Wheels of Duval

I was waiting for my wife last night on Duval Street so I pulled my camera out and took a few pictures, while I hung around skulking and snapping getting hungrier by the minute. The end of October is the beginning of the end of lean times in Key West, and though the numbers aren't in on Fantasy Fest there were quite a few people wandering Duval at dusk.

Currently we are in the throes of a cold front that has dropped temperatures to below 70 degrees (24C) with north winds freezing our socks off. But before the front it was quite reasonably warm and not too humid at all. Many of the tourists this time of year are Europeans, taking a trip to warmer climes after the grand kids are back in school, but this year with the early arrival of cold weather there seem to be lots of early snowbirds in town. And they are joined in riding around, on mopeds, bicycles and electric cars by locals who take pleasure in not having to use a car.

Reading the Citizen of the Day entries on page three of the newspaper one sees repeated, time after time, the notion that the weather is a big draw for people who move to Key West. Which comes as no surprise though you'd think people interviewed by the paper could come up with something more...imaginative? Laid back lifestyle, the weather, the water... Being able to do without a car is also an attraction for residents of Old Town in particular though even if you live slightly further afield a bicycle or moped is entirely adequate. I enjoy seeing people who in most places in America wouldn't be seen dead riding a "moped" out on the streets, getting on with their daily lives:Visitors like to enjoy Key West sometimes as an extension of the theme parks they know and love Up North, so cycling is less transportation and more a diversion:Though pedaling is optional on Duval:The pedi-cab drivers tend to be, for whatever reason, Eastern Europeans and they pedal up and down Duval holding hands-free, glottal phone conversations apparently with thin air.I can't imagine its much fun as a way to earn a living but I guess they keep fit. And they aren't snowed in. There are other ways to get around including hybrid cabs, which get 38 miles per gallon, though with gas prices around $2:50 a gallon...at least for now:There's also a relatively new car dealer in town selling Canadian electric cars called Zenn (zero emission no noise, out of Toronto). They are limited currently to 25 miles per hour but the dealer told the Citizen they were selling like hotcakes when they started up:Some people buy the rental type electric vehicles and when they are sold for private use they can come with proper doors and flat beds and accessories to make them more useful. The rentals are everywhere, for those that don't want a scooter:Some people like to drive regular cars and they are available too, convertibles preferred by many even if they don't always convert them:Chrysler Sebrings are handy cars in the Keys, where exotics are harder to service and get parts for. My wife really had a hankering for a Saab convertible but the Sebring has worked out well for her. She always converts hers. Just around the corner from Tropical Motors I saw...a visiting Sebring!There is a certain amount of distancing from rentals that goes on in the Keys. My wife has a personalised licence plate holder on her Sebring; scooter riders adorn their vehicles sometimes:Though the decorations aren't always Fantasy Fest beads. Rentals generally have plaques on the baskets identifying the rental company. Some scooters are not of the type that are available for rental, an Aprilia 500 would be one of those, tucked away at a private parking parking lot:In the end though the absence of internal combustion is what makes living in Old Town so... livable.A nice round town station wagon, several gears, mudguards, and a basket to haul the groceries home from Fausto's. Some slightly less new bicycles are carefully locked up, as all bikes are at risk for theft. Stolen bikes are worth reporting as they do turn up again in the city from time to time, and a police report identifies the original owner. Some though, appear to be beyond help:Bicycles are always a symbol of youth and childhood even in cities where they aren't used as daily transportation. Part of me envies the youngsters I see riding around treating Key West as their playground:Of course as we grow older and wearier we may find a tricycle more to our taste. Or perhaps it's just a better way to haul stuff around town, because I see lots of them:I guess I must look odd when I roll up wearing my helmet and jacket and gloves, fresh in town from my 25 mile commute, but the Bonneville does a dandy job of getting me around town as well as getting me into town. My wife on the other hand keeps her Vespa 150 at work and rides it around town almost exclusively. It's rare she'll take it home. When the Bonneville and the ET4 are parked together it means the Conchscooters are probably doing something nearby:In this case fillet of tuna on a salad for her, and a burger poivree in a crepe for him, at Duval's nicest French restaurant Banana Cafe, now in new and more spacious digs a block away from it's old home:At last she showed up, and even let me taste some of her roast potatoes. Well worth waiting for.