Around Watson Street

It is a fact of life in Key West, most people like to dress up any chance they get. And their houses aren't immune either. At Halloween the decorative theme is as obvious as it is at Christmas. 

Despite, or perhaps because of, being born on all Hallow's Eve I have no desire to dress up though I thank strangers for celebrating my birthday by resorting to costumes which I know are their idea of a celebration...

I am not terribly fond of Watson and Packer streets off Truman Avenue in Key West as they feel crowded and chaotic to me. They lack proper sidewalks and the largely un-restored cottages are piled up alongside  a narrow street packed with parked cars. 

 This is Watson Lane,a curiosity off Watson Street:

I would hesitate to live in a home with louvered windows, a 19th century for of ventilation, even though they look delightfully picturesque:

I saw this visiting van from New Jersey wedged off the street -just!- and admired the versatility that I look forward to enjoying in the not too distant future. Th gasoline model at less than ten miles to the gallon is not indicated for me who loves to drive a lot.

 Rusty enjoyed himself, holding me up every three steps.

What is chaos and confusion to me is a wealth of worthwhile stuff to himself.

Practical Cycling

From October 2010 (so long ago already?) I really like this essay on bikes in Key West.

I start this essay on cycling in Key West with a picture of a man taking his ease in Bayview Park.

His bicycle laden with belongings was just out of the frame. Bicycles in Key West are basic transportation, for workers, professionals, tourists and even the unemployed homeless.I like to photograph the cyclists around town from time to time as a reminder that this town is the eco-delight that promoters of cyclists envision when they stand before city councils and commissions across the land to promote urban cycling. Not as recreation, but as daily transportation. High cost brand name cycles are the rarity rather than the norm around here.Willie Ward Park has some rather pleasant shelters to hang out under as you while away your day waiting for the soup kitchen to open on Flagler Avenue.Tourists use bicycles as a fun break from their daily reality at home. Too bad they can't imagine getting used to cycling when they do get back to their daily grind.I have noticed a different kind of pedi cab rider lately in Key West. It used to be the preserve of East European young men pedaling energetically. Now I am hearing more Americans talking to their passengers as they pedal. Perhaps the world of pedicabs could be promoted as part of the political agenda currently sweeping the land to get Americans into jobs held by immigrants?A bicycle, a basket and Old Town is your oyster.I noticed these three vans (how could I not?) jamming Southard Street at Whitehead. The minivan as billboard. It takes a bicycle to get past these heffalumps blocking the road.When I was between dogs I used to bring my bicycle into town on a bike rack on the car, park the car at work and take off around town on two wheels. A bike rack is a great thing. Now all we have to do is persuade the nutters who run the Lower Keys Bus Shuttle to put bike racks back on the buses. They took them off when they were too successful.A gentle pedal on Georgia Street is a fine way to spend a morning.Cruising the Southernmost Point.

Backwards and forward at Whitehead and South Streets.There is a city commission looking into improving cycling conditions in Key West. Some people want more dedicated bike paths but it seems to me that in Old Town you'd need to make streets one way to accommodate a bike path and I can't see motorists agreeing to that.Riding and not texting. What a concept!

Tricycle, bicycle and shopping cart. Key West's basic means of hauling your crap around.Not riding side by side. These must be well mannered visitors.Hotels and guest houses frequently have bikes for guests to use. The size of the collection at Eden House on Fleming Street always boggles my mind.This deocratif motif left by a former resident:I watched this woman cycling in front of my car southbound on White Street, here seen imperturbable as two other laden cyclists pull out abruptly from Olivia Street in front of her.She stops appropriately at White Street at the red light.Traffic eases and off she goes risking a ticket if police were around to see her.I'll bet she'd have been pissed if she got a ticket for that stunt. Tourists here on Truman checking their directions. Riding on sidewalks is permitted in Florida as long as you a) yield to pedestrians and b) have an audible means of approach (not specified).

For $9 a day one of these beauties could be yours to cruise around town.

Like I said, practical transportation.

Unhappily my forward motion in the car messed up the focus but you get the idea. Helmets (rare in Key West) and swimsuits. Whatever works.Me? I wouldn't mind a Genuine Buddy from the Yamaha shop to get around town. I find a bicycle less useful than a scooter for fast movement across town.Seen on College Road, quite a likely a student pedaling to the...College with the typical backpack.The Florida Keys Community College on Stock Island my be five miles from Duval Street but considering how flat the terrain Key West and Stock Island are ideal cycling territory.

Fort Zachary Taylor

I figured the state park on the beach in Key West was overdue a visit from Rusty and I. No dice.

For pictures inside the fort check This Link.

There is a little nature trail around the moat. It's a five minute stroll through the trees on a raised piece of ground which means the vegetation is something other than mangroves...known as hardwoods.

I like to come by here from time to time to remind myself of tree names because I can never retain the labels. Besides at $4:50 a visit its a bit pricey as a pure botany lesson.

 Rusty saw  possibilities in the trees but trhere's that leash thing going on here.

 And then one pops out into what looks like a real meadow.

 Lovely. They used to exhibit Sculpture Key West art here. LINK

Except there are signs scattered on the outer fringes.

And then as we approached the pines for a look out at the Straits of Florida I ran into my buddy Curt who was taking a break in the shade.

We met when we were living on boats in St Petersburg at the Vinoy Basin in 1989. Curt sailed to Key West and I joined him for a while before I took my first tour of the Bahamas. We lived alongside at anchor in Key West for a while and Curt taught me the ropes of living cheap afloat. It was a rather more wild west lifestyle than I fancied even then when I was in my early 30s but it suited Curt just fine. He lived at anchor and knew where to park his dinghy for free and where to get drinking water and where to dump trash.  Me? I wanted a regular situation paying  dollar a day for those services no sneaking around. I was a party pooper but we both enjoyed the high life at the Winn Dixie food buffet. Years later Curt is still living on a boat in Key West working a couple of jobs and making this strange town work for him in ways many people have never managed to figure out. He had to go tie up a cruise ship and serve conch fritters to tourists, a job he's held for twenty years. A record.

 Not everyone is as industrious:

My conversation with Curt meant I had no time left to explore the Australian pines at the fort, such as Cheyenne and I had done in years previously:

I saw this old pedestrian walkway which used to connect parts of the park across  military land. I figure this bridge could be deployed usefully on North Roosevelt Boulevard to replace one of the much disputed pedestrian crossings which some consider to be dangerous to vehicles and pedestrians.

I regret the thought but I may have to come back sometime without Rusty. I hope he doesn't hear me express that thought. It has become such that we go nowhere alone, it seems like.