On the Afterdeck at Louie's Backyard

Sugarloaf Key: A beautiful, sunny day. Hardly any wind. So we set out with our bikes to bike the old county road. Riding through this residential area on the way to the old road, we noticed a lot of new homes being built. Not sure in this economy how any of them will sell. Took us a half hour to get to the old road. Stopped at one of the canals and watched some guys fishing. Continued on and noticed my front tire looked soft. My brand new tires—which are supposed to be Kevlar—went flat. At least the front tire went flat. So I walked the bike back and Mike biked back to the truck and came back and picked me up at the barricade on the old road. What a disappointment. We packed a lunch and were going to make a day of it. Oh well. Tomorrow we take the bike back to the bike shop and get the tire fixed or replaced. Took a shower and then relaxed outside with my latest book. First day of winter—80s here. YES!

Private residence--Fleming Street

An unusual "bicycle" on Duval. Dog in the front and back.

Key West Bight

Sugarloaf Key: Went to the Galley Grill for breakfast this morning. Then we checked out the flea market. Bought some books and other stuff. Back home and sat outside reading and watching the iguanas. They’ve been all upset because the owner has had backhoes in here digging holes to plant some palms and buttonwoods. Digging holes here in the Keys is a challenge. It was cloudy off and on today. High in the upper 70s.

Private Residence--Fleming Street

Train Schedule--1912

Sugarloaf Key: Walked around the lake this morning. Mike went with me this time. Made some smoothies and then we headed to Summerland Key to take back the videos we rented. Took out another one—Ratatouille. Tonight is movie night at the clubhouse, but I think we’ll stay home and watch our own. Headed to Key West and parked at Key West Bight and then walked around the wharf for a while. Stumbled on a museum about the Overseas Railroad that Flagler built. It terminated right there at the Bight. Then they would load the rail cars on huge ferries and would continue on to Havana. They also had car ferry service to Havana. This was in 1912. Must have been quite a time. It operated until 1935 when the hurricane wiped out the railroad. Then Key West was isolated again until the Overseas Highway was completed in 1938. Had lunch at the Conch Republic Seafood Restaurant and then walked down to Duval. Made a reservation at the Rooftop Café for New Years and then walked over to the Key West Raceway and Mike did a couple of races on the simulator. He wiped out one time and ended up going around the track the wrong way. Pretty funny. After that we just walked around some of the residential areas on Fleming Street. Some amazing historic homes built in the 1860s. Back home. A cloudy day for the most part, but in the upper 70s.

Mangrove flats around Lazy Lakes

Sugarloaf Key: Walked around the lake this morning and down Johnson Road to Highway 1. Took a treat for Daisy this time. Not sure if it worked or not. Another beautiful day. Sat outside reading for a while and then headed into Key West to get a storage container for all our cleaning rags we keep in the outside storage compartment. Got that and some other things and then had lunch at Bobalou’s Café. Back home and then put all the cleaning rags into their new container. Much better. Relaxed the rest of the day.

Wet area--Lazy Lakes

Sugarloaf Key: Did the laundry this morning at the campground. We usually go into Key West, but all the washers were available here, so we took advantage. A landscape outfit out of Homestead delivered a bunch of palms and buttonwoods that are going to be planted on the point. The new owner of this property is spending a lot of money. A lot going on. After finishing the laundry we sat outside and read/relaxed. After lunch we headed to Big Pine and picked up our bikes. I got new tires, Mike got a new seat and they were tuned up. So we rode the road down to the Blue Hole and had a great ride. We only did about 8 miles, but we hadn’t ridden our bikes since we were down here in March. Felt good. Saw four Key Deer. One ran right in front of a car. Freaked me out, but it was okay. A beautiful day—high 70s.

The original Sloppy Joe's

Blue Hole

Weather balloon, or spy balloon???

Tue, 12/16/08

Sugarloaf Key: A beautiful day. I set up a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner tonight. Mike worked on the bikes. Ended up taking them to the bike shop on Big Pine. He needed new tires and a new seat and my rear wheel had to be adjusted. Also stopped at the thrift shop and bought some books. Relaxed outside reading for a while. The warm sun felt so good. The iguanas were very active. After dinner we watched a DVD we rented, “Trans Siberian”. Very good movie.

Key West Bight

Mon, 12/15/08

Sugarloaf Key: Had breakfast this morning at the Galley Grill—formerly Captain Crossbones. We’re glad to see it reopened as we used to frequent the place a lot. Mike wanted to stop at the facility which houses the “weather/spy” balloon since it was really low this morning. He took a couple of pictures and we headed over to Big Pine to do some grocery shopping and decided to stop at the Blue Hole on the way. They’ve extended the bike path on this road all the way to the shopping center where we buy groceries, so we can park in their lot and bike all the way to the end. We usually see a lot of key deer here also. And there’s a hiking trail at the end. There were also some improvements at the Blue Hole. They paved the parking area, painted the deck out over the water, and added some more signage. The couple working there turned out to be from our campground. They’re right across the lake from us. We mentioned we were planning on going to Utah and Arizona this summer which prompted a long conversation on some of the better places to go in Utah. They’ve spent a lot of time there. We’re going to get together with them and get some pointers. These two (Ray and Bonnie) are volunteers and work at the Blue Hole one day a week, maintain the trails around the area, and Ray volunteers at the Eco Center in Key West one day a week. Busy people. After grocery shopping we discovered that Floyd and Terry had returned and were just getting set up. Talked to them a little bit and then back home to put everything away and relax a little bit before happy hour. We went over early and had a great time catching up with people returning for the winter and getting to know some people here for the first time. A beautiful day today--low 80s.