Key West clarification.

Historical Photo:
 
A Jewish woman in Austria in 1938 sitting at a bench labeled only for Jews.  (Sitting somewhere else would have sent her to jail and worse)
(For those who think the USA is oppressive, I invite you to think about that.)

today...
I didn’t want to leave a really bad impression of Key West. I do think if you travel and like salt water, you should make the 156 mile drive from Miami to mile marker one of US 1.
You will drive a chain of keys over 42 bridges between the many keys. The longest bridge is the 7 mile bridge connecting Marathon Key and Little Duck Key. When we first went down it was all two lane road.  It has since been modernized (some).
The drive is gorgeous and to most it is not a ‘white knuckle’ drive. I am not sure now, but at one time there were many hitchhikers (I called them hippies, not sure what they are called now) headed for the end, Key West, Margaretaville. 

 (Hemmingway's hang out, Sloppy Joe's BAr)

Key West does not have good beaches. More shells than sand. But Key West is NOT beaches. KW is Hemmingway, history, Jimmy Buffet and drugs. Once while I was there the entire city fathers were locked up on an SBI drug sting. The Fire Chief was convicted of selling drugs out of the trunk of his ‘lime green’ chief’s car, photographs etc. He was convicted and released on pre-sentence bond. He disappeared. Has never been seen since. His name, “Bum Farto”, look it up.
 Then the prime witness against the mayor, et.al. Died of intravenous injected battery acid. Miraculously all witnesses decided they might have been mistaken, etc. It was wild. Eventually all the city fathers, except fire chief, Bum, were reinstated with back pay.
Most folk want to be photographed at US1 mile marker ‘0’. For years that bumper sticker was on all of Mark’s cars I think.
President Truman loved the Key West area, when I was there the USN had a Truman Annex.
I did enjoy most of my tour there. The worst thing that happened is my boys were introduced to drugs, that demanded most of Sherry & my time on our daily walks.
Later one of my boys told me they did drugs with some of the local police. I guess that statement alone sorta dropped KW from one of my favorite places.
Anyway, what I said it is not one of my favorite places, although it is beautiful.

Nite Shipslog

One of our KW vehicles good on flat land, not so much in the mountains.

Not THE destination place for me!

Historical Photo:
 
These bullets were found on a battle field in WWII. can you imagine the odds of two bullets meeting?

But today: Then there was Key West. I have sort of a love hate relationship with Key West.  We lived there three or four years. We owned a 24' Cuddy Cabin to fish from. Sleeping quarters to rest in. 

 The boys charcoaling in KW Below is Sherry's dad fishing from the Coast Guard pier in KW

 Jackie graduated from Boot Camp with Mark (Kiss Fan) and Grandpa Wiley

Son Mark loves KW and returns any time he has a chance. Son Jack is sorta like myself, eh----. Sherry likes Key West but not her favorite place.
To clarify, the weather is great. The fishing is fantastic. Florida lobster can be netted. Key West is the only place I allowed the boys to play hooky once and we went fishing all day. The water was calm and our depth finder read 125 feet and you could see the bottom as clear as a bell.
One particular time we spotted a Jew Fish, he actually appeared to be as big as a Volkswagen. The boys loaded the biggest hook with the heaviest line we had, baited it and dropped it just in front of Mrs Volks. She was having no part of it. Jack was guessing a 1000 lbs. “Dad, that sucker is worth $3000 at the pier. Jew is selling for about $3.”
Laughing I said, “What are you gonna do with it if you hook it? We could never bring it aboard, and if we did it would kill us with it’s tail.”
Mark said, “WE will tow it in.”
With all the talk and excitement the fish was not interested in going to the pier to be sold.  HA!
Today we received an e-mail from Mark. Yep he is in Key West. He is there with Kenny & Windy. Kenny and Mark met in Key West and have remained friends. Kenny now lives in the Melbourne area.
He reminded me of a pier Dan Doughton and I built for our boats. Evidently he and Kenny are on a boat close to where we lived. 
He sent a picture:

Subtitled: You built this pier 40 years and 5 hurricanes ago and it is still standing!

The people born in Key West are proudly called ‘Conchs.’ I predict there will be less and less ‘real conchs’ as the real estate climbs forcing the taxes to climb also.
The neatest thing at KW then was the Sunsets viewed from Mallory Square. At the time the 10-30 people gathered. We always applauded the show of nature, just as the sun dipped below the horizon. That was before cruise ships and super tourist traffic. Now Mallory Square is a Circus almost. (I compared it to Fisherman’s Warf in San Fran.) As a rule if you do not have a reservation you will sleep in your car Christmas season. And if you have a room you might have to finance it.
We will probably go back sometime, but I would rather be in Texas, Utah or Arizona. (KW nice place to live, but not to visit!)
Nite Shipslog

Where would you return for a visit?

Historical Photo:

(Stalin and his 'body double,' Felix Dadaey (left), pretty close resemblance. Fooled many people)


You guys that I follow seem to always give me something to think about and sometimes write about. A few minutes ago (I’m writing in the AM this time) I read Myra’s blog , https://mevely317.blogspot.com/ a very short one, but it caused me to think. Why do I like the Amish country around Lancaster, PA. I would be hard pressed to think of the times we have stopped for a week or two. I WONDER NOW?  Does it have anything about keeping my early life?
Downtown Lancaster is ‘another nice city’. I do like the big downtown market. There is a Miesse Candy store there, LOL, and fresh veggies and meat. But outside of town is different. The country side is refreshing. The fields are still tilled with horse, mule, ox and plow. I get a good feeling when I pass a horse and buggy or see a farmer plowing a mule.
My childhood was during a time farmers still used animal power. Mr. Ford was making the farm tractor more affordable, but farmers were hard pressed to come up with the $500 for the Jubilee, 8N & 9N tractors. So the kin of mine, who weren’t truck drivers, and still farmed plowed a mule.

 Both  the farmer and the horses need a break at times.

Once I was visiting VonDale and he had to plow the corn field before we could head out to get into mischief. He let me try, but on the first row I took out about 8 stalks and he said ‘I better do it jack, dad will kill me if this keeps up.’

When Dad became pastor of the Belmont church we were across from the last horse and wagon in town. Mr. Robinson would leave out early on his wagon setting the wagon in his ‘Red Camel’ ‘overhauls’.  I never knew hopw he made his living but he was gone all day and pulled back in late afternoon. He always gave the horse a rub down and fed him some oats and corn.
Maybe it is my childhood but I never lived on a working farm, just visited them. The last time we were in Lancaster the corn was just coming in. One of the Amish farmers sold from the wagons as they pulled out of the field. Then it was 10 for a $1. I think he averaged selling a wagon load in 30 minutes. Lines of us corn eaters were waiting for the next wagon.
We had learned to microwave the corn in the husk cut the end and the ear came out with 99% of the silks inside the husk. Add butter, DELICIOUS!  I have always loved corn on the cob!
We have stopped at the Amish road side stands for sweets too.  Once we saw a runaway horse with the owner a block back chasing it.
We also enjoy the productions at ‘Sight and Sound’. Being a country and small town boy I had never seen a big live production play. These are very good.
But all that came from reading.
Nite Shipslog
PS: Friends Dan and Joan live in Lancaster. They took us on a great tour of President Buchanan’s home. He was not married and his niece was the first lady I think.  He was famous for telling Abe Lincoln, “If you are as happy taking this office as I am leaving it, you are one happy man.”

The Batmobile was created from a Lincoln

Proof of age

Historical Photo:
A tired prospector in the Klondike.

The Story...

I told my skipper (in Key West) once, I needed two weeks leave to go to North Carolina and buy a house and settle my wife and family in.

He looked at me like a cow looking at a new gate, then he said, “Chief, you have never bought a house before have you?”

“No sir, but I am going to.”

“I will approve two weeks leave, but you will not find and buy a house in that short time. That is impossible!”

The first couple days I learned I was a ‘little ignorant’ and I began to sweat. BUT at that time you I learned something, one could pay a borrower and ‘assume’ his loan. In the second week we found such a place, one block from Sonny and Colette (Sherry’s sister). It took one day, we paid $2000 (in savings bonds) and assumed a $22k loan. Lawyer’s fees were less than $150. A nice 3BR 1½ bath.

I went back to the base in Key West and informed the Skipper, my wife was living in OUR house in Charlotte NC. He was shocked. 

I said that to tell you that the purchase was God sent. I got to know Sonny (BIL) better and we became BEST FRIENDS. I loved the BIG 3’ oaks at his house.  When he told me he had planted those 55 years ago, I almost fainted.

NOW, about 22 years ago I built the house we are parked behind. At the time I made three 5’ swings because I was a cheapscape, at the hardware they were $90 each.  LOL I used the metal that had blocked the road we had bought with this land, to hang the swings. 

Now that we are back I look at the metals left and the popular trees have eaten them.

(I thought they looked like Chickens using straws)

 About a year after the swings I built a tree house for the grand kids. The tree house is gone but here are the rungs of the ladder they climbed to the tree house. How could this happen in MY life time.  It is not a 3’ oak of course, but it has also only been 22 years.

As I remember Rick W over in Alabama has some pretty good size trees he has planted.  To my ‘honor’ I also went to the woods and dug up some trees and planted them at that house we bought in Charlotte. They are pretty big themselves.

All that means is: proof exists that Jack is getting OLD (like the prospector at the top of the post. LOL).

Nite Shipslog