Strangers In Paradise

So I'm cruising North Roosevelt Boulevard on my wife's ET4 riding toward a date with my wife on Stock Island and I pass a guy sitting up on his own ET4. He's focused on riding in the busy big city traffic. Meet Gianpiero on his second day as a Key West resident.He caught up to me at the traffic light and we say hi as Vespa riders do. One doesn't need a Vespa, one rides a Vespa instead of a Chiang Zhou because one loves a Vespa. He leaned across and asked, nodding at my cream colored ride, Is there a dealer in Key West? Very funny so I elect to show him the way to Jiri, jack-of-all-trades in the Key West motorcycle world. Gianpiero (Jan-pier-oh) counts himself a Venetian so I guess he will fit in nicely in the Key West island life, especially as he moved here from the Big Apple. But he's worried about corrosion on the love of his life so he and Jiri start to talk about ordering parts to keep the Vespa 150 looking good.
I hand Gianpiero one of my new cards, he is actually the first recipient-stranger and slip away to my appointment. It was a busy afternoon on Stock Island where Steve needed to move his boat and the cross winds were making the operation tricky for a crew-less Captain.Steve is a teacher on Stock Island who lives in Key Colony Beach and wanted a pied-a-terre in Key West to reduce his commute. The lure of the romance of sail snagged him after a lifetime as a stink potter and he bought a rather nice Hunter 31 in Marathon, sailed it to Key West (marveling at the economy of a sailboat under power) and wants to explore the waters around the city at the very end of the road.We moved the boat with some rather indispensable help from one of Steve's new neighbors, repaired to the clubhouse for beer and snacks. I had iced tea on the grounds that turning up to work smelling of Red Stripe might not be too suave and considered one more useful workday afternoon in the bag.

Dog Wilderness

It's been a while but Cheyenne and I still take time occasionally to get out and walk in the woods but it's getting too hot to do in the full heat of the noon day sun.Early in the morning the sun was striking the tops of the trees and I couldn't get over how lovely the colors were against the blue, cloudless sky.I think these things were Jamaican dogwoods but they looked like maple leaf "helicopters" those leaves that whirl and twirl as they fall.It was still fairly hot and muggy for my ten year old Labrador but she was having fun. This No Name Key trail is criss crossed by Key deer and she could smell where they'd been.The sun was coming up and like vampires......we had to go home to bed.

Vespa Sunrise

I just had to stop when I got to Summerland Key, five minutes from home, to take the time to and watch the sun come up. I took the picture below wondering if the poor unfortunate souls trundling in to work were in the mood to notice the display in the sky. The air is warm even at this early hour, but for me, used to the daytime heat of the Florida Keys in June, there is a cooling breeze which I can feel and find refreshing. It's certainly not hot enough to make me sweat.With the sun coming up the countryside looks flat and black below the Niles Channel Bridge but the clouds overhead get a thick creamy three dimensional look.
The little Vespa isn't actually so little. With a 150 cubic centimeter engine (the size of a small shampoo bottle) it produces enough horsepower (12 I think) to move me around 65 miles per hour. With the wind behind me I saw 73 miles per hour on the flat the other day. This scooter is a pocket rocket and I love riding it.I can leave work at six in the morning worn out but by the time I get home I've got my second wind and when I pull up under the house I've got enough energy to load Cheyenne in the car and take her to her favorite spot in the mangroves for a walk. That's the benefit of riding a commute instead of driving it.Passing the Lower Keys shuttle bus always puts me in mind of the fact that one fine day it will be economically more sensible to ride the bus with a pass than to ride my motorcycle. It's actually a fine way to travel into Key West, air conditioned and comfortable, but it does take longer to make the trip door to door and I wouldn't be out riding.
I don't even mind the rain because when it rains there is a snug feeling inside the waterproofs watching the rain slash down. I only wish it would rain. They're drowning in the Pacific Northwest and we're dry as a desert down here. Big clouds, no rain.Theoretically one is supposed to get bored riding Florida's straight highways but we've lived in our house for the past six years and I still look forward to the ride at the beginning and end of each shift. My own street is a narrow one lane paved road which at this hour is devoid of people dogs or vehicles.We are closing in on the longest day and the sun is fully up by the time I get home, especially when I'm late home like this day.

My wife met me downstairs steps behind my madly happy dog. "I called your work, wondering what happened to you," she said through sleepy eyes. Luckily she's an understanding sort and looked through my pictures taken while riding, helping me discard the useless ones. It's a decidedly good commute. I ride 12,000 miles a year so there must be something to recommend it.

Dear Oh Deer

One couldn't be quite sure were they gamboling or running away, but they were in fact tired of being watched and they split the scene. Key deer dive into the underbrush and vanish. Once they are out of sight they are gone completely. No Name Key has produced a fair crop of deer this year which either means they are showing up in public looking for food or they are reproducing at high speed because there are lots around. I don't think the drought helps because greenery is withered everywhere this year.I don't often come to No Name Key in the summer months. What makes the island so pleasant in winter cold fronts makes it terribly hot in summer. All those trees keep the winds at bay and the trails are much warmer in a cold north wind than you would expect.And you wouldn't expect to find people fishing under the full Florida sun, but it takes more than that to keep the fanatics away, apparently.I followed a big old construction truck from the gravel quarry on No Name Key across Big Pine Key and I can only figure the driver was from out of town because every time a Key Deer poked it's head out on the grass verge the big old truck lumbered to a stop as the driver stared at the deer. Locals pretend to be blasé about the deer so when I see them I stop and photograph them to prove I'm just a visitor.I caught this one sticking it's tongue out at me, so I did the same back. Cheeky bugger. They are quite rude these deer. This one was completely ignoring one more of those signs favored in the Keys to tell people what to do and what not to do. I was surprised to see Key Deer type animals photographed in St Johns, US VI, by this resident of the British Virgins: http://thebvis.blogspot.com/ She took a vacation across the water and met a Key deer. I had no idea Key Deer lived abroad too.

Flagler Dawn

Fire Station Three looks like the Alamo as the sun comes up around six in the morning. We are approaching the longest day and photo opportunities must be snagged now if they appear on the ride home. So I stopped my headlong flight home and took the time to get the picture I had seen in my head for the past week. In summer I usually use Flagler Avenue to get into and out of town. When traffic is lighter there are just a couple of traffic lights on this street as opposed to the crappy surface and numerous lights on North Roosevelt Boulevard. In winter Flagler seems to get as crowded as North Roosevelt and the advantage of long empty ride through town gets lost. Tourists take North or South Roosevelt when they come to town, to head either to Duval (North) or the beaches (South) but you can't hide a thoroughfare like Flagler from the snowbirds, so in winter it gets crowded...The back side of the fire station, facing Flagler is just another blank wall. Forget the Alamo comparison! Habana Plaza got an art deco type face light after Hurricane Wilma flooded the place from the ground up and through the roof and since then the owner has apparently gone bust according to the paper. I don't mind at all how this strip mall looks. My wife and I used to use the air conditioned laundromat here when we lived on our boat in Key West and we'd wander down to the end of the strip to get a con leche while we waited. The guy who operated the Riviera Café was a grump to beat the band and we used to amuse ourselves seeing how many grunts we could extract in one transaction. I need to go back with Chuck on Guam to break the ice, as he's the man for that. On the other hand perhaps we should leave one coffee outlet to the Conchs who need respite from outsiders.My imagination works overtime because when I ride past this place it looks North African or Middle eastern to me, the arched arcade, the rather cool outdoor seating arrangements and so forth. Rick's Café I'd call it if I wanted to get the title of world's grumpiest barista. I would make a terrible host.It's absurd isn't it? Here's my wife's scooter parked on a main thoroughfare through New Town......and I think it looks lovely. What a town.

Tift's Alley By Night

By day these alleys around the entrance to Mallory Square are pullulating with people, but by night not so much.

I set my pocket Canon to the sepia position and to my surprise I rather liked the results.

I left the Vespa in the free parking on Wall Street and took a stroll. I was a block from Lower Duval yet I was alone. It was lovely.

That was a side shot of the Waterfront Playhouse a place we like to patronize in winter when they put on some worthwhile plays.

The scabby mossy walls surround the open seating area for El Meson De Pepe, a Cuban eatery popular with visitors.

The sculpture garden is a wildly eccentric exhibit in a town like Key West. The heads are those of people who made their mark and they are preserved on limestone rock pillars. Locals call this place the Pez Garden thanks to the resemblance to Pez dispensers...

Finally-people! No longer alone in my alley but they went one way and I went back to work.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad