There is more to the Keys than many might surmise from a quick run down the island chain. I've covered many miles it turns out, to find them.
It happened that the wife and I were out at a benefit event on Sugarloaf Key and after we had paid our benefits and eaten our (hot) dogs we wondered if it was time to end the happy afternoon. But no! I was among those present and with my inexhaustible desire for adventure and obscure knowledge I stunned Scott by the simple expedient of asking him if he had ever seen the Bat Tower."Why no!" he replied, agog.
The bat tower was built nearly a century ago by a land developer who hoped to make a fortune turning the wilds of Sugarloaf Key into tract homes. The Mosquito Control Board hadn't yet been invented so he turned to Nature to give him a hand. however the bats, famously voracious mosquito snackers, did not much fancy the home he built for them, from plans sent from Up North. The bats left, the humans never came. This is their monument. (Hint: Near the Sugarload Airstrip). I promised Scott and Heather a return trip some day, to see the Giant Sugarloaf Mansion (Not near the Airstrip).
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Volunteer Life Savers.
It remains true that most homes in the Keys are protected from fire by volunteers, a fact that does not appear to surprise anyone who owns a home down the Keys. The City of Key West has a paid fire department and has had for decades, which is not surprising as the city is packed with tightly packed wooden homes that burn like packed wooden torches.
People whose homes catch fire on say, Big Pine Key, need to hope their firefighters are close to their phones and are not far from the fire station while their homes burn. It seems terribly old fashioned to me, but I'm probably the only home owner within hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles who wouldn't be too offended to pay a tax to hire full time firefighters. An ounce of prevention...-------------------
High Speed Weed Whacker.
I've seen this combination around town for several years, which means business, in a notoriously fickle corporate environment, must be good for this high speed entrepreneur in Key West.
It's hard, impossible really, to find reliable tradesmen in the Keys so if your gardener shows up driving a Formula One you don't dare raise an eyebrow. Just be happy he's there. Unhappily he only has room for one helper in his Corvette, but they must spend very little time traveling between jobs.
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$3:60/Gallon.
I am grateful that more people don't use Shell gasoline cards and thus leave the pumps free for me to take my gas and my discount. I enjoy getting the Shell 5% rebate at the pumps and now that premium has hit all time highs, five percent is starting to equal real money, even riding a 43mpg Bonneville. People bitch at the cost of gas but apparently prices have yet to get high enough to force changes in the way we do things, not least grab a small discount where available. 
The cost of gas in the Keys is high by Florida standards, $3:40 for regular, and today I filled my tank with 3 1/2 US gallons of premium for $12. It wasn't so long ago that $8 would have been an ample sufficency. I don't ride to increase my mileage(I'd still be using the 70mpg Vespa 250), but I'm glad I take my traveling pleasure on a motorbike, and don't require a 15mpg SUV to make me whole. Even among these restricted highways and the few byways I have run up 3600miles since the Bonneville came home with me in mid October. Thats a few gallons under the bridge.
