Rick Rambles – A blog

We land in Tampa and get a car.  We drive to Venice beach where we go boating and take part in the largest auto race in the nation.  We stay with Marlo’s friends who are very nice.
Marlo leaves me at a gas station and I hitch to Fort Myers.  An adventure.  I get a ride to Lauderdale and get another car.  I head to Miami Beach and stay at the Miami Beach Resort using Priceline…  nice place…   next stop Key Largo.  I actually research this place and stay at a dive resort because I want to dive.  The place is not the cleanest, but works for me.  I exaggerate (greatly) my dive experience and end up doing a really cool, deep water wreck dive.  The only reason I got to go was because they were certifying a couple for their advanced open water and I could tag along, sweet.  I liked that a lot.  I with it was warmer.  I am looking forward to diving with Marlo and Wes, and Tanya in Cozumel.   Marlo needs some training with the buddy system first…
Key West is very nice.  I really relax here.  It is easy to get around in, lots to do and I like the place I staid in.
Fort Lauderdale would have been a nice place to stay another day.  I was right on the beach.  I would have loved to played some volleyball… oh well.  I will when I get home.
I have 6 days until we go to Paris!  Livin, lovin life :>  until then, I need to work out more, study my French, and then Spanish, and read the CISSP manual.  Maybe  get a job…  maybe go skiing :>
Tru-tv had New London, CT on dangerous drivers when the old guy ran into the crowd.

Flying…  when did flying become blasé?  I used to be very anxious about flying…  why you ask.  Well it was certainly not fear.  It was the huge inconvenience and expense of missing the flight.  That feeling is now almost completely gone.  We took seven flights while we were in South America and they all worked out just fine.  During this last trip to Florida I decided not to go home as scheduled.  I now have a credit with Southwest…  it has gotten to the point now that I miss takeoffs…  yup, one minute we are on the ground and the next thing I know it, we are flying away.  Not don’t get me wrong, except for the sitting for long, long periods of time, I think that flying is way cool…  they only thing is that it still takes a long, long time to get to most places…  they need faster planes.

On the road again… I have logged over 1,000 ground miles this trip.  60 of it backpacking, 100 of it or so riding and the rest driving.  I am glad that I upgraded the car to the convertible.  It was a fun car.  I wish I had more of a chance to play with the rear wheel driveness of it in some sand, but I never got the chance.
The drive up the Keys, was long and slow.  I did stop on Bahia Honda State Park.  It was pretty,  I visited the butterfly garden, and hiked on the nature walk.  I took some pictures, left some foot prints…  there were a few kite boarders enjoying the beach.  Marlo is hot to do that…  I have to say that it does not look overly easy…  I don’t feel all that motivated to do it…  we will see.  I would like to dive in Cozumel come May though.
Anyway the drive was long and uneventful.  ANB kept me on track.  I really do like this version way better then the lesser models.  I should do the right thing and just keep this one.  I think that I will give it to Marlo for her birthday…  we will see if she reads this before then…  her birthday is coming up.  She is a great girl.  I stop along the way and fill up with some cheap gas.  I cruise though Fort Lauderdale and find the hotel.  It is very nice and on the beach.  It is after four by the time I arrive.  There are lots of volleyball nets on the beach… I wish I had gotten there early enough to get in on a game…  if they were even playing… it was a Tuesday after all.
I get my Starwood preferred treatment and have an ocean front room.  It is nice.  I head to the bar to get a bit to eat.  I am sitting there and a woman sits next to me.  She is a about my age and fairly attractive.  I say hi.  I go through all of the hi stranger things and she is about as talkative as nothing…  I order a cob salad and it is excellent.  The presentation was very nice.  It was arranged with all of the ingredients surrounding the lettuce in the middle.  Little miss talkative next to me speaks and comments about the bartenders French braid… it makes her look up tight and unfriendly.  She seems both.  The women next to me sells upscale sun glasses to chains.  She say that she sells optical solutions… ok, whatever gets you to sleep at night.  She travels a lot and enjoys it.  She tells me that she can do this because she is single and has no kids.  She tells me this several times.  But every time I try to engage her in a conversation she fails to hold up her end…  no wonder she is single and has no kids…  I think that it may be a personality disorder… or maybe she was just tired.  Now just to make things clear…  I was NOT trying to pick this women up…  If I had tried I would have :>  off to my room for some tv, reading, and sleep.
In the air again…  I pack and am on my way.  The car is supposed to be back by 11:00 and my flight is not until 4:00.  So, what do I do, spend more money and keep the car or hang out in the airport for 5 hours…  ok, I am still cheap… and done with Florida.  I spend 5 hours in the airport.  That is ok, I finally finish the book that I was reading.  The Weight of Light, not very captivating, but I finished it and then abandoned it to the universe that travels through the airport.  I bought another one.  This is by Robert Parker and I am sure that I will like it.  After reading the first part I find that it picks up right after the last Robert Parker book I read.  This is good.
I look around the airport for a plug so I can run on ac with my laptop.  There is one plug where I am waiting and some guy is using it…  I wait.  I can also watch the USAIR counter for a time when there  is no line.  The guy leaves and I swoop in on the plug and type away for another hour or so.  There is free internet in Fort Lauderdale airport, sweet.  I post a blog.  I read my book…  I eat at Friday’s I think.  I check in.  I go though security.  Even security has lost its angst.  I sit, I wait, I plug in. I read, I type I buy a soda.  USAIR now charges $2 for soda on the plane… geeze!
While at the airport I pay my car insurance, I call Geico and take my ex-wife off of my policy…  why after nine years is she still listed on my policy???  Well, I could not do it on-line and I never bothered.  It turns out that the married status was saving me $50 a year on my insurance!  Yup, I saved $450 on car insurance over the last nine years because I could not change it on-line, sweet.  I finally needed to get here off because she had some problem with her insurance.  This came at a good time because I want to see the kids on a weekend that is not mine, so it helps to have done something for her….
Off to Philly and then onto Hartford…

—  the trip down route 1 was very nice.  Especially considering I was driving a convertible sports car :>  Marlo insisted that I stop at a place called Robbie’s.  At Robbie’s you can feed the tarpons.  She has done it before and said that it would be fun.  It was.  They are HUGE.  To make it even better she was home on the computer watching Robbie’s Tarpon Webcam… we got to do it together… kinda… aren’t we cute… ralph!  Anyway feeding these tarpons was not as easy as all that.  First of all they are about 3-4 feet long and weigh up to 150 pounds.   The other obstacle is that the there are pelicans everywhere and they are even more aggressive then the fish.  They reach through the screened-in area and try to steal the fish.   The minute you start watching for the pelicans a four foot fish jumps out of the water and scares the crap out of you.  It is way more fun for the people watching.  It was fun though.  After another guy feed them.  He explains that the water is cold so they are not as active.  In the summer they jump right out of the water after the fish…  I’m not so sure that would be more fun….  They have kayak rentals and jet skis and fishing trips and all that here.  It was a festival-like atmosphere.
I get back in my sweet ride and hook up ANB (ausi nav bitch, the garmin) and she tell me that I have a long drive ahead.  She is right.  It takes over two hours.  I decide then what I am going to do with my extra day.  I decide that I am going to stay overnight in Fort Lauderdale so that I will be close to the airport.  It should be cheaper too…
The drive is enjoyable for the most part and uneventful.  I drive over all of the bridges and the sun is shining.  I have applied sunscreen and have the floppy hat on.  There will be no fried crispy head this trip.  There is a lot of construction and it is a two lane road.  I have to keep telling myself that I  am not in any hurry.  Still slow people don’t make me happy.  I practically did the speed limit the whole way!
I finally cruise into town.  Route 1 circles around to the gulf side and then across the bottom… I think… :>  I drive around the island checking things.  I then head for my room.  An Island Oasis.  It is a very niice quaint bed and breakfast a good distance off of the main drag.  I get settled into this lovely room… I think I might have forgotten to take pictures…  hmmm.   Anyway, I check the local map and then I spy the “pool” just outside of my room.  Well the pool is actually a spa.   It is about 12 feet square and very warm.  I change and jump right in.  I even found the timer that controlled the jets… nice…
Now if you are in a monogamous relationship and not drinking and traveling alone…  Key West might not be for you…  I still had fun.  I had been watching the “Keys Channel” on and off for several days, so I knew the places that I wanted to hit.  There was “The Bull” and upstairs was the “Garden of Eden” and then of course “Sloppy Joe’s”.  I stopped into all of them several times.  They were amusing.  There was also an Irish bar with a funny guy on guitar.
I walked around the island from the southernmost point of the US to the lovely Sunset Pier.  I watched the beautiful sunsets both days.  There is a big deal each day with street performers and what not.  It is the same acts each day.  There are cruise ships that dock during the day and they must leave by sunset or they get fined.  There are several sunset cruised that sail everyday and they sail right across the sunset at just the right time so people can click away.
The second day I wanted to rent a bike or a scooter… I decided on a bike.  I thought some exercise might be good for me.  I probably rode twenty miles or so.  I rode around the whole island and then some.  Not long after I got my first bike the peddle fell off…  nice…  I limped it back to the shop and got a new one.  I then peddled myself over to an art museum that was actually in a fort.  I saw it on the KeyTV.  It was a lot underwhelming.   Then I rode down to the beach and then around through the entire streets closet to the shore.  I also rode off the reservation to where the locals live.  It was not too bad.  Then I rode through Fort Jefferson.  It had some nice beaches and picnic areas.  There was also a bunch of artist creating their works of art.  One was making a road to nowhere, one was making a compass out of natural elements, and one was making a fort out of salt blocks…  I considered stopping to help one of these artists, but… nah, I rode on.  I rode through the docks and walked some and watched the cruise boat tourists.  I then attempted to ride all the way around the rest of the island, but ended up back at the first museum… not to be denied, I turned the other way and continued my trek.  I dropped the bike off and walked back to my room.  I changed and headed to the hot tub.  There was a French couple in there that looked like they had some ideas…  they left shortly after I got in… sorry..  she only spoke French and he spoke both English and French.  He had a weird wander eye that was a little freaky.  They were from Paris and had nothing to offer in way of insights except that the weather was bad when they left…  thanks…  there was a small from in the hot tub that he was afraid of…  I made a frog’s leg joke that he frowned at…  not really sorry that I scared them away.
I showered and grabbed the car and drove up close to Sunset pier.  I had a good lay of the land now and knew where to park and where to g.  I watched the performers and the sunset.  I grabbed a bite to eat at The original “Margaretville”.  I had a Chicken Caesar.  It was awful!  How do you screw that up… they managed…
Then I cruised through Sloppy Joes and headed back to my room for a bit.  The night life does not start until after 10:00 so I read and hung out and searched for my next place to stay.  I ended up using Priceline and getting a great deal at a place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale for $99.  It was the Sheraton Yankee Clipper.
I went back out at 11:00 or so and things were no more amusing.  The Garden of Eden was a little more interesting, but not that much.  I called it a night after a while and went to bed.
The next day I got up and made it in time for the continental breakfast… this is the second time.  I have been rising earlier while I have been homeless and jobless… hmm…  anyway there was a couple eating breakfast.  He was a real estate sales person that like to repeat himself and she was from Japan.  Fortunately they left.  I asked about how Priceline and Expedia worked for them.  Apparently they pay to be listed and they have to update it twice a day…  looks like someone was slacking on updating Expedia.  I offered to configure the wireless router (a hate routers that are called Linksys) but she was not the owner so she did not approve it.  I was going to do it anyway before I left it, but I did not.
I had packed everything up, or so I thought and was sitting in the car asking Hertz if I could drive in the Sun Pass lane for the tolls.  They were fairly clueless…  BUT the delay was enough for the house keeper to run out and bring me my phone charger that I had forgotten!!!!  Ahhh, what a bonehead…

So I finally got my butt off the recliner and headed to the Starbucks to book my next abode…  I researched, and finally found a place that was almost reasonable.  It is An Island Oasis.  I got it on Priceline.  I looked it up on Expedia and it said that there were no rooms…  they must have an exclusive with Priceline…
After surfing for some time I finally get hungry.  I decide that I want to get something to eat.  I decide that I want to get something to eat.  I read about this place called the Bayside Grill.  It is supposed to have great food and have a great view.  This sounds good to me.  The guy at Starbucks tells me that it is 5 doors down.  That should be easy.  Well it’s not.  First of all Route 1 at this point is a divided highway so you have to be going south to get to it.  It is on the Bay Side, hence the name…  the good news is that there are business in the median area.  Most all of them have access to both north and southbound so you can sneak through… very convenient when you have to U-turn several times…  I first pull into the Bayside lodge… nope… keep going.  I am crawling down the road trying not to be a great hazard… and I finally spot a sign for Bayside Grill parking.  I quickly turn in…  I am in front of a strip mall and I can not find the sign that I just saw!!!  I drive around a bit and there it is on the wall way up high.  I park near the sign and start walking down the way…  well the way is way long so I go back and get the car.  I drive 300 yards to the actual Bayside Grill parking lot…  I made it.  I sit at the bar and order conch (pronounced konk) fritters and a burger.  While I am there I talk to the bar tender about how hard it is to find the place.  While I sit there he gets 4 phone calls on how to find the place.  One guy has called 3 time and he is across the street!!!  It turns out that the bartender does not really get it that you can only get to the place if you are traveling southbound…
The guy from the phone finally shows up and he is a bit of a dweeb…  him and his girlfriend are twenty something and not that bright…  one other thing is the girl has a nice dress on that probably distracted him :>
I ask the bartender if there is a local bar around that would be fun to hit.  Key Largo ahs no clubs, just a few local bars…  he tells be about the Caribbean Café.  It is supposedly where the movie Key Largo was filmed.  He said that there are not too many fights there, but don’t go out back or watch what people are doing on the picnic tables…  I feel really safe now…  he gives me directions, that are only slightly wrong.  It turns out that the place is right down the road from where I am staying.  I was going to walk, but it was further then I think.  I grab the car.  I park facing out for a quick get away…
I have never seen the movie, Key Largo, but am pretty sure that it was filmed a long time ago.   Walking into this place confirms it.  The place has NOT be updated in at least twenty years…  and neither have the people…  it is mostly locals so I fit  right in… NOT.  At first glance these people are the redneck’s rednecks!  There are long-haired hippy dudes, scary old drunks, large, not very intellengent looking people, one guy with a shaved head and a pony tail…  and of course bikers… hmmm..  I look out back and see the picnic tables…  I don’t see anything going on, but there are some people coming in that are high and drunk and who knows what else.
I order my na beer and make sure I put it in a cup.  I stand out bad enough as it is…  I settle in at the bar and watch the people.  As the initial shock wears off and I listen up, they seem like alright people… of course they are, people are people.  This woman, Trish and her man Serge are standing next to me and she introduces herself to me.  She lives down there and is nice to talk to.  She has all her teef and a cute cowboy hat to boot.  I talk to another guy who comes to the bar for a round for the table and he is also on the dole.  He has been gone for a year and a half.  He figured that if he was going to be unemployed, he might as well do it back home in Key Largo…  one other guy is a great welder that put in a spiral staircase in Trish’s house… hmmm
I ask Serge about the band that is purportedly coming on at 10:00 and he tells me that they are really good.  The problem is that it is already ten of…  no thump, thump of the drums…  turns out that the band was doing some old-folk wedding so they were a little late.  They are actually pretty good, playing none other than southern rock!  He lead singer looks like Charlie Danials.  There is dancing and drinking (neither of which did I partake in) and more drinking.  At around 12:30 I had seen all there was to see and headed out and call it a night…  tomorrow off to Key West

My time in Key West is over.  It is time to trek back north.  One day at Fort Lauderdale and then i fly home :<  I think I will stop here on the way home…

Bahia Honda State Park

They say that they filmed this bar in the movie..  That was a long time ago.  It has not changed…  it was … interesting… more later…

Off to feed the tarpons and onward orr downward to Key West… more later.

2009-Florida-Key Largo Diving
I wake up early, around 7:30.  I am thinking about the dive AND making the video for The Great Barrier Reef job.  I work on what I want to say.  I rehearse it and change it and figure out how to record it.  I wanted to use my camera, but I would have to hold it.  I decided to use the laptop to record the message.  I practice several time and the first one that comes out good is 20 seconds too long.  I make some modifications.  It is still long.  I speak more quickly.  It sounds a little rushed, but that is it.  I try to  upload it a couple of times and it keeps timing out.  I will have to drive to the library tonight or find some other hot spot.  I really don’t like not having internet access…
So after waiting for my app to upload I leave a little later then I had hoped.  I have to be in Key Largo by 12:30 to check in for my dive.  I don’t like being rushed.  I also need some shoes to wear for the water.  I don’t want to wear my hiking shoes…  I put the address in ANB that is along the way.  I bolt from the hotel without doing a proper checkout.  I get my car and apparently it is not on the main bill.  I may have to call to confirm.  I pay them and am on my way.  I follow the directions, but they keep taking me west…  I want to go south…  I question if I confused ANB, so I go to remove my via, well I put in the address of the hotel I just left, ooops.  I get off the highway and then I figure that I screwed it up.  I put in the correct address and it wants me to get back on the highway…  well I just happen to be at a street mall with a Marshal’s and a Target, score.  I go into Marshal’s find the perfect sandals…
On to Key Largo…
The rest of the drive is ok.  There is a lot of construction and I was told later that I should taken the highway instead…  I don’t know if I would have, but I would also have thought that ANB would have selected that…  anyway this is the first time this trip that I actually had to be somewhere at any particular time…well, I made it with 25 minutes to spare.
So, I get there and have to pee!  I go to the bathroom and it is locked.  I assume that someone is in there.  We do the check-in and register for the dive…  there is a little more to it then that, but isn’t there always…  it has been some time since I have dived.  If it has been more than 2 years I have to recertify in the pool all day and take a test…  well, I want to dive today, actually in 25 minutes, so I may have slightly exaggerated how long it has been since I last dived…  also they tell me that the first dive is a deep dive for some advanced open water divers and they are both wreck dives…  well, well… my cert is just open water…  they tell me that I need a guide…  I am OK with that.  I may be brave, but I am not foolish… much, a lot, or often (pick two :>).  So I get the paperwork all filled out AND I just so happened to bring my PADI card with me… what a smart boy… sometimes.  I tell them that I need all the gear as I have brought nothing…  they fill out the form and whack my credit card…
I go to my room and quickly change making sure to bring warm stuff for the boat trip back.  I know that I am going to be COLD!  I mossey over to the rental shack…  renting any kind of sporting equipment is the same…  Hi, my name is Rick and I am a renter ….  Hans fixes me up with a mask and snorkel and I try on a wet suit.  It fits well, slimming even…  we go and get on the boat and chit chat…  I am a little apprehensive as this is a serious dive.  I did not know quite how serious until I read the review later at: http://fla-keys.com/spiegelgrove/.  Any way it is a very nice day if not a little cool.  The seas are 1-2 feet.  Not bad.  It takes  about 45 minutes to get there.  Hans is going over the advanced open water information with another couple who are certifying.  Capt Joe goes over all of the safety stuff as we cruise though the mangroves on the way to open water.
Hans asks me if I need a weight belt…  I am a little confused.  Of course I need a weight belt, i have nothing remember???  Well apparently there was a little mix up.  He did not give me a BC (Buoyancy Compensator).  This is probably the second most important piece of equipment for a dive, with the regulator being first.  I put breathing above floating cuz I can swim, but I CAN’T breathe under water.  I ask him to take a look at the BC so I can familiarize myself with it.  I remember that you put air in it to compensate for the weights so you can achieve zero buoyancy.  That way you get the cool weightless feeling and you don’t have to struggle to go up or down.  Well, he looks at me like I have two heads…  you don’t have one he asks…  to which I reply with the remember I have nothing remark.  Well Christie was the one that filled out my form and she also knew that I had nothing…  a couple of moments of panic ensure.  My biggest fear is that I will not be able to dive!  They, of course have a spare one on board.  Well, it is not the best looking piece of equipment that I have ever seen, but it works.  I later check out the one that I should have gotten and they are nice :<  they also have pockets for the weights :>  NOW that question makes sense…  ok, NOW he shows me how to put air in and how to take air out…  remember to be upright and hold the hose up when expelling air… oh yea, that sounds familiar.
Well we are almost ready to hit the water.  Hans is my buddy and we will be diving with a couple that are doing the open water cert.  hey, wait a minute, Hans is double dipping here… he has to be here with the couple and I am paying him to be my guide… hmmm…  if I want to dive today, they need to make a couple of things right…  I don’t  know if I want to spend the money to go again today…  I am on the fence.  It would be nice now that I know what I am doing again and I know the people. PLUS they should give me the gear for free and supply Hans…  maybe I will call and check it out.  I am down here…
So as they talk about the first dive I find out that this is the deep dive for the couple’s advanced open water cert.  Well, I have NEVER done a deep dive.  I am thinking that this should be interesting.  Some might think that this may be a little crazy… well, let me say this about that.  First of all it may be a little risky.  BUT only if not properly handled.  Diving is mostly common sense with a couple of rules regardless of how you dive…  one, don’t run out of air, which leads to two, don’t surface too fast, and three equalize your ears!!!  Of those, the one I was most concerned about was the equalizing.  Hold your nose and blow until your ears pop.  I practiced on the boat on the way out… ah yea, this is coming back…  slowly…  my open water cert dive was a while ago and it was after a hardy night of festivities…  oh yeah, and whatever you, as it says on the cover of the hitchhikers guide, “DON’T PANIC!”
I did forget to equalize my mask at first and ended up squishing my face a bit.  I also got a little red-eye, but hey.
So Hans showed me the operation of the BC and we are ready to go… now the point of no return for diving is just like that of sky diving.  When that first person jumps, you know that is the way you have to g…  well I waddle over look over the edge and jump!   We follow the rope down and eq on the way down.  This is cool! The water is warm and clear and looming below is a really big wreck!  Nice!  We get to the wreck and my ears are happy and I un-squish my face and I achieve zero buoyancy.  Time to check out this wreck.  Now if you read the link from above you have determined that this is serious.  It is 130 feet down and you can swim through the wreck.  Now the people that I am with are newbies and not all that adventurous.  I signal to Hans that I would like to go into the ship.  He denies the request to go below decks and instead leads us to a pass-through.  We got a really good picture of it.  It was cool, but I wanted to do more.  One of the problems with a deep dive including all the things already mentioned is the fact that you use your air, fast.  You can only stay  down for 15-20 minutes before you have to go up…  also I had to hang with these other people who in retrospect took some cool picture.
The wreck was cool, there were lots of fishies and a huge grouper.  I way a green eel and a sea turtle swim by.  I wanted to chase him, but I would have had to leave my group behind and I could not signal them.  I am sure that part of the equipment that I was supposed to get would have included a knife, so I could have signaled.  Read the link, it tells you all about the dive:    http://fla-keys.com/spiegelgrove/.
Then we were off to the wreck cert dive for my advanced cohorts.  I thought we just dove a wreck… well apparently that counted as the deep dive, not the wreck dive, so we travel a mile or so with in pennycamp park to the Bennan.  This was a shallower dive so we could stay down longer.  This is a natural wreck, meaning the ship actually wrecked… making it a … ship wreck.  Apparently in 1942 while two ships were staying closer to shore to avoid the enemy (turns out that was a bad plan) they crashed.  This is the smaller boat and it lost and sunk.  Well the fish like it!  There are lots of them.  I get a little bored with my camera wielding buddies and my supposed buddy and swim a little ahead.  I spot a sea turtle and swim after it a bit.  Well, first of all I am not going to catch it, second of all I will completely lose my group…  I turn around and swim back.  There are lots of  colorful fish and the wreck is cool.  Lots of jagged metal though…  we see several large groupers and various fish.  You know the fish you dive…
Now this is actually my first real dive.  My other dives were in Tampa and the water was cloudy and not very deep.  This was much better.  I think that we will have to go in Cancun in May.  It should be warmer and they have some great sites.
After our second dive, it is cold.  My fingers are their usual dead-white and I am shivering… I go and change into the dry stuff that I brought.   Things warm up pretty well.  We chit-chat on the way in and the couple offer to share the pictures with me.  Sweet.
Now I am hungry for internet access and secondarily food.  I cruise over to the food store which happens to be next to the library that has internet.  I get on and search an AT&T hot spot.  Score, there is one right down the road at a Starbucks.  I shop and buy the healthy chips and trail mix and bananas and cinnamon raison rolls, yum.  Oh, yea, of course I also get some diet dew.
While there  I scope out my dinner options.  Now let me take this time out to express how important internet access is to someone whoe does not plan at all…  very.   I do ask the locals and I do have ANB, so I am not without options, BUT, the internet is way better…  so I ask the starbys guy where to eat and he tells me 5 doors down is a great place.  I look it up and it has good reviews.  I am in.  the problem is that when I go to look for it I miss it…  this is one of those separated highways that I don’t care for because I spend a lot of time turning around…  well I turn around eventually when I find there special crossover places and head in the other direction.  Well as I was researching dinner plans I came across the Key Largo Conch House.  It looked really good and I figured that I would do lunch there the next day.  Well, turns out that I was about to drive by it.  I thought it was way further up, and in the other direction.  This should not be a surprise for anyone that know me.  It also used to be called the Key Largo Coffee House.     Now how you go from a coffee house to a full blown restaurant I do not know.  I drive right on by it and part in the enterprise rent-a-car place. I did not want to turn around twice more to get into their parking lot… I can walk.
The place is small on the inside, but that have lots of table and tiki torches outside.  I sit in the corner at a nice little table.  There is one couple in the restaurant.  So there is the host, and three waitresses for 3 patrons inside.  I am not sure if anyone is sitting outside.  But this is a Friday night…  I read the reviews and they were good.  More importantly then that the food and service were good.  I was not overly hungry after eating some chips and a cinnamon roll after shopping.  The service was right there and I actually got assistance from all three waitresses.  One brought my na beer, one took my order, and another one checked on me…  what service…  I ordered the conch fritter, you kind of have to at the Conch House, now don’t you, and I also ordered pan seared yellow tuna.  They were both very good.  I finished up around 9:30 and came back to the room.  Both Star Trek and The Fifth Element were on.  I switched back and forth between them and chilled.  By midnight I was exhausted and went to sleep.
Now my room was right next to the pool and I could hear the drone of the pool pump and my air conditioner.  That was not too bad, but I woke at 2:30 am and did not sleep too well after that.  There was a thwumph that I heard every so once in a while.  I am not sure what it was.
Key Largo Day 2
Today consisted of kayaking and sun bathing.  I did offer to helps some people with their boat, but they declined…
I have to figure out where I want to stay tomorrow night.  I  am headed to Key West.  I think that I am going to check them all out on line and make sure that they have paid parking and internet access for my laptop.  I don’t think I will make reservations.  I think I will call a couple before and see the deal, and then take a drive by.  It’s not like I have anything better to do :>
Now I am off to Starbucks for an afternoon coffee and my internet fix…

Miami
Well, I was getting my rent-a-car and I asked the question…. How much more for a convertible?  She told me that it would be $60 dollars, but she would give it to me for $30…  nah, I could not quite do it…   I told her no.  Then she said that she might be able to get me one for $20… hmmm, something tells me that Hertz is negotiable… the end of that story is I am now driving around in a white mustang convertible!  South Florida in a convertible.  The large black woman at the checkout confirmed that I looked even hotter in that car.  Ok, that was basically my words.  I asked and she said yes, sometimes ya gotta use that customer service thing for your own good.
So I have got my car and south I go.  I figured that I had all the time in the world so I would head to the coast and then drive south.  I end up in Hollywood.  There is a nice downtown area, so I park the car off the strip and go search for some lunch.  I had a cob salad yesterday for dinner so it looks like I am eating kind of healthy.  I walk around and pass up an Irish pub in favor of an outdoor café.   I get a chipotle steak wrap.  It was pretty good.  Those wrap things have too much lettuce if you ask me…  I jump back into my ‘stang and continue to head south right along the coast.  I am on 1A1.  I tried a couple of times to get closer to the coast, but was denied.  Miami’s coast is dominated by large building on the beach with then road behind them.  If you are not in or behind them there is no beach or ocean view.  ANB tells me where to go and adjusts accordingly.  I reach my destination and continue right on by to check out South Beach and Ocean drive.  It is a nice drive.  I think I recognize the place that I staid the last time I was in South Beach, but that was a long time ago.  I head back to find the hotel.
I had booked through Priceline the night before and ended up at the Miami Beach Resort.  How cool is that.  It pleases me greatly to stay at Miami Beach at THE Miami Beach Resort.  I was a little concerned that with a name like that it has been here since there was a beach…  well it turns out that it has been here that long, but it is beautifully maintained.  The lobby is awesome.  I give up my car to the valet (something that never pleases me, might be a control thing) and walk on in.  Very nice…  I talk to the overly nice man and the counter and he is very helpful…  Since I booked on Priceline I had no idea of what room they put me in, but I assumed that it was low and in the front (opposite of ocean view) so I ask how much it would be for an ocean front room.  I ask if AAA would help…  I am not sure what did it, but I ended up with a free upgrade to an ocean view room on the 17’th floor, sweet!  I did have to go from a king bed to two doubles, but it was worth it.  The room is very nice and the view is great!  I ask about internet and it is $9.99 a day, insert big sad face here…  I also find out that it is legal in Florida to talk on your cell phone while driving.  Juan Carlos (no really) the concierge was well informed.  I get settled and enjoy the view.  I fire up my laptop and go to check out internet access…  I just gotta, it is one of the first things I do when I land.  Maybe a bit obsessively, but I will deny that.  Anyway…  it turns out that AT&T provide the wireless and my account actually works!  I am quite surprised because it seems like a partner site and I didn’t think that my account would work, but it does so I do a little happy dance and continue to get settled.
No one would think that after walking all day the day before, the last thing I would do is take a walk, nope…  I walk down the beach about a mile and half and checkout some guy practicing with his kite boarding kite… cool.  I then seek access to the street.  As I mentioned the resorts and high-rise building dominate the coast.  I have to ask some people how to get access to the street.  I make it.  I then ask ANB to find me a convenience store so I can get some diet dew and some munchies AND a hat.  I have the floppy that Marlo bought, but now with a convertible, I have to rise to a higher standard… :>  I end up walking further away from the resort.  I do manage to find diet dew, some bananas, pop tarts and chips… so much for healthy :>  I buy a $.99 bag to save the planet and lug my haul back.  It is a fairly long walk… a couple of miles… silly man…  I wander back, not too fast.  It’s not like I have to be anywhere.  I walk over by the HUGE boats on the inter-coastal.  The biggest boat is called “Never Enough”  hmmmm… that does not sound like a healthy attitude.  While I am contemplating the emotional well being of this REALLY rich guy I hear a strange gush of air.  I look down next to the slip and there is a HUGE alligator!!!  We are talking about 6-8 feet and over 3 feet wide!  Some other people come a long and we watch it for a bit…  I thought that I was clear of alligators…  guess not…  I talk to some people later and they have heard about using alligators and piranhas as means to deter simmers and trespassers…  I would consider that crude, but effective…  anyway I finally make it back to my room.
I ask Juan Carlos if there is a hot tub.  He tells me that there is not!  Major bummer!  I was really hoping to soak my weary bones…  oh well…  I decide to make myself some ice coffee (I don’t drink that much coffee, so this is odd) and draw a bath.  The tub is in the shape of the shower base and not that deep.  I fill it up with hot water and take a nice soak.  It works.
Now I have to consider dinner…  I am not overly motivated to go out.  I consider the hotel restaurant, and the hassle of getting the car from those valet people…  I decide that I am on an adventure and staying in at the hotel is not at all adventurous.   I Google Miami night life and a lot of South Beach stuff  comes up that I dismiss, been there, done that.  Then a bunch of Lincoln street and the Lincoln mall come up… hmmm, someone told me about that…  I now have a destination.  I put it in ANB and off I go.  I ask about parking at the deak and they tell me that there is a garage on 17th street…  Now, I am not a huge fan of paying for parking, so I hope for some on-street parking…  well, I pass up the garage and pull into a side street that seems pretty close to where my rough destination is…  score.
Now, I am alone in a strange city.  Anyone who know me knows that I have a significantly impaired sense of direction AND I am leaving ANB in the car…  I take GREAT pains keeping track of where I left the car.  To make matters worse, the last time I was in South Beach it took me several hours to find my car.  Yes, I lost my car in South Beach.  Fortunately there was lots to do while I checked all of the side street, where I got the free parking and I eventually found it… hmmm.
Lincoln Street was interesting.  It had lots of stores with lots of restaurants and clubs mixed in.  I walked all the way up and back to check it all out before I decide where to eat.  I wanted to sit at the bar to eat.  Some places were too crowded and some were too empty.  I found a place that was just right.  It was called Van Dykes Café.  Apparently there was some birthday party going on so the bar area was a little crowded.  I make myself a spot and grabbed a stool.  I had a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich, yes another one.  I have them a lot.  Well I have never seen one before that is so completely covered in cheese that you could not see the roll AT ALL!  I had to eat it with a knife and fork.  It was pretty good.  They even had NA beer.
I am fairly tired and have ventured out.  I head back to the room…  I chill, read, surf and settle in to watch Hero’s.  It is now after 12:00 and I am tired.  I did get awoken at 5:40 that morning…  I shut down Hero’s and turn off the light…  the next thing I know the room is bright..  I never even moved…  The good thing about a ocean view room is…. Wait for it… the view of the ocean!  Now the bad news is that in that on this coast you get morning sunshine!!!  It was 7:30 and it was a little bright…  I adjusted the shades and went back to sleep for a couple more hours.
What was I going to do today…. Hmmmm Miami beach resort…  maybe the beach!  I wait for things to warm up just so and stake out my spot by the pool…  why the pool and not the ocean… one reason, cushions on the chairs, Juan coming around giving me fruit cools towels.  Before I left the room I was sure to totally coat my body with my spf 30 spray-on sunscreen and off I go.  Now I am being very careful with the sun… again once burnt, twice shy… puny!  The last time I was in South Beach I went back looking like a leaper…  my nose and ears were peeling so badly that I looked the guy from the fly.  There were chunks coming off of my nose…  I was a hit at the airport bar…  not this time.  I am being careful.  So I took advantage of a palm tree, I put up my umbrella, etc, etc…  after the sun went behind the hotels, I decide to venture out to the beach.  It was very nice.  There was actually one woman who was not wearing a bathing suit top.  I went for a short walk, no not just around the woman… and then took a nice swim.
After that I came back to the pool.  I wanted to get and an clean the ocean off.  Well the pool was 90 some degrees, nice!  I had a nice chat with several people about different internet travel.  Apparently I got a good deal through Priceline for this place.  The others all paid more :>  we compared sites and places and what not.  It was fun.  There was one woman that asked if I had heard of the netbook computers.  I gushed about my asus.  She wants one…
I got back to my room to find the answer to an email I had sent this morning concerning Key Largo and my next stop on the Florida 2009 adventure.  I found a place that you could stay at and dive from.  I  made my reservations and will be diving tomorrow at 1:00! The address is already set in ANB:>
Back to the room and a nice shower.  I figure that I will grab a bite to eat at the pool side bar, blog and people watch.  Well that all worked out quiet well.  I wrote most of this, had a very good mahi mahi sandwich.  I finished most of my blog and then started chatting with a couple of people who attended the printfleet conference.   We talked about computers and South Beach and what-not.  That was amusing.  They are dining at the hotel tonight and invited me…  I might go, but I need to get some water shoes for tomorrow… should I go out tonight, or tomorrow???  Actually it might be too late for tonight… I guess I will go tomorrow.  Dinner tonight and then next stop Key Largo!

The walk…
Well I have everything packed and I have run all then scenarios run and I think that I am ready.   We get up early…  the only time I have to get up early in the last two years is when I am on vacations.  That just seems odd.  But I would rather only get up early on vacation then all of the time…  silver lining …
So we get up and I have a nice scone, a banana and some diet dew.  Breakfast of champions.  We get everything loaded and we are off.  We  go to the gas station to fill up the car and that is where Marlo and I parted company.  I forgot to take the parting shot… picture that is…  I walk off back in the direction that we just drove.  It is 8:19.  I begin my journey.  I had programmed in Port Charlotte into ANB (the garmin) and put it in pedestrian mode.  It says that it is 18.2 miles and will take me 8 hours to walk…  I can do that…  well the moment I set foot on the sidewalk the sprinklers come on.  Hmmmm.  I walk for several hours.  My hips hurt a bit and my feet are getting sore… are we having fun yet?  The weather was perfect.  High 60’s light breeze.  This “breeze”  continues all day.  I later refer to it as the headwind…  I walk all the way down  Center Street and need to take on River Road.  I pass the restaurant that we had dinner at the night before…  something odd about walking a couple hours that you just went to by car in 15 minutes…  anyway I cut the corner onto River road and continue.  I determine that it is time to stick my thumb out.  I pass by the dirt road on my left and contemplate… shortcut…  I look at the map on ANB and see that I need to make a bridge…  the short cut will not do.  I continue on.  There is no shoulder so I walk on the grass.  My thumb comes to the rescue fairly quickly.  I attempted to record the exchange, but I had locked the recorder.  I got better about that later.  He was a retired man from way up North Minnesota.  He had just traveled through the ice storm in Kentucky.  He was headed to the golf course.   The good news is that it did not take too long to get a ride.  The bad news is that I only went 5 miles.  That is an hour walk though, so that works.  He dropped me at route 41 Tamiami Trail.  I have a long way  to go on this road.  It looks kinda like the Berlin turnpike.  Lots of local traffic.  No very conducive to hitching a ride.  I walk… and walk…  I see signs for a local bus.  I ask about it and am told that id comes by every hours.  Well I have been on this road for a couple of hours and have not seen a bus…  as soon as I come out of the gas station, poof, there is a bus.  I get in and ask all sorts of questions to the bus driver.  He starts with sit down, I am going the same direction that you were so we are good.  It cost $.75.  I ask for a map, but he is negotiating an intersection filled with emergency vehicles due to the accident.  He tells me to hang on a bit…  he drives me about 5 miles…  another short ride… hmmm….  I am back on the road.  I walk…. And walk…  I am now seeing signs for Port North.  This is a couple of town before Port Charlotte.  Not bad time actually.  I walk… my feet hurt and I can feel the formation of a blister on both feet.  They are forming at the top of the big foot pad.  They hurt a bit.  I walk, I thumb…  as I am lazily hanging my thumb a twenty-foot box  truck beeps and pulls into the road in front of me waving me in.  now this box truck has two guys in it and they tell me that I have to sit on the floor between the seats.  I immediately feel a little trapped, but not too bad.  We start chatting about this and that.  They call themselves brothers, but they are not.  They are just one big happy family.  I hear about one of there real brothers got a rich girlfriend in Long Island and is now better then everyone, we talked about computers, we talked about fishing and hunting…  they were Mark and Howard.  They were working..  they did pick-up and delivery of uniforms… I think.  So they are doing their route and pick up a hitch hiker…  ok…  Mark actually wanted to go into computers, but … well he drives truck.  He has a picture of a child on the dash.  I assume that it is his.  They are delivery drivers with some dreams…  well they offer to bring me all the way to Fort Myers…  well, looky , lookey, that was way further then I had  imagined getting to in the first day.  My distant hope was Punta Gorde so I have them drop me there.  It is a nice little tourist town.  I decide that this is a good time to grab a bit to eat and rest my feet.  I find this great café.  Café Ruelle.  They have live music, ok, a guy with a guitar, and free wireless internet.  Excellent!  I sit and update my facebook and break out my maps.  I  order a diet coke and a steak and cheese wrap…  pretty healthy.  I look at my map and try to figure out where I want to turn due east…  well it looks like I should go down to…  yup, Fort Myers!!!  Drat, drat and double drat.  I could have been there already.  I don’t get too upset because I have faith that the universe will provide.  I do have to admit I had some doubts over the next couple of hours.  I changed my destination a couple of time and then started back out on the Tamiami Trail (route 41).  Well I resolve myself to be walking a while because no one is going to stop right in the middle of town on a busy street…   I walk and walk and walk…  finally with the town behind me the road opens up a little bit and me and my little thumb get busy…  I walk…  well sometime later this van pulls off and I have a ride.  Now with all this time walking I attempt to rate the chances of different vehicles picking me up.  A sedan with a couple in the front seats rates about a 0.  A pickup truck with one guy driving is one of the better prospects.  That was my first ride.  Now I knew that trucks were a good bet, but I would have given the box truck a slight chance… live and learn.  Anyway this old van drives up and offers me a ride.   I record the conversation.  I have not listened to it.  I think it will be a little boring.  Well Bob was retired and he lived in Fort Myers.  Score…  I decide at that point I am staying in Fort Myers tonight.  Also in Punta Gorde as soon as I updated my facebook, a friend called me and told me that he was just down the road in Fort Myers at his fathers’ with his kids…  go figure.  I also have a friend currently at Disney and another  one somewhere in Palm Beach…  go figure…  anyway Bob drives me into the city and we start checking out hotels.  I see a holiday in that looks good to my weary body but we continue down a ways.  There are a bunch of cheap motels along the way, but I am thinking nice pool, wireless internet, and a comfy bed…  Aheb Patel’s hotel might not cut it.  Bob is on an errand to check out a new car.  I tag along…  I really have nothing better to do.  I read my book, check out hotels with ANB and my cell.  There are rooms to be had and fairly reasonably.   Also the cigarette lighter in the van has power with the van off so I am able to charge ANB.  That makes me feel better.  He spends about an hour shopping for a car.  I read.  I am comfy.  After he is through we cruise back the way we came headed for the hotel near the road I am considering walking the next day.  The room is very nice, non-smoking king overlooking the pool.  It also has a great signal to the included wireless internet.  Sweet.  It also has a reasonable flat-panel hdtv.  i change and head down to the pool to get some sun and a swim.  I look down and I have an awesome road-grim tan going on.  I took a picture.  I dive into the pool.  I am pretty sure that I left a ring… maybe I should have showered first…  I did not really want to walk through the lobby all wet…
There were a few people at the pool.  It was nice.  Just after I left the pool was infested by rug rats.  I got out just in time.  The hotel had a decent hotel right there and I was getting hungry.  There were not a lot of people there.  I ended up chatting with this guy that pulled a fifth wheel trailer to perform breathing apparatuses certification.  Mostly for fire departments, but also for the Navy.  He was interesting.  We discussed the   merits of crossing through central Florida.  He was of the opinion that there were none.  He even offered to give me a ride, but his schedule would not fit.  He told me that there was a whole lot of nothing between here and there…  I asked how far apart the service station and towns and motels were…  he said that they were up to 50 miles apart… hmmm, that did not sound appealing…  now  the odds of getting a ride across were not too bad.  Most people that were on that road were ging all the way across.  So, it I got a ride in the beginning I would be all set and I would get dropped near either Fort Lauderdale or Miami.  I still had to decide what airport to get a car at also….  I had some thinking to do.  I could probably get a and it would be one ride all the way over… OR I could simply catch a ride with Tom who would pick me up at the hotel and drop me at the airport…  I actually made the conservative choice and decided to accept the ride from Tom.  Now I had to wait for him to call and confirm that he would do it…  he had not called by 9:30, so I called him.  He said that he would pick me up at around 6:30…  ouch, vacation getting up early.
After I confirmed my arrival on the east coast, I had to figure out where I wanted to get the car and where I wanted to stay.  It was a long arduous process to get that all figured out.  First I had to back into a departure date…  I figured a couple of days in Miami, a couple in Key Largo, and a couple in the keys.  It was going to cost me a couple hundred bucks a day to stay so I did not want to spend too much… but hey I was here.  Well I was looking at about a week and the price of the plane tickets dictated that Wednesday was the day to go back home…  $79 ticket!!!!  Sweet!  It was more in Miami so that made the airport choice for me as well.  I then decided to attempt priceline for my hotel…  not great.  The place I got was the same price on their own web site as I was paying!  50% off my azz!  Then I needed a car.  So I went to expedia and checked that out then to the Hertz site to check out my discount.  Well the Hertz deal was actually better.  A week with a decent car for around $400.  Not bad!  Now I have a ride, I have a car, and a place to stay.  I kick back and watch the rest of the action flick.  Then I read and go to sleep… for not too long…
He called me at 5:40…  I was not overly pleased about the time AND he had not left the house yet…  but, hey, that whole beggars and choosers thing…   I was ready.  Tom had just gotten a new Garmin so I gave him the address of the hotel.  He was not able to get it in before he let so he pulled off the exit to enter it.  It is a good thing he did because he was coming up on the exit that he would need to take to gather me and my stuff up.
He got there at 7:15 or so…  I have been  awake for far too long already.  Fortunately I had my diet dew.  I also replied back to the guy in Fort Myers that I would not be able to make lunch because my ride was a-leavin…  well, it was a long desolate stretch of highway between Fort Myers and the east coast.  I am fairly confident that would have gotten a ride, but this was not the route that I would have choosen…  I took some pictures.  The ride went quickly.  There was little dead air time.    I went to the Hertz place to check in and I was way early.  It would cost me an extra day if I picked it up then.  I am waiting and typing.  I am actually all caught up.  I am typing about typing while I type.  This has got to end…  I will post it and go get the car. …  posting now…. Ahhh make it stop….