So, here you are, finally in Key West, your vacation has begun, your worries are few and you are all set for some sunshine and blue skies. Until that is, a monstrous large black cloud, half the size of Greenland heaves into view over the northern horizon, and vacation plans get interrupted. What does a a visitor do? What so many of them do anyway, rain or shine:
Talking bull isn't limited to the corner of Duval and Caroline. No prizes for guessing this is Sloppy Joe's:
Or somewhere on Greene, Guy Harvey I think but I could be wrong. I don't frequent the bars, as must be obvious:
Or at whatsits name on Duval, Fogarty's perhaps? I could see someone was not making the most of a bad thing, with that body language. Pity the poor people depending on his tips to make ends meet:
Those are the better known watering holes where I saw people stranded by a typical summer downpour. Locals have their own hangouts, for instance a beer never tasted better than at the Hilltop Laundry on Elizabeth:
Or just hanging with a bud at the Arab's store on Caroline. That the owner is actually from Bangladesh doesn't mean much in a culture devoted to the easy pigeonhole. If you dial 9-1-1 from the 700 block of Caroline and tell me you are at the Aay-rabb's this is where I'll send the cops, and I won't even plague you with a short history of the partition of India either. We'll just agree that this place is run by an Arab...
Talking of Caroline Street the red Humvee is back, and I read in the paper that the Coffee Plantation is for sale if you feel like running your own business here:
Rain storms come and go in Key West mostly between June and October more or less depending on droughts and the moods of the gods. They lower temperatures to a brisk 75 degrees (24c), they wash off the dust and leave the air sparkling and fresh after half an hour's downpour. Locals keep working during the rain:
Or, if there are no customers they shoot the breeze while the raindrops fall like snow flakes all around:
Some locals take refuge:
While others don't bother:
Some take advantage of overhangs as they go:
While others can't:
Some people like to hide behind umbrellas:
Others don't have the patience for that folderol:
Others wrap themselves in plastic while some people just take their clothes off. Duval can start to look like a wet t-shirt contest but I am not bold enough to shoot blatant close up pictures of the wet bold young women striding down the street:
People who ride the Conch Train get free body condoms in bright yellow:
The tourists who choose to take the Trolley Bus on a rainy day get the benefit of modern technology, called windows:
One of the pleasant things about choosing to live in Old Town that is often touted as a blessing is the ability to live without a car, an advantage touted only in Key West and Manhattan (in the US) as far as I know. The advantage Key West holds is the mild climate, nevertheless it's a climate that can lull some riders into a false sense of security and they neglect the simplest of weather precautions:
Some two wheelers come prepared to fight the blizzard of rain:
Others don't:
In the end it doesn't matter much. I got to the Tropic absolutely soaked, for I was surprised by the intensity and duration of the downpour as I strolled across town taking pictures. I sipped my coffee and and watched Bottle Shock as my clothes steamed gently in the darkness. What a pleasure to live where rain bothers one so little.
Talking bull isn't limited to the corner of Duval and Caroline. No prizes for guessing this is Sloppy Joe's:Or somewhere on Greene, Guy Harvey I think but I could be wrong. I don't frequent the bars, as must be obvious:Or at whatsits name on Duval, Fogarty's perhaps? I could see someone was not making the most of a bad thing, with that body language. Pity the poor people depending on his tips to make ends meet:Those are the better known watering holes where I saw people stranded by a typical summer downpour. Locals have their own hangouts, for instance a beer never tasted better than at the Hilltop Laundry on Elizabeth:Or just hanging with a bud at the Arab's store on Caroline. That the owner is actually from Bangladesh doesn't mean much in a culture devoted to the easy pigeonhole. If you dial 9-1-1 from the 700 block of Caroline and tell me you are at the Aay-rabb's this is where I'll send the cops, and I won't even plague you with a short history of the partition of India either. We'll just agree that this place is run by an Arab...Talking of Caroline Street the red Humvee is back, and I read in the paper that the Coffee Plantation is for sale if you feel like running your own business here:Rain storms come and go in Key West mostly between June and October more or less depending on droughts and the moods of the gods. They lower temperatures to a brisk 75 degrees (24c), they wash off the dust and leave the air sparkling and fresh after half an hour's downpour. Locals keep working during the rain:Or, if there are no customers they shoot the breeze while the raindrops fall like snow flakes all around:Some locals take refuge:While others don't bother:Some take advantage of overhangs as they go:While others can't:Some people like to hide behind umbrellas:Others don't have the patience for that folderol:Others wrap themselves in plastic while some people just take their clothes off. Duval can start to look like a wet t-shirt contest but I am not bold enough to shoot blatant close up pictures of the wet bold young women striding down the street:People who ride the Conch Train get free body condoms in bright yellow:The tourists who choose to take the Trolley Bus on a rainy day get the benefit of modern technology, called windows:One of the pleasant things about choosing to live in Old Town that is often touted as a blessing is the ability to live without a car, an advantage touted only in Key West and Manhattan (in the US) as far as I know. The advantage Key West holds is the mild climate, nevertheless it's a climate that can lull some riders into a false sense of security and they neglect the simplest of weather precautions:Some two wheelers come prepared to fight the blizzard of rain:Others don't:In the end it doesn't matter much. I got to the Tropic absolutely soaked, for I was surprised by the intensity and duration of the downpour as I strolled across town taking pictures. I sipped my coffee and and watched Bottle Shock as my clothes steamed gently in the darkness. What a pleasure to live where rain bothers one so little.
You'd think, if you didn't know any better, that a dude like me, what rides his motorcycle most days of the week, would be delighted to welcome a few hundred fellow enthusiasts to a weekend's revelry in the Southernmost City. Well, now you know better. 
Bike Week is good for the merchants and it's been a tough year so they have my sympathy and I hope they wring this lot for every penny. It's just that I'm not a really clubby kind of guy and standing around with a bunch of men admiring yet another air cooled V-twin while puffing on a cigar just isn't my cup of pansy-parallel-twin cup of tea. They close off the one, two and three hundred blocks of Duval and let the motorcycles have at it. Very cool:
This thing that was labelled a "Kicker" though it looked a bit like an Aermacchi four stroke flat single to me, in rat bike form:
Or a two stroke Yamaha twin in Kenny Roberts livery. Be still my beating middle aged heart:
Or a lovely old Honda Four burdened with a gruesome seat. Imagine, I used to wonder how anyone could ride a 750cc "Superbike" as powerful as this:
Nowadays I wonder how people get around looking like this, exposing their armpits and everything:
When this brute was fired up it rumbled out into the street with the radio blaring. All the comforts of home. I had a motorcycle once that had a radio and I thought it was weird. I still do: 
At least a Gold wing isn't a Harley. It's not that I don't like Harleys it's just that there are other motorcycles in the known universe and it would be nice once in a while to be exposed to something slightly different on the streets of the Southernmost City. This would be more my style than the Gold Wing, if I lived where the horsepower were usable:
Magnificent eh? Not good enough for Irondad apparently, who after a modest 160,000 miles with an earlier model of the Honda ST (sport tourer) decided to ditch the brand and go with the Yamaha instead. Fickle, that's what I call it. Triumphs? Well, there was one on Duval Street briefly:
"Hey," I said to the guy on the Harley."If anyone asks, tell them there was at least one Triumph at bike week!" He cackled appreciatively so at least he seemed to know what a Triumph was... The motor unit was there riding...Harleys of course. At work I once suggested Vespas might be more suitable for Key West traffic and they nearly lynched me. They do like their Harleys:
And there were babes too, in various guises:
And there were blokes standing around, doing what the weaker sex do best, clutching drinks and trying to look knowledgeable:
This next one looks like he's cursing his machine (an uncomfortable custom Harley) but he wasn't, he was simply adjusting his protective headgear:
But I did see one full face helmet other than mine:
Everyone else was riding Florida style including more than just this one with his feet down like training wheels which is a concept I find so profoundly wrong I can hardly express the depth of my feelings:
And so it was, I had my fill of leather vests, rumbling twins, spilled beer and hail-fellow-well-met camaraderie. I took my Bonneville and threaded my way home through herds of more Harleys and yet more Harleys and their weekend riders:
I made sure before I left not to look too closely at the Road King with the For Sale sign on it. Did I ever mention the Road King is my favorite Harley design? Probably just as well I never did.