. It was probably the nicest spot we’ve ever stayed!

It took us about 5 hours to get to Marathon from our home. We, for the first time, towed our new little Mini Cooper behind the RV! We were excited because we’ve only had our bikes to get around with, and it’s been difficult, because, if we wanted to go somewhere farther than the bikes could take us, we couldn’t go, unless we rented a car or caught an Uber. I love our new little car and having it on this trip afforded us the luxury of being able to drive the 90 minutes to Key West and to enjoy the views we saw of all the Florida Keys.

We got up early, put the convertible roof down, cranked up some Jimmy Buffet and drove to Key West. The waters on one side is the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other side, The Gulf of Mexico. Key West is Southern most point in the Continental United States.
We drove over the 7 mile Overseas bridge and checked out all the beauty around us.

We arrived in Key West, parked the car and found a place to have breakfast. DuVall Street is the Main Street in Key West. Its quite quaint, with many little shops, bars and restaurants. It’s colorful and some of the street crossings were heavily colored in rainbow paints.
As we were seated at the restaurant, one thing that went through my mind was, “What's up with the chickens?” There were roosters, chickens and babies all around our feet! It was kind of creepy to tell you the truth! Here’s what I found out about why they live here and why you can’t bother them. Key West chickens that roam the streets are descendants of jungle fowl that originated in Cuba and the Caribbean islands. These birds were brought here by island ancestors and used as food. Chickens were also used in the now illegal sport of cockfighting. Many of these birds escaped their enclosures or were just released when cockfighting became illegal. The feathered animals are now known as Key West Gypsy Chickens. Since Key West is a no-kill island, it didn’t take long for the population of chickens to explode.
Fascinating!

One point of interest all tourists must see is the Southern Most Point Buoy Monument.
The Southernmost Point Buoy is an anchored concrete buoy in Key West, marking the southernmost point in the continental United States, the lowest latitude land of contiguous North American states. It also marks mile marker 0. Mile Marker 0 is where Hwy. 1 starts or ends depending on whether you are going North or South.
If you don’t get your picture taken here, you didn’t go to Key West Florida.

My friend Nellie told me to make sure we looked for “Key Deer.” I had to find out what these were and where we could find them.
The Key deer is an endangered deer that lives only in the Florida Keys. It is a subspecies of the white-tailed deer. It is the smallest North American deer. They are protected by law here in the Keys, and they roam the streets and live in the pine rocklands, tropical hardwood hammocks, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, mangrove forests and beach berms.

Jim turned down a street and right in front of my eyes I saw one Key Deer. Right in the street. I was so flustered, trying to get my camera, that it disappeared into the brush right before my eyes and long before I could get a picture. In honesty, the photo above is from a google search, but it looks just like the one we saw. We forged on trying to find more, but alas, none were to be found.
We drove on back to Marathon, and will always remember our day, exploring the Florida Keys.