The Southern Most Point – Key West, Florida

From Ocala, Florida we headed to my folk’s place about an hour north of West Palm Beach. We spent a good ten days there relaxing and cleaning out the van. Come to find out all the rain we have been hitting on this trip had taken its toll inside the van. When we pulled out the mattress to air it out we discovered mold on the underside. No matter how much time we had spent cleaning the van we never imagined that mold could be a problem in an area we never thought to look. We took advantage of the warm sunny weather and aired everything out. We even used their steamer machine to get the mold out. Then the dehumidifier went in and we closed the doors up. In two days of dehumidifying we got a couple of gallons of water out of the air and wood in the van. Now we are as good as new. But we still didn’t like the fact that we had the back carrier attached to the hitch. Another purge of stuff later and we were able to ditch the entire back carrier without sacrificing anything we really needed to have with us. From the outside we now look like just another Sprinter on the road. Without the back carrier it’s hard to tell that we are traveling. The only thing giving us away is our Alaska plates.

All the photos from this portion of the trip are on my folk’s camera. We will attach these in our Christmas blog later this month.

My folks agreed to watch the “grandpups” while dave and I headed to the southern part of the state. It was probably for the best that the dogs were not with us. We experienced a lot of hot weather in areas that were not dog friendly. I was glad we didn’t have to make the dogs sit and bake in the car while we were off enjoying ourselves.

First stop Key West, the southern most point in the contiguous US. I braved the cold Arctic Ocean water to go swimming the farthest north possible in the US so I wasn’t going to leave Key West without swimming there too. As you can imagine, it was much warmer.

Southern Most Point in US

Key West is similar to the French Quarter of New Orleans, without the varying economic classes that make New Orleans so eclectic. If you are living in Key West there is a good chance you have some money. Even the homeless people we talked with were there by choice and were not having a hard time finding something to eat. When we first arrived on the island we thought it looked like any other place in the country, lots of big box stores everywhere. It wasn’t till we got downtown that we saw Key West’s true character. The streets are more conducive for riding bikes, walking or skateboarding than driving. In fact it seems most of the locals got around in one of those fashions.

Typical Key West Street

One strange feature of Key West are the chickens. There were chickens everywhere. They were crowing at all hours of the day. We spent the night parked on a side street and were woken up by one who crowed constantly from four to five in the morning.

Chicken Chickens Everywhere

Mallory Square is the big tourist attraction downtown. It is here that everyone gathers each night for the sunset. Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, Mallory Square is a beautiful place to sit and people watch. A couple of hours before sunset many local artists and performers come out of the woodwork to sell their crafts or stun you with amazing displays of magic or juggling.

Mallory Square

Dave had a little bit too much fun in Key West. This is his Key West personality, Matilida. I’m a bit worried about him!