POTR #20 Key West

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Key West
January 7, 2006

As many of you know, and the rest of you may have surmised, we are in Key West, Florida. While the address here is Key West, we are actually on Stock Island. Our camp is physically one and a half mile from the island of Key West, and five point six miles from mile marker zero on US Highway One. It would seem to make sense that the end of Highway One would be the southern most point of the USA, but that is not the case. The highway curves to the west and goes maybe a few blocks northwards, so that it ends about a mile, plus a little, away from the southern marker.

THE WITH TWO CHICKS NEARBY AND WITH TWO MORE UNDER HER

Key West is an interesting island town. There are free roaming chickens all over town. Any street, any yard, any fence, or any tree may have roosters, hens or chicks giving pleasure to people like me. I very much enjoy seeing a rooster strut to the middle of a street and crow like he owned the world, which of course he thinks he does. A few days ago we were downtown and saw a hen with at least four chicks cross Duval Street. Duval is the main street through the business district of Key West. When we got close to the corner, where they had jumped up on the curb, we suddenly heard some extremely loud distressed peeping. One of the chicks had gotten separated from the hen and other chicks and was letting everyone know that it was scared and was not happy with the status it found itself. As we watched, the chick found a hole in the barrier that separated it from its mother. As soon as it could see some of its family the tone of its cries changed. The volume did not diminish until it was within a few inches of its mother, but even I could tell that the tone changed. When I was a boy on the farm in Kansas; we often had baby chicks in the house before they were old enough to be put outside. Sometimes it was still snowing and freezing outside. When the chicks were awake and feeding and moving about and comfortable there was a certain sound they made. Then there were times that the sound would change and we knew that they were cold. We would lower the heating lamps a couple of inches closer and perhaps cover the box a little better and within a few minutes the sound would return to sound of happy chicks. I am sure that there is a lot more communication going on with animals than any man will ever understand.

The free-range chickens, which are dubbed “gypsy”, are descendents of fighting chickens from Cuba crossing with several breeds brought in by early settlers by the mid 1800’s. While they are protected in Key West, some people would be very happy to see all or at least most of them removed from the city. I saw a bumper sticker that said, “ I love Key West Chickens! Especially fried with potatoes and peas.” Since 2001 hundreds of chickens have been caught and relocated to farms in central Florida. We have heard roosters crowing any given hour of the night. I don’t remember the roosters on our farm crowing at midnight or two or three o’clock in the morning, but maybe they did, because I have heard ones doing it here. There are still A LOT of free roaming birds in the city.

THIS IGUANA CROSSED THE ROAD IN FRONT OF OUR JEEP CHRISTMAS DAY

On Christmas Day we were heading home after dinner and saw a beautiful, medium sized iguana crossing the road in front of us. There are apparently a lot of complaints about iguanas that eat garden plants and the food people set out for their cats. The day we got to this camp one of the workers caught and relocated one that was over five foot in length. In the sighting of animals we consider ourselves to be very lucky. When we were in the Daytona Beach area we saw armadillos feeding on the side of the road during the day, and I had been told they were strictly nocturnal. Where I grew up in eastern Kansas I supposedly was in the habitat area of three varieties of armadillo, with an additional four varieties living further west. In spite of that I never saw a single animal, either alive or killed along the road. In Texas they were lots that had been killed along the roads, but I never saw a living one. Another day we drove north up the keys to an area that was a Key Deer Preserve. I hoped, but never believed that we would see any of the deer. Suddenly four of them ran across the road in front of us, and one of them ran down the road for quite a distance. It was a thrill. Some evenings that we have gone to the seashore to watch the sun set we have seen manta rays, horseshoe crabs, nurse sharks, hogfish, spotted sea hares, octopus, needlefish and lots of other types of fish. Did you know that crabs can actually swim sideways through the water similar to fish? We followed one along the seawall at a slow walking rate for a hundred to a hundred fifty feet. I was impressed.

Cats are usually not special, but here they are a special part of the tourist attractions, and are found all around town. It is believed that the first cats came to Key West on Spanish ships that used them to catch the mice that were always aboard the ships. There are approximately fifty cats that are housed at the Hemingway House Museum, and more than twenty of them are polydactyl or extra toed, which are considered the best mousers. Every evening there is a gathering of people at Mallory Square to watch the sunset. There are many street buskers that work the crowd and one of them has eight trained cats that jump through flaming hoops, tightrope walk, dance and do other tricks. It is also interesting to note that just as the sun sets the people on Mallory Square will clap in appreciation of the spectacle just seen. The sailboats out on the Gulf or the Ocean are always a delight to see, especially at sunset.

A KEY WEST SUNSET
photo courtesy Dick Swanson (another full timer)

We have now been in Key West for a month and it is almost time to move on. It has been an interesting place to spend some time. We had only been here a week and we went to the down town area to look around a while. By the time we had found a parking place that was affordable I was ready to start packing and get out. For the people that were coming down to spend the day and then the evening out for dinner and hours at the bars, perhaps spending $10-20 might not be too bad. You could stay in the lots till 5:00 in the morning. But for us that wanted to spend no more than a couple of hours the cost was just too high. I finally figured out the times to go to different places and where I could find a parking meter that was only $1.50 an hour. We went to a couple of performances that were put on for Christmas. We even went to the lighting ceremony for the second candle on a Menorah. Before that ceremony we had a delightful concert of Irish music. It was a bit odd to be in a Jewish Synagogue listening to Irish jigs, but it was really enjoyable. After the lighting of the second candle ceremony we were invited to share the fiftieth anniversary party and dance of a Jewish couple. The dances they had would be called folk dancing I suppose, and it was open to all ages to participate or simply to watch. Again, we had a very enjoyable time watching. There was a friendliness and openness about the people that we have not experienced a lot. Besides that the anniversary cake was good.

There are so many flowers blooming around that it is hard to believe that this in the middle of winter and not full spring. We were close to the southern point monument a few days ago and saw a grouping of orchids growing outside. To be sure they were not wild orchids, but any place I have ever been before they would have been frozen. There are many bougainvillea bushes in full bloom and lots of hibiscus blooming.

We have found the people that live here to be very humorous. The temperature will be somewhere between 600F and 650F, with the sun shining bright. I am wearing shorts, sandals, and a short sleeve shirt. Erma and Helen may have on a light sweater. At any rate we think it is a great temperature and a beautiful day. The Key Westers are wearing long handled underwear, and heavy coats, and are saying that it is freezing. I read that Key West is the only city in the continental USA that has never had a freeze or frost. The record low temperature is 410F. I do rather wonder if the two or three cities just few miles further north do also share the distinction of no freeze or no frost. It is hard for me to believe that the temperature would be nine degrees colder in just those few miles. I would guess that they are simply ignored.

I learned here that the United States had one President that never voted in any election nor ever registered to vote. That was Zachary Taylor. When he was asked why he never registered he said, “I do not believe in politics.” In Key West there is a fort that is named in his honor. Fort Zachary Taylor is the only fort below the Mason/Dixie line that was in Union hands during the entire civil war. The fort was used for defense against the Confederate blockade-runners. Ships would be seized out in the gulf stream by the Union Navy and brought to Key West to be guarded by the fort guns. There was not a single shot fired from the fort for the purpose of actual battle. Most of the blockade-runners would rather change their loyalty to the Union instead of going to prison. Of course their chances of living was much greater if they did not go to prison.

Our next destination will be in the Ft. Myers area, and by the time you get this, we should actually be there. We will be in two different campgrounds for a month apiece. We will be back in the country that freezes once in a while and the temperatures will be in the extremely cold 60’s and 70’s, instead of the 80’s. Now don’t I sound just like a Key Wester? Yeah, “Right”, there is still too much Kansas and Colorado in me.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
PEACE ON THE ROAD