Marathon

My wife taught Adult Ed and English as a second language in Marathon for a few years. As we lived on Cudjoe it made for an easier commute than driving to Key West, equidistant but packed with slower stretches and more cars. Plus, she was fond of pointing out she got to commute the Seven Mile Bridge.

So when she had her final Physical Therapy appointment for shoulder surgery she took me along to learn a few moves to help her along. I also got the chance to wander Rusty around the back of the strip mall in lovely bright summer sunshine.

I never did get much of a grip on Marathon, beyond understanding the basic geography of the town stretched along ten miles of Highway One. I remember when they created the city and it seemed rather excessive but the reality os the islands here are pretty narrow, so the length of the town I guess helps the tax base.

Residents who choose Marathon often like to make the point that they prefer not to mix with the weirdos in Key West which may have been true the ty years ago. However these days I don't think Key West is full of weirdos un less you count fashionably attired snowbirds driving exotic cars as weirdos. 

These days the divide between the cities seems to come down to working class, Marathon, versus idle rich in Key West. It's a broad generalization as all such must be but there is more truth to it than some might like. 

Marathon has an excellent harbor for boats to stop in and not many destinations close by for day trips. The fishing is as good as anywhere but Key West has terrible anchoring geography combined with lots of offshore islands and reefs. It all seems rather ironic. 

I was put in mind of some grass growing under your feet by the billboard truck above and the weird juxtaposition below was a reminder that you never know what people are thinking or how they think.

Goodbye Marathon, it seems a pity I never knew you.

Marathon

I have a couple of places I go in Marathon to accomplish tasks otherwise not easily done in Key West. My home on Cudjoe Key is split halfway between the two cities but because I work in Key West  I obviously don't see Marathon nearly as much. Which is ironic to a certain degree as the drive to Marathon is easier and swifter and much more scenic when you find yourself commuting over the Seven Mile Bridge as my wife used to prior to the pandemic.

Marathon is home to light industry similar to Stock Island the place that relieves Key West of the need to dirty it's hands with physical labor. 

I come to Marathon for stuff likes tires for my cars, oil changes, sometimes I come to walk Rusty and will shop at Publix where the crowds seem less.  Stuff like that. I like living halfway between Key West and Marathon. It used to helpful that the 24h hour (extremely expensive) vet hospital was here but now that's moved the Big Coppitt at Mile Marker 10.

That was the Golden Van getting a $65 oil change.

Rusty and I were walking waiting for the tires to be rotated as the van has reached 15,000 miles. We came across a dog sitting on a motorcycle all by itself. Like all little guys (me included) he strutted up so I let Rusty loose and they circled around for a while until they got bored with each other.

I found a trompe l'oeil mural too which i rather liked. A weird place for such elaborate artwork.

Tenacious. Not a bad attribute.

Trucks and big wheeled toys for big strapping me (like me).

I love how Marathon looks completely unlike Key West.

But here too big houses tower over the trees:

Rusty the explorer on Aviation Boulevard behind the airport. They have a luxurious airport with a fine terminal just waiting for an airline to serve the city. 

The van unobtrusive - behind Publix in a regular sized parking spot:

Back to the waterfront, my favorite picnic site at Old Bahia Honda.

Marathon

My wife has been locked down at home since the Ides of March and she hasn't minded at all much to her surprise. Teaching Adult Ed from home has caused some loud frustrations from the corner "office" at home from time to time as the computer system spat back predictably as the district gurus worked to redefine its purpose and use as a home schooling system. Apparently they have succeeded beautifully as she surprised me earlier this week while swimming when she remarked how very useful some particular Google school app is proving to be. For my wife at least it works smoothly and is integrated into her system. The future of teaching may be at home especially for teachers like her with immune issues. And only one more year to go till retirement.

So the news that she had to go to her classroom in Marathon to do some obscure paperwork surprised me but nothing loathe I agreed that getting an oil change for the Fiat would be a good idea. A former student works at a shop and she likes to stop by and see him from time to time. In the era of coronavirus I am  the one who shows up masked and goes face to face with an adult former student who cares not one jot to see me. Nevertheless an oil change is a Good Thing so Rusty and I dumped my adult ed teacher and headed over to meet the grumpy owner of the most grumpy oil change shop in the Western World - and his mechanic the cheerful former English language student who now speaks English but never does when Mr Grumpy is around.

After we had exchanged grunts, myself with Mr Grumpy, he being unmasked as you might expect from a man who makes my social ineptitude look positively gregarious, Rusty and I abandoned the car and went for a walk. It was as you can see, a gray Tuesday in Marathon. I think the only reason it didn't rain was because I was actually working my scheduled weird four hour evening shift and was not therefore a day off technically. The weather made up for the mistake by sending the mother of all thunderstorms Wednesday and quite putting Rusty off his food.

Walking along the sidewalk on the frontage road next to the Overseas Highway I could have tossed a pebble into tidal water as illustrated above. The north ("gulf" side as it's known to locals) is similarly close give or take a couple of blocks depending on the shape of the island. For a city of ten thousand there's a reason why Marathon is miles long as it is only yards wide and it's a collection of narrow islands not a wide short lump like Key West.

Compared to Key West Marathon lacks a "there, there" to quote Gertrude Stein speaking about her childhood home that vanished from Oakland. And like the second city in Northern California Marathon tends to end up playing second fiddle to Key West despite the fact that perception tends to cause annoyance. As though to prove the point we came across a block of wilderness a small spot of eccentricity in a town built to conform..

Rusty sniffed while I stood and looked, pondering my chances of getting wet...

The gray threatening sky contrasted with the bright primary colors on the ground and as we strolled back on the other side of the Highway I saw more colors and shapes to attract the eye. There is no doubt Key West has architecture and many more restaurants than Marathon, more theaters and movies and more offshore destinations among sandbars and islands, but Marathon, in a time of staying put offers its own retreat from the world. Not having a commercial airline at the airport suddenly seems like an advantage where travel seems to pose certain risks. I wonder indeed if movie theaters will even exist after all this with AMC going bankrupt.

They did a good job as usual at a reasonable price for synthetic oil and the ex-student gave me a secret smile to show he remembered to whom the car really belongs. Mr Grumpy avoided me while Mrs Grumpy took my credit card with her usual graceless fierceness, as though I had asked her on a  date rather than offering to pay what I owe. After 90 plastic dollars changed hands she glared at me like a lioness protecting her young and wished me a "blessed day." A reminder if I needed one that being blessed does not always lead to a sunny disposition.

I wore my new mask throughout the transaction of course and even though instructions on the door said to wear one neither Mrs Grumpy nor a bored dude on the couch, possibly a customer or family friend, were wearing one but as usual we have to fall back on the bromide that we live in awkward times and we do what we feel is right. I enjoy taking the car to a place where fake corporate customer service is nowhere to be seen and these unhappy people prefer to wear their grumpy hearts on the their sleeves and very much in your face. This isn't a namby pamby tourist joint but a hard core hard work oily working class shop. Take it or leave it. I love it and I find them refreshing though I am glad I don't actually have to live with them. Trust your car to them that's all the transaction is about and they will do you proud.

With the bars and theaters reopening today in Key West I fear the notion is now running rampant that the crisis is over and my wife and I still distancing ourselves will be considered to be living on the eccentric fringe, not alone but in a minority. I hope we really have seen the last of this blood clotting virus but history indicates it will probably be back. I can hardly wait.

Lobster Pots

I took these photos a while ago in Marathon and set them aside in the midst of other preoccupations. Now I've found them I want to post them because they remind me of happier times.

I'm not a fisherman but next time you hear someone says there is no industry in the Keys think of these beautiful symmetrical pots waiting for lobster season to roll around. These are the industry that doesn't require tourists.

Lobster pots remind me of the agricultural communities I grew up in. The work is hard, by all accounts as I've never done it. It's all weather dependent and market dependent just like farmers' crops are, and the results can offer workers lots of money or none.

I never found farming to my liking and I doubt fishing commercially would do me any better. I don't even find the time to try angling for fun. I got sick and tired of tractors and fields and and monotony and repetition and the inability to ever get away...

Yet how can you imagine a world without farmers or fishermen? 

To have ever thought I would end up not only working for the police but enjoying it would have rendered me speechless twenty years ago. But I have spent more time sitting in an office than I could ever imagine doing this kind of work, no matter the rewards:

The oceans are warming, populations are increasing and the demand for fish keeps going up apparently.

And yet it still comes back to the crews, almost all are men, in boats, almost all are fiberglass or steel, going out day and night and engaging in a hunt as old as humanity for food from the sea. 

I'm glad I get to harvest mine at the supermarket, but I don't forget where it came from.

Burdines, Marathon

If you are driving through Marathon and both you and Robert are feeling hungry you might decide,as we did, to stop at Burdines and eat a burger. This is not Burdines the department store, this is Burdines the Tiki hut above the water where they sell a none dollar  burger with green chilies that will, as the saying goes, make you slap your momma. Something like that.

Burdines is at the end of 15th Street (Ocean side which means on the south side of US 1. The north side is called Gulf Side by residents of Marathon). Its the point on the highway where four lanes become two in Marathon and that';s how I directed Robert to the side street as it had been a while since either of us had been to Burdines. 

It was a hot walk across the parking lot but it was worth it.  I climbed the stairs like a man who never had his pelvis broken for him and when we  were at the top they directed us to a bar stool which is not how I eat lunch. A table with a chair at the proper height so my feet reach the floor and a pleasant view of water, boats and sunken boats.

 That's Burdines, all open air and old Florida style:

That's the green chili burger which is best eaten with a knife and fork. Robert had  a modest cheeseburger with no buns and a side of salad. I had Burdines' specially seasoned salty fries and quantities of Diet Coke to fend off the heat. You can't eat like this every day but once in a  while it really is the way to go. 

After lunch we wandered out into the sun for pictures and a taste of the breeze and the view.

Marathon is a working town of some ten thousand people, maybe fewer since Hurricane Irma I'm not sure. Unlike Key West this town, the second largest in the Keys, has commercial fishing  as witnessed below: 

Looking east from Burdines the marina that used to exist has been torn up supposedly to make way for more modern facilities which never appeared. The bridge in the distance which connected uninhabited Boot Key to Marathon has had it's span removed as the bridge was crumbling. The radio station staff on Boot Key get to work by boat, so that is that. I used to like walking there when I was in Marathoin as there was nothing there but trees and a road.

Marathon has a really nice harbor surrounded on all sides by land. The city has put moorings in Boot Key Harbor and operates  a marina with all facilities a passing boat crew might want, internet access laundry facilities and so forth. In winter it is quite the hub for boaters passing through the Keys. 

I bought a new (lightly used) camera and so far I am quite pleased with the increased megapixels from my old Panasonic which I am keeping for back up as the 12 megapixel FZ300 is very rugged. The FZ1000 has 20 megapixels on offer with a shorter telephoto but I really like the pictures I am getting from this camera. In the old days I had cameras with interchangeable lenses and all the Single Lense Reflex folderol but in this brave new age I like the modern digital "bridge" cameras which look like SLR cameras but have fixed telephoto lenses, no internal mirrors and do a very decent job for an amateur like me of covering all bases for not much money ($350 in this case on an eBay auction).

I very much like my iPhone camera but I do enjoy the telephoto and the ability to have some control over the pictures I take to improve depth of field and to be a bit more adventurous with shutter speeds and so forth.  I got a rather nice portrait of Robert too.

Boats can be complicated things and sometimes they seem to prefer not to float: 

Looking west out of the main entrance to Boot Key Harbor there are channel markers leading to open waters with a bunch of people  fishing:

I spotted a station wagon for some person living on a boat. I would go mad if I had to shuttle back an forth in something this disorganized but it has character or something 

 I forgot: this is the sign at the entrance to Burdines.  That's full of character, or falling apart:

And so when you pull out of 15th street onto US1  you are  full of burger and if you are feeling superhuman, maybe you are extra stuffed with a roll of fried Key Lime Pie (which we did not have this trip though I have tried it previously whence this picture):

And as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself with talk of fried Key Lime Pie you turn south on the Overseas Highway and take to the Seven Mile Bridge, and so home.

For Robert an afternoon of doing stuff of which he has lots  to do he says,while for me in my carb coma it meant sleep and cuddling my dog who was hovering in the air conditioning avoiding the blazing heat.