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!