Use your imagination!

Imagine this sunset over the beach, just steps apart...Port Aransas on Mustang Island boasts 18 miles of shoreline and this gorgeous beach. We'll get a beach permit for the truck next time! This time we walked, checking out the fishermen. This was ground zero for Hurricane Harvey. Mounds of debris line many roads and they project another year for recovery of many buildings and businesses. On the Beach RV was full after we arrived. Lucky find!

Airstreams love ferries!

What could be better than arriving on a Texas gulf island by free ferry?

Smolik’s BBQ Mathis TX

Another yummy breakfast / early lunch at one of Texas' award winning smoke pit! Thanks JT for the research!! Brisket and pork ribs with creamed corn and onion rings... got a lb of brisket and half bbq chicken to go! Wilderness in the National Park beckons for the next two weeks so we stocked up with treats!! db

Killen’s BBQ

From the moment you walk in until the satisfied time you leave Killen's is life total perfection. Lining up and mentally drooling under the blackboard with all the delights and do watch for the easy to miss specials board on the floor to your left, chatting with the first chef who chops up your favorite bbq, sliced brisket or turkey or ribs and preps it to your specification and passes the dish to the second serving bay where sides are added - more decisions! Pay up and get drinks and then find a table and start your feast! I ordered a lb of sausages to go, two beef links and two pork links. Enjoyed fatty tender brisket, a short slab of ribs, fries, creamed corn and baked beans. Margaret had pulled pork and coke slaw. Just perfect! After our meal I wandered around back where I could see smoke rising and was lucky to have a tour of the smokers, 3 to 4 hours for ribs and breast, up to 14 hours for a butt. Smoke provided by a mix of oak, mesquite, pecan and a couple of other varieties! One of the best late lunch stops or early dinner stops at 3 pm when the queue and wait time is manageable! A must visit bbq spectacular!

Strippers Strike!

Some of the working ladies of Bourbon Street are getting upset about raids on certain entertainment dives in the French Quarter and protest by taking over a municipal press conference on street improvements!

Garden District NOLA

We downloaded an audio tour of the Garden District and drove and walked our way around landmark homes including the settings for many novels (Anne Rice) and a host of movies and TV series (Django Unchained, Benjamin Button, American Horror Story: Coven, Double Jeopardy, NCIS New Orleans) as well as homes to movie and sport stars (Sandra Bullock, Nicholas Cage, John Goodman, Archie Manning). After about 20 stops we arrived at the Commander's Palace which we have enjoyed many times over the last 20 years but tonight we head to another restaurant nearby to enjoy the unique cuisine of the Crescent City....

La Petite Grocery

Splendid anniversary dinner in NOLA at La Petite Grocery in the Garden District - one of five splendid dining events to celebrate our 47th wedding in Brighton anniversary and 50th first meeting in Madrid anniversary. Our marine delights included Prince Edward Island mussels, sautéed red fish from the Gulf of Mexico, seafood stew including langoustine, shrimp, clams and lump crab!

Three days in Naples

We loved catching up with Jill before heading north. Three great restaurants, walks through her neighborhood, Phantom Thread at the cinema, Roger Federer and the Australian Open on tv, and even a yoga class! Yes, we'll be back next year! Jill met us in the Target parking lot to check out the Airstream.

Key West - Seven mile bridge in 35 seconds

A little night music....

Geiger Key Fish Camp evening entertainment...

Airstream layout

Here is how our 200 square feet world is configured.... spend lots of time in dinette/lounge position!

Sunday project....

A little project I had in the back of the truck waiting for the right opportunity... thought this was going to be a tricky job but it turned out to be painless and took just over an hour. Main purpose is protecting the Airstream from flying stones and debris. With the prospect of several thousand miles of unpaved roads on our trip north to Alaska we needed the heaviest duty flap we could find and why not add the Airstream logo! Sweet!

View from the dining area

Just removed the perforated grill from the top half of the screen door which allows a much improved vista of the Florida Keys from where we sit, work occasionally and eat. Left the bottom grill in place since it does protect the insect screen from inadvertent kicks!

Iggy

Iggy the three foot long iguana likes to patrol the dock and look for tasty treats. Unfortunately Iggy is so big he has trouble making swift escapes! It's hilarious to watch him waddle down the brick dock and pretend he is stealthy! We pretend to not notice his antics!

Fish tacos

With fresh fish coming in every day I decided it was time to up my fish cooking skills and and be ready for success and failures. Bought a griddle plate for my Weber Q1200 and made up the blackening spices from a recipe. A touch of butter, a healthy sprinkle of blackening spice, grouper sliced horizontally to make two thin 1/2" fillets, less than two minutes per side and hey presto fish to die for! Meanwhile in galley, guacamole, pico de Gallo, sour cream, chopped cilantro, caramelized sweet corn and fried corn taco shells - what a feast! Just assemble and enjoy!

Key West Black Box Theater

A simple theater in a church hall about 30 ft wide X 40 ft deep with 5 rows of 14 seats at $20 a head. Regina Monologues featuring six local actresses each identifying with one of the six wives of Henry VIII... very doable amateur fund raiser production for a local theater group! Excellently performed and quite edgy but very entertaining.... sent us back to the Airstream and our computers to read up more about the early 1500's English history!

Dozen roasted oysters please!

Garçon... s'il vous plait... a dozen each with shallot and prosciutto dressing! These are delivered in pairs over 15 minutes as the Florida oysters open up in the grill and can then be basted with our butter dressing! Delightfully we savor each one with a glass of white stuff! We throw the empty shells into Similar Sound, a waterway that opens to the Atlantic Ocean.

No Name Pub

Checking in with SWAD 2016 Airstream adventurers Paul and Brenda Youngblood from Tennessee who are wintering in Marathon - No Name Pub is on No Name Key and has a reputed $65,000 in dollar bills stapled to the walls and ceilings!

Yellow tail snapper

A very delicate fish which I sautéed in butter on the griddle than transferred briefly to the grid to give it some grill marks! Done in less than two minutes! Last night I did blackened grouper! Lots of fresh fish to experiment with mahi-mahi, tuna, salmon! There is plenty of time for red meat as we head to Texas!

Key West Cuban Boat Migrants

A collection of Cuban chugs in Key West and these are the ones that made it to shore! Hard to imagine how driven and desperate the Cuban migrants were determined to flee Fidel's rule and risk their lives in the 90 mile shark infested water of the Florida Straits....

Life on the road... or nearby!

The three pillars of a good camping life! Espresso machine to start the day on the right foot! An Instant Pot to make incredible soups, stews, vegetable, main courses, desserts etc to keep the nourishment part of your life operating, and finally a wee dram to relax at twilight! There are others but that's enough for now!

Quick lunch stop....

What a splendid seafood store on Eaton Street with a glass case full of fresh local fish and shellfish you can either buy to take home or have it prepared in their kitchen and served in the casual outside dining area - originally a gas station! Enjoyed seared tuna, steamed shrimp, lobster salad and shrimp salad. We will be back for takeaway treats soon especially Stone crab claws!

PanAm

I've flown PanAm many times including the infamous LHR-JFK PA103 a few months before the Lockerbie terrorist crash that effectively sealed the fate of this once proud and iconic carrier. Never realized its origins in Key West as the first US scheduled international route to Cuba....

Latitudes lunch

Nothing quite like a meal al fresco by the ocean - Latitudes is a fine KW restaurant on Sunset Key which is only accessible by boat shuttle and you are only allowed to board if your name is on the reservation list! Caesar salad, blackened grouper and passion fruit creme brûlée! Enough palm trees in the garden dining area that you never got the sun directly just a dappled touch as the palm fronds waved gently in the southerly breeze. Perfect!

Very special RV site!

It does not get much better than this! We call this our vacation within our life vacation! Three weeks in the Florida Keys with 6,000 miles of ocean till you reach Africa.... we have reserved this location now for the third time, each year increasing our stay by one week. There are only a dozen waterfront sites each with its own tiki hut, this year rebuilt after hurricane Irma last September. Fortunately Geiger Key repaired quite speedily but most of the damage was visible between milepost 20 and 50 as we came down the Ocean Highway. Most of the commercial and state park RV sites are still closed and any campers and trailers we see are housing construction workers still in active recovery mode.

On the dock of the bay....

Dinner with our friends Em & Kathy who flew in from icebox Virginia to spend a few days in Key West - this is our RV camp dining at Geiger Key Marina and Fish Camp... on the menu hogfish, mahi-mahi, grouper, crab cakes and shrimp!

Welcome wind change

Something we have been waiting for a few days now is the wind to move from the frozen North to an Easterly flow now bringing warmth and humidity! Starting to feel tropical again! This map shows how we are in the middle of the Florida Straits approx half way between Miami Florida and Havana Cuba

Best choice is right here!

Lots of places around the world I don't want to be right now! Enjoyed a short hike around Fort Zachary and the State Park beach where this Saturday a number of strategic spots had been reserved for beach weddings! High winds are forecast for the next 24 hours!

The end of the road...

You cannot go any further south in an Airstream! We drove the Ocean Highway and arrived in Key West after a one week and 1,200 mile run South, one step ahead of the snow and east coast deep freeze! Finally we have found warm sun's rays and tranquility at Geiger Key around milepost 11  ...  we are camped right on the water on the dock of the bay for the next three weeks!

Fifty years on....

Here we are back in 1968 Madrid, Spain when I first met Margaret and Lindy ..... and 50 years later we arranged to meet up again for coffee and cookies in Whole Foods parking lot in Boca Raton FL. That's half a century!! It's a long story.....

David and Diana

Great traveling friends originally from Maine we met on the South West Adventure 2016 caravan and we are soon to be fellow adventurers on the Alaska 2018 expedition leaving Dawson Creek mid July! We had lunch at Squid Lips and spent the day reminiscing and planning new camping destinations! Great to catch up near Titusville FL.

Hiding in plain sight!

Hiding in a plain Airstream site with over a hundred Airstreams, many models dating from the last 30 years, in Melbourne Florida this New Year's Day 2018. This is the second step in our voyage south and we are now 800 miles from Virginia and the temperatures are still around freezing! Must keep heading south!

Head South ASAP!

December 27... starting our next adventure! Our first stop is Charleston SC... A quick tabulation of days spent in 2017 in various states and countries shows California, Florida, Arizona, Washington and Canada are our most frequent locations.

Twins

John and Victoria arrive at Rivahaven Yacht Club two days after we return from our 120 day expedition. They visited here in June at the start of their four month odyssey to the North East, Newfoundland, PEI and Quebec so we have both been on the road and have lots of stories and advice to swop! Bonus.... they brought Oakley the magnificent traveling tabby cat and Victoria's twin sister Jackie!

Finally home!

Completing the last 2,300 mile haul from Sedona to Virginia in 5 days got us home to the Chesapeake Bay after 120 beautiful days on the road, moving north to Canada mid summer and dropping down south to Arizona as temperatures dropped - mobility in the 60 to 70 degree isotherm! Camped out over 40 days inside some amazing National Parks including Crater Lake, Banff and Jasper, Northern Cascades, Yellowstone, Tetons, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon, and State Parks in Oregon, Washington, Utah and Arizona. Visited fellow Airstreamers, cousins in Montana, family in Utah, wedding celebrations in the San Juan islands, and enjoyed meeting new friends along the way! Checked out wildlife along the way - elk, moose, grizzly and black bears (hiked with bear spray!), bison, wolves, mountain goats, long horn sheep, prong horned antelope, coyotes and eagles. Total journey of 10,700 miles and 30 campsites managed within our budget. Now for a month of truck and camper repairs, modifications and improvements before the next expedition plan that goes south to Florida and north to Alaska!

Clinton Presidential Library

Checking out Bill Clinton's saxophone collection at the Presidential Library in Little Rock Arkansas. Although they spent three times more money on building the Clinton Library over the Reagan library they certainly did not get anywhere near the same level of engagement, stimulation and interest as the outstanding Library in Simi Valley. The highlight was lunch in "42" restaurant which featured some of Bill's favorites at a very reasonable price! I had a fat laden and delicious smoked brisket with melted cheese sandwich and deluxe fries! Quadruple bypass I hope to avoid on his diet!

Red Rocks State Park

Pay the $7 per person entry fee and enjoy this quiet hiking park! Watch the video for a thorough introduction to the area.
We chose to link four trails which took us above the park for great vistas of the surrounding rock formations then down to the Apache Fire House. Having read about its history and construction, we were VERY disappointed that it had been closed for repairs for years! No information on that! The final trail section took us along the creek. A good morning hike!