Destination: Key West, Baby! We headed out extra early at 5:00am so we could have more time in Key West. It was a long beautiful, scenic drive. Alligator alley had limited gas stops, but that was no problem for the BMW. We stopped for gas and breakfast at a place in the middle of Alligator Alley. The land was on the Miccosukee Indian reservation and was pretty desolate, except that there were six or seven police officers eating while we were there. The Miccosukee police left just about the time we were leaving. The first two or three cars were unmarked late model Dodge Chargers that sounded pretty high performance as they sped out of the parking lot and onto the highway. The last car was a regular marked police car and he stopped on the overpass and set up his radar gun. The unmarked cars were parked a short distance down the highway and we passed by them at a safe speed because we knew exactly what was going on. A bit of luck perhaps? We'll take it. How would you feel if you were pulled over by the Miccosukee police. Think about that for a minute.

We rode through a few sections of Southern Florida that were smoky from active brush fires, but nothing like those in Northern Florida. We arrived in Key West and checked out a geocache. It is in an overturned canoe hung from the ceiling in a bar! Several people in the bar pointed us in the right direction, so obviously it was a well-known cache. We found two other geocaches but they were virtual ones with no hidden containers.

We went to the Southernmost point in the continental United States. There was a line of tourists waiting to take a picture of a huge buoy marking the spot. We asked the next man standing in line to take our picture. We saw a huge Kapok tree on the lawn of the courthouse that looked like it had been there for 100 years. There were also some weird looking Banyan trees around town that had huge above-ground root systems. The Old Town Manor where we stayed is a beautiful Bed and Breakfast. After a refreshing shower we decided to tour the town. There were bars, shops and live music everywhere.

We started at The Bull & Whistle where the bartender tried to talk us into doing the Duval crawl. Apparently if you visit some twelve or so bars along Duval street you get a T-shirt that says "I did the Duval Crawl". The next couple of shops were selling the Duval Crawl T-shirts, so obviously anyone could get one if they wanted.

We worked our way up the street stopping at Captain Tony's where we stuffed one more business card into the thousands already lining the walls and ceilings. We did not, however, leave a bra alongside the dozens hanging from the ceilings. We stopped at Sloppy Joes and Hogs Breath, where we saw roosters walking among the patrons like they owned the place. The rooster is the local squirrel here.

We also stopped at a number of other bars, but don't remember their names. Our lunch consisted of ordering appetizers at a few places so we could enjoy conch fritters, oysters on the half-shell, steamed oysters, etc. When it was time for dinner, we found the Conch Republic Restaurant along the waterfront that was almost an open-air restaurant because they had huge overhead doors along the walls that were opened up to enjoy the breeze. We had red snapper and mahi mahi dinners there and then continued our tour of the town.

Most of the bars had small groups playing, but one bar, Irish Kevins,had a solo performer named Zack Seemiller who was really talented and entertaining. We even got one of his Zack stickers as a souvenir. While we were there, a guy dressed like a beach bum came in with a big Labrador Retriever and made himself at home. He obviously knew some of the people there, as well as the performer. He told us he was trying to get work performing like Zack but was singing in the streets until he got discovered. The dog was pretty well behaved, but couldn't resist begging for food from a couple who were eating at the next table.

After that Jeff did his own version of the Duval Crawl, literally. We were walking on Duval Street, which has trees planted every so often right in the middle of the sidewalks. Jeff tried to walk around one of them while looking at the upcoming storefronts and stepped off the sidewalk into the curb. He lost his balance and rolled into the gutter onto his right arm. With no apparent injury, he got right up, somewhat embarrassed and said, "That was weird!" We continued going from bar to bar, enjoying the music. The last bar we went to was Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville bar and restaurant.

Jimmy wasn't there, but a Jimmy cover singer was. He was singing a lot of non-Buffett songs, so we shouted for a Buffett one and he complied, but insisted everyone there help him sing. I don't think anyone else there knew the songs, because we seemed to be the only ones singing. Fortunately, he sang a good number of our favorites. Other people began requesting songs, but not Buffett tunes. How weird. Don't these people know where they are?

On our way back to the hotel, we ran into the guy with the dog we met earlier who aspired to perform in the bars. Let's just say it was obvious why he was still singing in the streets. We listened for a minute, dropped a couple bucks into his guitar case and headed for our room.

They really do exist.	A Hidden Geocache
The Old Town Manor	Southernmost Point.
Kapok Tree at the Courthouse.	Kapok Tree Sign.
Banyan Tree.	Captain Tony's Bar
Captain Tony's Walls	Captain Tony's Ceiling.
Roosters roamed the streets at will.....	They were even on the rooftops.
The Spongeman Liked Joyce.	Another Tourist Trap.

Odometer at end of the day = 41494

Miles ridden today = 448