—\u00a0 the trip down route 1 was very nice.\u00a0 Especially considering I was driving a convertible sports car :>\u00a0 Marlo insisted that I stop at a place called Robbie\u2019s.\u00a0 At Robbie\u2019s you can feed the tarpons.\u00a0 She has done it before and said that it would be fun.\u00a0 It was.\u00a0 They are HUGE.\u00a0 To make it even better she was home on the computer watching Robbie\u2019s Tarpon Webcam\u2026 we got to do it together\u2026 kinda\u2026 aren\u2019t we cute\u2026 ralph!\u00a0 Anyway feeding these tarpons was not as easy as all that.\u00a0 First of all they are about 3-4 feet long and weigh up to 150 pounds.\u00a0\u00a0 The other obstacle is that the there are pelicans everywhere and they are even more aggressive then the fish.\u00a0 They reach through the screened-in area and try to steal the fish.\u00a0\u00a0 The minute you start watching for the pelicans a four foot fish jumps out of the water and scares the crap out of you.\u00a0 It is way more fun for the people watching.\u00a0 It was fun though.\u00a0 After another guy feed them.\u00a0 He explains that the water is cold so they are not as active.\u00a0 In the summer they jump right out of the water after the fish\u2026\u00a0 I\u2019m not so sure that would be more fun\u2026.\u00a0 They have kayak rentals and jet skis and fishing trips and all that here.\u00a0 It was a festival-like atmosphere.
\nI 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.\u00a0 She is right.\u00a0 It takes over two hours.\u00a0 I decide then what I am going to do with my extra day.\u00a0 I decide that I am going to stay overnight in Fort Lauderdale so that I will be close to the airport.\u00a0 It should be cheaper too\u2026
\nThe drive is enjoyable for the most part and uneventful.\u00a0 I drive over all of the bridges and the sun is shining.\u00a0 I have applied sunscreen and have the floppy hat on.\u00a0 There will be no fried crispy head this trip.\u00a0 There is a lot of construction and it is a two lane road.\u00a0 I have to keep telling myself that I\u00a0 am not in any hurry.\u00a0 Still slow people don\u2019t make me happy.\u00a0 I practically did the speed limit the whole way!
\nI finally cruise into town.\u00a0 Route 1 circles around to the gulf side and then across the bottom\u2026 I think\u2026 :>\u00a0 I drive around the island checking things.\u00a0 I then head for my room.\u00a0 An Island Oasis.\u00a0 It is a very niice quaint bed and breakfast a good distance off of the main drag.\u00a0 I get settled into this lovely room\u2026 I think I might have forgotten to take pictures\u2026\u00a0 hmmm.\u00a0\u00a0 Anyway, I check the local map and then I spy the \u201cpool\u201d just outside of my room.\u00a0 Well the pool is actually a spa.\u00a0\u00a0 It is about 12 feet square and very warm.\u00a0 I change and jump right in.\u00a0 I even found the timer that controlled the jets\u2026 nice\u2026
\nNow if you are in a monogamous relationship and not drinking and traveling alone\u2026\u00a0 Key West might not be for you\u2026\u00a0 I still had fun.\u00a0 I had been watching the \u201cKeys Channel\u201d on and off for several days, so I knew the places that I wanted to hit.\u00a0 There was \u201cThe Bull\u201d and upstairs was the \u201cGarden of Eden\u201d and then of course \u201cSloppy Joe\u2019s\u201d.\u00a0 I stopped into all of them several times.\u00a0 They were amusing.\u00a0 There was also an Irish bar with a funny guy on guitar.
\nI walked around the island from the southernmost point of the US to the lovely Sunset Pier.\u00a0 I watched the beautiful sunsets both days.\u00a0 There is a big deal each day with street performers and what not.\u00a0 It is the same acts each day.\u00a0 There are cruise ships that dock during the day and they must leave by sunset or they get fined.\u00a0 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.
\nThe second day I wanted to rent a bike or a scooter\u2026 I decided on a bike.\u00a0 I thought some exercise might be good for me.\u00a0 I probably rode twenty miles or so.\u00a0 I rode around the whole island and then some.\u00a0 Not long after I got my first bike the peddle fell off\u2026\u00a0 nice\u2026\u00a0 I limped it back to the shop and got a new one.\u00a0 I then peddled myself over to an art museum that was actually in a fort.\u00a0 I saw it on the KeyTV.\u00a0 It was a lot underwhelming.\u00a0\u00a0 Then I rode down to the beach and then around through the entire streets closet to the shore.\u00a0 I also rode off the reservation to where the locals live.\u00a0 It was not too bad.\u00a0 Then I rode through Fort Jefferson.\u00a0 It had some nice beaches and picnic areas.\u00a0 There was also a bunch of artist creating their works of art.\u00a0 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\u2026\u00a0 I considered stopping to help one of these artists, but\u2026 nah, I rode on.\u00a0 I rode through the docks and walked some and watched the cruise boat tourists.\u00a0 I then attempted to ride all the way around the rest of the island, but ended up back at the first museum\u2026 not to be denied, I turned the other way and continued my trek.\u00a0 I dropped the bike off and walked back to my room.\u00a0 I changed and headed to the hot tub.\u00a0 There was a French couple in there that looked like they had some ideas\u2026\u00a0 they left shortly after I got in\u2026 sorry..\u00a0 she only spoke French and he spoke both English and French.\u00a0 He had a weird wander eye that was a little freaky.\u00a0 They were from Paris and had nothing to offer in way of insights except that the weather was bad when they left\u2026\u00a0 thanks\u2026\u00a0 there was a small from in the hot tub that he was afraid of\u2026\u00a0 I made a frog\u2019s leg joke that he frowned at\u2026\u00a0 not really sorry that I scared them away.
\nI showered and grabbed the car and drove up close to Sunset pier.\u00a0 I had a good lay of the land now and knew where to park and where to g.\u00a0 I watched the performers and the sunset.\u00a0 I grabbed a bite to eat at The original \u201cMargaretville\u201d.\u00a0 I had a Chicken Caesar.\u00a0 It was awful!\u00a0 How do you screw that up\u2026 they managed\u2026
\nThen I cruised through Sloppy Joes and headed back to my room for a bit.\u00a0 The night life does not start until after 10:00 so I read and hung out and searched for my next place to stay.\u00a0 I ended up using Priceline and getting a great deal at a place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale for $99.\u00a0 It was the Sheraton Yankee Clipper.
\nI went back out at 11:00 or so and things were no more amusing.\u00a0 The Garden of Eden was a little more interesting, but not that much.\u00a0 I called it a night after a while and went to bed.
\nThe next day I got up and made it in time for the continental breakfast\u2026 this is the second time.\u00a0 I have been rising earlier while I have been homeless and jobless\u2026 hmm\u2026\u00a0 anyway there was a couple eating breakfast.\u00a0 He was a real estate sales person that like to repeat himself and she was from Japan.\u00a0 Fortunately they left.\u00a0 I asked about how Priceline and Expedia worked for them.\u00a0 Apparently they pay to be listed and they have to update it twice a day\u2026\u00a0 looks like someone was slacking on updating Expedia.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I was going to do it anyway before I left it, but I did not.
\nI 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.\u00a0 They were fairly clueless\u2026\u00a0 BUT the delay was enough for the house keeper to run out and bring me my phone charger that I had forgotten!!!!\u00a0 Ahhh, what a bonehead\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
—\u00a0 the trip down route 1 was very nice.\u00a0 Especially considering I was driving a convertible sports car :>\u00a0 Marlo insisted that I stop at a place called Robbie\u2019s.\u00a0 At Robbie\u2019s you can feed the tarpons.\u00a0 She has done it before and said that it would be fun.\u00a0 It was.\u00a0 They are HUGE.\u00a0 To make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-florida-2009"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7vq9N-3a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatup.brantct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}