Bicycles

Interrupted by phone: Garrison Bight Marina:

 Liveaboard bicycles at the marina:

Every now and again I like to record Key West bicycles, in action and at rest, like this one at the Old Town Fire Station on Simonton:

 They are a part of our ives whether we ride them or not. They are there:

 Most are workhorses, unsung heroes of social mobility on a  small island:

 They are practical and decorated, bright colors or rusty:

 They take you to the movies with no-hassle parking:

 I saw these two at the Artisan Market, Higgs Beach:

 And decided they looked better from behind:

 Expensive bikes aren't necessary, style is optional but preferred:

 Strange dog, not Rusty at Higgs Park:

 Rentals have signs on them, usually on the front basket:

 Parking is everywhere, preferably not attached to city property, but you need to lock them always:

 In Florida bicycles may ride on the sidewalk as long as they yield to pedestrians. Key West has lots of bike paths and trails in an effort to reduce a high accident rate, the highest in the state. Not everyone likes to ride them though which seems odd considering the driving standards:

Bikes get stolen all the time so to leave one unlocked even for a moment is a risk. 

 Tricycles are practical if you don't like falling over and like to carry stuff. Easier to sightsee too.

 Always practical:

 And sometimes they do sterling duty as ornaments, an honorable retirement.

Physical Therapy

I arrived a few minutes early at Physical Therapy Friday afternoon. Rusty was on the back seat as I had decided to bring him with me to take him for a walk in town after all chores were completed. So I let him out of the car to take a quick look around the parking lot before I went in to my session.

A rather frail elderly woman getting out of the next car started when she saw Rusty across the lot and she mumbled something about not liking dogs which was a problem easily dealt with as we were walking in the opposite direction. 

 Ten minutes later I popped Rusty back into the car and made my way into Teresa's PT  gym. I was not the only patient. The frail elderly woman with the huge shock of wispy silver hair was on the physical therapy exercise bed stretching her legs. "Did you just leave your dog in the car?" she asked me. "Yes I did," I said. She protested, "You can't leave him in the car..." and Teresa iped up "Is the air conditioning on?" Of course it was, as I am not yet ready to suffocate young Rusty on an 85 degree afternoon. He's fine I insisted, to no avail as both women ganged up on me and told me to bring the little brown bundle of joy into the session.

Not to put too fine  a point on it I figured the frail elderly lady was high on something after all the ear ache I got in the parking lot but what the hell. In came the dog and was greeted by cooing noises from the formerly dog-fearful patient and suddenly he was smothered by Teresa who is quite fond not only of her cat it turns out but dogs as well. Rusty took the attention as his due and settled down into a small brown ball next to me as I started cycling on the spot.

The frail elderly patient it turned out has a long history of dogs in her life and we chatted at some great length about walking dogs, dealing with sick dogs, rescuing dogs and so on and so forth and the minutes ticked by while we exercised and tested our limbs and sense of balance and all that good  stuff.

I looked out the front window of the therapy room and to my astonishment a frail elderly woman with a massive head of wispy gray hair was getting into the green car parked next to mine. At last the penny dropped.

It took a couple of minutes to explain the confusion but after a bit I cleared up the mystery of the woman's sudden change of heart about dogs and we all had a hearty laugh about it. 

 What was perhaps even more interesting was the woman's mention of a recent walking feat as she told us she had covered three miles on her own two legs. That's a decent enough walk for anyone but it turns out she had spent the past three decades not able to walk very well at all as she had to have her legs in ungainly heavy braces. Teresa had changed all that.

 It took four attempts she said but on the fifth request for special leg braces she found a manufacturer who delivered exactly what she specified. It was quite interesting to see how grateful the patient was, noting Teresa's persistence had paid off after years of struggle. It seems my physical therapist had identified and understood her patient's need but she couldn't get leg brace manufacturers to build special braces made out out of very strong but very light carbon fiber. 

Finally her persistence paid off and now her patient could walk freely with two small pieces of material behind her calves looking like extended shoe horns. They were unobtrusive and looked a bit like this, custom built for her particular needs:

I was impressed by Teresa's skill at identifying the need and persistence in getting it done, but she is a physical therapist and that's what they do. The dog lover is mobile again and able to walk her dog easily.

It was a pretty good day at physical therapy, then. And Rusty got his walk (above) at the park later.

Land Fishing

So here's the conundrum: you like to eat seafood but you don't fish...Well obviously you find a restaurant and order a fried fish sandwich, or if you are feeling less inclined to the starches you order a grilled fish on a caesar  salad and then you thank me for reminding you of two of the best local dishes you can find in the Lower Keys. Let's face it, there are tons of excellent eateries and dozens of styles and ethnicities of foods cooked for us but Key West is a former commercial seaport. So we want fish, it stands to reason, especially if you live here. 

My wife loves Fishbusterz so I love Fishbusterz, especially as I know we are getting seafood after she makes Fishbusterz noises. Key West Old Town residents have an excellent seafood place on Eaton Street which also offers seating with cooked seafood for consumption on premises. I have heard only good things about them but as I live (and my wife cooks) outside Key West we gravitate to the shops that involve less traffic and parking issues than those downtown. Having said that I feel an urge coming on to explore an Eaton Street fish sandwich...

Fishbusterz offers the proper range of local seafood as you might expect. However their history is quite interesting as they were started as a business to support local boats and offer a market for local fishing. Checking a  story I did on this place in 2008 you can see they have evolved over the past decade. 

They started out selling cooked food while highlighting their intimate connection to the fishing fleet. It was at a time when the commercial fishing docks on Stock Island were under threat of development and Fishbusterz stepped in to keep the fleet  from disintegrating. As it was commercial boats had retreated to the Stock Island docks from Key West Bight, pushed out by massive development.

 And so you can still find locally caught seafood  for sale...locally.

 And if you fancy a conch feast you can buy five pounds of the stuff right here. I am not a huge fan of conch or abalone (on the west coast) as I feel it's one of those foods that gets its flavor from the breading or the lemon juice or whatever coking agent is used. However I am almost alone in that, and this stuff is massively popular.

 Limes and lemons are for sale too, essential accouterments for fruits of the sea.

 And let us not forget suaces and spices from the Key West Spice Company.

 Clothing of one sort or...

 ...another.

 Yes and we should all love Stock Island, shouldn't we?

Fishbusterz is on the main drag from Highway One which starts out at the traffic light where the street is called Macdonald and then the road evolves into Maloney -don't ask, it just does- and on the right just past West Marine the low blue building will appear will all its fishy goodness. 

Motorcycles

Last year when I completed my ride to Canada on my Suzuki Burgman 200 scooter I rode slowly home and met a bunch of scooter riders I'd only ever known online on scooter forums. One of them, Eric in Virginia took to heart my desire for a replacement Burgman. Last week he texted me with a  deal I shouldn't resist. He found a 2014 Burgman 200 in a Houston suburb with 400 miles from new, and offered for a mere $2,000. I think the dealership had taken it on trade and wanted to get rid ofg it before the Spring rush. Eric said he'd love to ride it home for me -crazy- man and that is what he's doing, scheduled to arrive tomorrow, Saturday March 2nd.

It's a four year old scooter that has never been used and by the time Eric gets it home it will still have only 2,000 miles on the clock. We are a nerdy bunch on the scooter riding community but we have some amazing camaraderie. Eric's generosity won't get me riding sooner but it is an enormous morale boost to have the scooter and know I will be riding that very machine before too long.

Eric has enjoyed the ride as far as I can gather despite insistent rain. He also approves of the little scooter noting it actually offers excellent performance and keeps up easily with freeway traffic on I-10 along the Gulf coast. I have to admit it was nice to hear from Eric that he really liked my favorite scooter even though I already knew(!) what an unusually speedy performer this 200cc scooter is when pushed. And so we come to my photos of the day, a simple wander through my local motorcycle shop. Forgive me if motorcycles bore you or irritate you or frighten you; I miss riding and wanted to write just a little about it. Also I enjoyed playing with my iPhone camera in the shop... and you have to suffer for it. Sorry...

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I miss riding so from time to time I drop in on the  last shop in Key West.

 Except it's not in Key West, it's on Stock Island and it's the go to place to get motorcycle service.

 Consequently Jiri the owner is swamped with business.

 Is it such a badly paid trade no one wants to do it, he mused.

 I said it's probably because  no one is trained to do the work anymore.

 Easy enough to learn he added, also telling me about installing his own air conditioning.

 He talked to customers, I wandered around.

 I miss my scooter, but in a broader sense I miss motorcycling.

 I can't walk properly, my feet are still too swollen for proper shoes so I can't ride.

 But I wish I could. 

 I have entered a scooter phase of my life. I considered a proper motorcycle but it doesn't hit the spot.

 I think there is pleasure in the sheer simple utility of a scooter.

 But there is also a mischievous sense of fun in doing more with less. A long distance small capacity scooter? Say it ain't so!

 In a way it is a return to my youth when I criss crossed Europe and North Africa with unsuitable small motorcycles and improvised gear.

 The fact that I live in a  culture that allows only for huge motorcycles for enjoyable touring spurs me on to my madness. 

 Small is economical, small is fun, but small is not arm wrenching powerful.

 Small is easy to handle and makes a lot of sense but most people ride motorcycles as toys.

 A scooter is utilitarian and rather dull they think.

 The predictable among us seek the security of the huge V-twin, the Harley that brooks no competition, that is the default position of the unimaginative. So many machines to ride but only one will do. 

 It's like eating only your favorite dish every day, and worse it is most often done in company, crowds all riding the same thing.

 I say variety is the spice of life and in the world of motorcycles I have tried many of them including Harleys which are fine machines but not the only ones worthy of consideration in a long riding life.

 My Triumph Bonneville was the best but my clutch wrist has arthritis now and a clutch free scooter is indicated.

 Jiri's own bike is a Suzuki that has four cylinders, lots of power and is cheap and cobbled together from parts.  Just how he likes it. I want a Suzuki -a 200cc Burgman scooter not a 1200cc Bandit..

 Seen here working on a client's machine we talked of this and that, of our lives left behind in Europe.

 Jiri grew up under Communism and envied the bikes I rode on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Now we are equals in the New World.

We both like dogs.