South Shore

I looked south toward Cuba and saw this and I liked it.

 Then I saw what looked like the landing craft they use to ferry stuff to Sunset Key.

 I saw it pull out of Stock Island so I assumed with no hard facts it had been in a yard to be serviced.

 Winter is upon us and all such harbor traffic will get a work out for the next few months.

 It looks pretty spiffy. Maybe I am right, all tuned up and ready to go.

 It looks pretty glorious doesn't it in the cool north breezes blowing...

 I played around with the filters a bit, but the camera offers more than I can handle in one day,

  And in the end I like natural shades most of the time:

 And overhead the Navy fliers from Boca Chica were buzzing around doing their winter training.  

What a busy afternoon it was. And sunny.

Back from Miami where the surgeon told me 

I can put full weight on both legs. 

I’m not sure how this will work in daily life 

But it seems I’ll be walking without dragging, 

Building up my leg strength 

Getting back to normal walking, one step at a time. 

Bridle Path At Night

A lunch break on a night I felt well rested so I took the time to visit South Roosevelt Boulevard.

 It was windy and noisy and fresh and not quite cool. 

 For just about an hour I left the cacophony of 911 calls behind.

 I hadn't even brought my Lumix camera to work so all I had was my iPhone 6 in my pocket. 

 I walked on the path where once upon a time Key Westers exercised their horses.

 I brought one of my Vespas on my trailer to Jiri on Stock Island for a service.
 I dropped the Vespa off on my way to work and drove the car on my lunch break.

 There was no traffic at all so I stopped and took a picture, mid flight on the road:

And so to work. Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

South Roosevelt Improvements

The state Department of Transportation is eyeing South Roosevelt Boulevard for improvements. Why? Who knows...they could put money into repaving US ONe which is torn up by dozens of overnight trucks hauling supplies to the Keys each and every day, or they could leave well enough alone, but no, the state wants to improve South Roosevelt, properly known as State Road A1A.

And there are turn outs for traffic to cross to the airport and hotels:

As it stands South Roosevelt is a scenic four lane street with pedestrian crossings near the hotels and a thirty mile an hour speed limit not always observed. 

There is a wide sidewalk on the ocean side which is popular with people exercising on foot or by bicycle. So why does the state want to make changes? No one who uses this street has any idea at all. 

There is talk or reducing the travel lanes to two, thus increasing the possibility of road rage and congestion, while at the same time adding more bike paths and a median with a  turning lane. A turning lane? Why do we need a turning lane? There's nowhere to turn!

On the inland side there is the bridle path which is a walking trail and where parking is forbidden though you can drive there if you want to. On the seaward side there is nowhere to go either of course...So turning lanes make even less sense than you might imagine...

If you are coming from out of town and heading west and you want to park along the seawall facing in the opposite direction a u-turn across double yellow line sis not technically legal. What I do is turn into the Bridle Path and face back out and rive straight across the four traffic lanes when clear and then I park facing the way I came. Done and dusted.

I can see no sensible reason to change the layout of South Roosevelt. It's not a fast route anywhere as it takes the long way round and if you are in a hurry take the North Roosevelt route which the state has improved greatly with its long drawn out work to limit flooding and to coordinate traffic  lights. South Roosevelt is the scenic route and ends up in  a rather ugly way at Bertha Street, a canyon between condos:

Clearly re-paving would be a charitable act for the drivers around here but redesigning the whole street seems like a make work project for bored engineers.

Rain

I was watching the forecast yesterday, unavoidable really as the sky clouded over ominously in the afternoon and I had to decide whether to ride or drive into town. I had a date with my trainer, an hour of what I liken to being thrown around the room without mercy. After three months of two dates a week I am stronger than I have ever been and I'm eating like a horse but not putting on weight. I am motivated and Sean is brilliant at what he does, even if he doesn't understand my sense of humor. He also hates having his picture taken so I snapped this while he was in the logo... Puff...puff...puff.

The radar showed a huge pile of wind and rain coming up from Mexico so I took four wheels and a small brown dog who wanted to get out of the house.

After the workout Rusty surprised me by wanting to go for a walk in the rain. He used to hate getting wet but perhaps now that he comes home to a watertight roof and his own bed he was ready to get in the rain. So he got his way. I struggled a bit with the umbrella as the winds picked up but I was already soaking wet from the workout. It really is that tough with Sean.

We took refuge at the Gato Pocket Park (a future essay) and I sat for a minute out of the rain. Rusty gave me not much of a break and soon he made his feelings known, pacing back and forth in front of me.

I took the long way back to the care so we were both nicely wet, but not cold. Winds were picking up, expected to reach 40 miles per hour but it was still in the mid seventies. It looks like winter even if it feels like summer:

Smashers Beach looked bleak, but the seas weren't terribly rough as there was a lot of west in the wind, blowing over the end of the island not the south shore.

Glad I'm not living on a boat in Cow Key Channel today!

I wore Rusty out with all the excitement. He went to bed early. Good boy.

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Rusty Does The Bridal Path

Cheyenne died about 6 weeks ago and I have been trying to move ahead but I miss her still and taking Rusty to the places we used to visit together has been wrenching. The thing is he seems to enjoy these spots as much as she did when she was younger and more active.

Six years is a long time and it is no fault of Rusty's that I miss her. He is becoming an ideal dog, easy to live with, obedient and very loving, qualities sometimes that you had to look for hard in Cheyenne as stubborn and undemonstrative as she was. Rusty is like a puppy compared to her steady easy self confident walks and as much as I want him in my life I am reluctant to let go of Cheyenne completely. I keep expecting to see her one more time.

 

Life goes on and Rusty is full of it, even in the heat of the last few days. 

The Bridle Path parallels South Roosevelt Boulevard, twin sandy tracks underneath the palms, the place where supposedly Key West could exercise horses. Sometimes it's misspelled "Bridal" which makes me laugh.

It has a fair bit more to see than we explored on this, Rusty's first visit to the wooded section away from the road: 

Above you see the modern view and below with a little manipulation I made the place look old, with my Labrador looking at me wondering why so many pictures...

...and Rusty doing his thing:

All manner of traffic rushes by on the nominally 30 mile-per-hour South Roosevelt Boulevard.

With a frisky young dog like Rusty the leash is a bit of a requirement as he could be in the roadway in two bounds.

 New arrivals at the airport miles from downtown and not looking for a cab surprisingly.

 All that traffic and a time for a short pause to look at the ocean and contemplate.

 Unless you have a dog to walk.

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Houseboat Row

I was leaving Key West at the start of a cold front yesterday and the sky was a mass of uncertain cloud, strands of cotton wool barely hiding the blue sky. Suddenly the air felt cold and I thought how perfect for a dog freed from air conditioning.

This section of South Roosevelt Boulevard is still persistently known as houseboat row even though the houseboats were forcibly removed a dozen or more years ago. What happened was the empty land to the west was crying out to covered in expensive condos but the developer felt no one would pay one point eight million dollars for a rabbit hutch with a view of freeloaders messing about in boats across the road.

I never wanted to live at houseboat row, a messy cheerful place, an impromptu marina and community where people lived cheek by jowl in public view. I suppose the kindly developer, praised in the paper yesterday for funding an African American monument, just moved the process along but still...I cannot conceive such an impromptu community could exist in the Southernmost City in the 21st century. I was sad though when I watched the "boats" being barged to Garrison Bight to start a new life as respectable liveaboards. Being sad changes nothing and money does. But we still call it houseboat row.

There are still quite a few boats anchored in Cow Key Channel between Key West and Stock Island. I don't doubt someone will make it their business to clear out "hazards to navigation" even as the State Legislature works to outlaw residential anchoring. Living for free still bothers the good burghers in their McMansions. And Key West as you can see is no exception.

A half sunk dinghy is no recommendation for the alternative lifestyle but cleaning up after yourself does not occur to those living on the margins as a way to continue undisturbed.

Enough maudlin reflection. Time to ride home in the chill sunset air.

 

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