Kinights Key - Marathon, FL - Day 34

Miles - 173            (Blog for Cruise)

We disembarked this morning about 8am. Our ride to the parking place was waiting for someone else so we didn't have to call and wait, which was nice. I would definitely use Park by the Ports if I needed parking again. I would say from the looks of things the people working there are a bit under privileged - how else can I say that? BUT what I liked a lot is they were kind, accommodating, friendly, and did their job in an excellent manner. This includes both the shuttle drivers and the staff at the parking area. 

Anyway, we were on the road to pick up Tony pretty quickly and we were very happy to see him. He is tired, as are we. I guess we all had a full week of fun! 

We were especially happy that it worked out to meet a long time friend from Navy Moms on our way to the Keys. We met up with Dianne in Florida City at the Cracker Barrel. Yes, I DO love the Cracker Barrel but she suggested it! It is always a risk to meet folks you have only known by email or Facebook but I am happy to say Dianne was even more delightful in person! 

After our lunch we went to the local Walmart for our supply of fresh groceries as I am unsure what will be available in the Keys. With that done we were finally on our way on Hwy 1. The drive and the road were different than we thought it would be. We thought there would be more bridges. It is one lane in each direction most of the way but there are passing lanes. Some spots along they way seem more like a sort of levy with trees and a road on it because there is water very close on both sides! For the most part the traffic was not bad. There was an accident and that slowed us down for about 45 minutes or so in bumper to bumper traffic. We finally made it to Marathon, FL where we are staying at Knights Key Resort and Marina. I hope it turns out okay here. It was fine at first and though we don't have a place on the  beach area it is still a nice view of the water. The campsites we are in are covered with rather new looking white gravel. We have a newish table as well. Unfortunately, we met No See-Ums for the first time. We are not friends and we don't want to become further acquainted. It is dark now and they don't seem to be inside the trailer with us anymore. We will check in the morning if this is a common and everyday occurrence or if maybe just a swarm went by. I have the repellent we bought for Egypt and never used. It didn't seem to deter them at all. We are around 45 miles from Key West. That is where we really wanted to be but this is the "season" and we are fortunate to have a place at all, even at $103. per night!

Hwy 1 - To The Keys

Our View - Campsite #21

John Prince Campground - Day 26

Today was a really busy day for us. We needed to open the cargo carrier on top of the Jeep and that always takes a little extra effort. Well, John does it, I can’t even reach the thing. I just help as he hands thing to me. Our big suitcase (26”) is packed with all our clothing for the cruise. Our carryon will be packed in the am with our laptops and essential items such as medications, etc. Then I have a tote bag with our paperwork and our allotted two bottles of wine. We will only hand over our big suitcase when boarding. All our winter clothing is in reusable bags in the cargo carrier now.

Here at camp, besides getting the suitcases packed, we ate the filet mignon we had in our freezer – with it we had the wine Steven & Saira gave us for Christmas. It was sort of a pre-cruise celebration. The wine was delicious, very full bodied with a lot of berry under tones. We had a simple baked potato and salad with our filet. I think I’ve perfected the filet in a frying pan! The weather was especially nice today so we cooked outside, ate outside, played cards outside and subsequently visited with people who passed by. Ray from Philly was trying to find more Iguanas to photograph. He just missed the big one we saw while eating lunch. Later came John and Pam from nearby Vero, FL (or was it Vero Beach?). They have a new Coleman Travel trailer they are using for just the second time. A nice couple who happen to be Christians. He spoke with a tone and reflection like Soren. I sure made me miss my youngest grandson. John went to fill up on gas and LPG. The LPG was almost still full and they wanted to charge $18 per tank just to check them. He passed on it because we know one is completely full and the other has barely been used. As far as I know, other than last minute things, we are all set for departure in the morning.

So if  you want to follow the cruise blog, here it is:

Cruising!

One of Today's Visitors (about 5 ft)

 Lunch time, celebratory, for our Cruise tomorrow. 

 The wine S&S gave us for Christmas was a 

perfect paring! Thank you again!

John Prince Campground - Jan 25 & 26 - Days 24 & 25

Day 24 -The weather improved greatly today in my opinion, because the drastic winds have stopped.  We enjoyed lunch and playing cards outside. We made a trip to WM thinking ahead about some nonperishable items to buy for the Keys. We assume prices will be extraordinary out there. We sent everything has requested to Lauderdale Pet Lodge, so Tony is all set. We have calculated that we should get up at 7a on Saturday to be sure to make our appointment time for check in for the cruise. We are pretty eager to board the Harmony! I also worked on my albums and feel like I am really making progress. 

Day 25 - I did laundry, which was quite exciting - NOT! We ended up doing it here at the campground. We went in search of a cheaper option but for a variety of reasons that did not happen. I met nice people from Quebec while doing laundry. A whole group of them come for the winter months. I don't blame the but actually, it's too warm for me. We might cut our time short in the Keys if it is this hot and humid there to. 

John Prince Campground - Day 23

The wind has decreased some this morning but it is still too windy to play cards. By noon the wind drove us back inside. At least we could once again enjoy our chairs under the trees watching the lake for a little while. Today we spoke with the man in the old pop-up. He says he is an artist and takes his pop-up to save on hotel costs (makes sense to me). He said he has tons of silicone holding it together but he likes it, has an AC, fridge, and "everything" he wants, good for him. We saw some BIG iguanas. I am making a little progress on my albums, not as much as I thought I would but at least this trip is current and I have put a few pages in the Israel/Egypt album.

Today's Visitors

John Prince Campground - Day 22

We didn't get much sleep last night, somewhat by choice. The storm that has been threatening arrived about 2:30a. We were still awake because 1)  we have not acclimated to this time zone yet and 2) we were watching the lightening make its progress toward us. John went out and put our chairs, basket of table supplies, and tablecloth in the Jeep. We actually debated about doing that but it is a good thing we did because there was quite a downpour. However, by morning it was sunny and nice again, all but the wind. I stayed in most of the day working on albums because I just feel "wind weary" so we are hoping it lets up some by tomorrow. The temperature was a comfortable 76 degrees, other than the constant wind. 

John Prince Campground - Day 21

It is warm and windy today, warm might be an understatement. We had the visitor below go by our camp this morning! Today we took a short drive over to the coast. Everything is very populated by the coast with a high rise everywhere you turn. There is a mixture of homes this side of the Intracoastal Waterway there is a mixture of older homes and low rise complexes that look like more modern condos or townhomes. Older or newer, they all look very expensive. We went to Benny’s on the Beach and ended up having lunch there because it was really the only place to be out of the wind. They had live music so that was fun too. We tried walking on the beach but the blowing sand was brutal. The food sounded great and looked delicious, but it was a little disappointing. However, the view was spectacular. After lunch we took a walk on the pier, a pier that you have to pay $1 each to walk on! They weren’t going to let Tony on the pier but he had his “therapy vest” so it was a go, he was free. There were flags up stating not to swim but there were many people out in the very rough water. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon in camp. Tonight at 8p it was still 77 degrees. We are told we might get thunderstorms tonight, which is fine, we are in for the night. The waitress at Benny’s told us this wind is just from the storm system, that it is typically not this windy this time of year. 

Gila Monster? 

Cute Drink Menu at Benny's

Very Windy at the Beach

John Prince Park, FL - Day 20

Miles 134

We had a couple sprinkles on our windshield today but not enough to even bother with the wipers. We are happy to be here at John Prince Park by Lake Osborne. We have water and electric hookups for $28. a night at a lake side camping spot. We even got one night free for booking a week here. We are not supposed to swim in the lake, not that  we would, because of alligators! They have a sign posted "We have snakes and alligators in our park" so we will be cautious. Some people are camped in tents! Somehow bears seems less threatening than gators. I guess it depends on what you're used to! It would appear Lake Osborne is a favorite fishing spot for a lot of people. We saw many boats like Jeff's here today. There is some sort of bird here that makes a sound like the raptors on Jurassic Park! Haven't seen them yet, only heard them, Tony is not a fan. This morning when we left Melbourne the humidity was 90%, thankfully it is 60% here and 82 degrees when we arrived. It was still very warm by the time we were all set up. There are nice shade trees and a breeze but we did use our AC for about 20 minutes to cool off the inside of the trailer.