Cruise ship in Key West (big yacht to the left)

Sugarloaf Key: A cloudy, but warm day today. We went to the Galley Grill for breakfast and then up to Big Pine to do the grocery shopping. Came back, put everything away and then relaxed all afternoon. Dinner at the clubhouse tonight. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, salad, and chocolate cake for $4 each. Can’t beat that. After dinner, Jerry and Charlie played banjo and guitar respectively. An Appalachian night. Charlie is a French Canadian. Would have loved to hear him sing something in French. Another cold front coming through and we’ll have cooler weather for a while. Will have to check out the movies. 81 today.

Our friend, Ray

Another beautiful moon last night

Sugarloaf Key: An uneventful day. Did some cleaning. Mike played shoes. Happy hour at the KOA with Howard Livingston. Warm and humid. Wonderful.

Lazy Lakes Pool

The party-going bulldog

Sugarloaf Key: Another beautiful, sunny, cloudless day. At least it started out that way. Clouded up a little in the afternoon. Just hung out today reading and relaxing. In the afternoon we went over to Boondocks and had dinner. Our Canadian friend dropped by our site for a while in the afternoon. The football game last night was great. Arizona beat Carolina 33-13.

Howard Livingston and me

Moon rise

Sugarloaf Key: Tonight is party night. So we went over to the clubhouse at around noon and volunteered our services. I helped Carolyn in the kitchen for a while. We were having hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, Italian sausage, and all the beer and soda you can drink. Party started at 3:00 with the MM24 band. Howard Livingston (lead singer) showed up for a while. I love his music. Partied until 6:00 and then went back to watch football. Took some pictures of the moon rise. Supposed to be the biggest and brightest moon of the whole year.

Sunset from the campground

Sugarloaf Key: Missed the end of the football game last night because we lost power in the campground for some reason. Mike was thrilled. Another beautiful, sunny day. We just hung out and are going over to the clubhouse tonight to watch the movie, “Eagle Eye”.

Private Residence--Fleming Street

Sugarloaf Key: Had a wicked storm last night—high winds and a deluge of rain. Craig just made it home on his motorcycle before it hit. We got buffeted around pretty good. But this morning dawned sunny and nice. Our awning held up very well. One of the RVs down the way had theirs end up on their roof. Headed to Key West to the Tropic Cinema to see Slumdog Millionaire. A very good foreign film. After the movie we walked down to the Key West Speedway and Mike did a couple of races. He was in first place for a while until he wiped out, flipped over a few times. I walked down to the knitting shop which is one of the best I’ve seen. Walked over to Duval and had dinner at the Old Town Mexican Café. Walked around some more. A beautiful night. Checked out the old San Carlos Theater (circa 1871) where MM24 will be performing every Thursday night for a while. Will definitely check that out—if for nothing else than to see the inside of this amazing place. Back home to watch football.

Sugarloaf Key: Took the bikes over to the Winn Dixie parking lot on Big Pine Key, left the truck there and then biked down toward the Blue Hole, but instead we took a side road that we thought would take us over to the road to No Name Key. Sure enough, it did. A little risky, because the side road had no bike path, but it wasn’t very busy either. Once we got onto the road to No Name Key, there was a bike path of sorts. It was just a big shoulder, but it was relatively safe. We rode past No Name Pub and then continued over the bridge even after the bike path ended and rode to the end of the road. Back in the 30s when Hemmingway lived here, he used to drive to No Name Key and fish off the old bridge there. To go any further back then you had to take a ferry. And that’s what was at the end of the road where we biked. Saw the old pilings. We saw three Key Deer bucks. And one snake on the side road that was either injured or dead. We also rode through a couple of residential areas out there. There are no public utilities at all out there—except for phone service. They all have solar. We saw an “open house” sign at a house for sale down there and we stopped to check it out. A really cute house—two bedrooms, large deck all around and a big screened-in porch in front. On a canal, so easy access to deep water. A really nice couple who have wintered down here for 11 years. They’re from the Binghamton, NY, area. Enjoyed talking with them. They’re asking $325,000 for the house, which is a pretty good price for anything down here. Left there and stopped at the No Name Pub for a late lunch, but they were packed, so we rode back to the Winn Dixie parking lot and went to Pizza Works for their great pizza. A really nice day. Probably 82 today.