Michèle et Denis

Tuesday November 30 to Tuesday December 7, 2010

      I going to try something different with this page. On this page I will tell you all that happen (well almost) while in Key West. In the text you will see links to other pages with all the photos with more detail text of the activity.

     We left Miami without any problems. We had to wait for over half an hour to get diesel at the gas station because the truck before us had 3 tanks to fill and I guess they were all empty. The reason we chose this gas station is that not all gas station are easy to get in or out with the motorhome with the car, this one we can. You really have to be careful if you have a big motorhome or a fifth wheel. No problems and we are back on the road. 30 minutes later we hear this big crash in the back of the motorhome... Michèle goes and investigate and found the light above the bathroom sink as fallen off the wall. I guess after 100,000 km of going down the road it is going to happen eventually. Took the light off and continued. The rest of the trip went well. We have about 222 km to go to get to our campground in Key West. With the speed limit being 70 to 90 km/h we are not going to be there in less then 3 hours. Like most of the roads in the US, they are very good. The weather is hot and we have to use the generator to use the "camper" air conditioning because the "truck" air conditioning can not keep up with the heat and the space inside the motorhome. We arrived at our campground with out any other problems.   Our camp site is located on a little bay. We would have loved the other site by the water but the campground is undergoing renovation at this time and these sites were not available yet. Our site is a little small but nice and clean. For $120 a night we have a heated pool, cable and free internet (I hope so!). We will be able to watch the sun rise from our campground. We are only at 8 km from downtown Key West.

      Between the 1st and the 6th December we will try to visit as many things as we can without going crazy. We will go and walk down Duval street.   Duval street is the area where almost everything happens in Key West. One end of the street starts at the Atlantic ocean and at the other end you end up at the Golf of Mexico. Duval Street is mostly made up of bars, restaurants and gift shops.

     Our first full day in Key West is cloudy and cold. We have to wear warm clothes today. Duval street is almost empty, very few tourists. We started our visit of Key West with a "Conch Tour Train". We found the price to be on the high side at $58 but after taking the tour, WOW! For over 90 minutes they drove us around Key West and told us many things we would not have guessed about. A very well spent $58. After the tour we walked Duval street, all 1.6 km one way.   We saw the southernmost tip of the United States where we are only 144 km from Cuba but 185 from the US mainland. I almost forgot, in Key West there are lot of chickens, wild chickens, weird!

     On our second day we got up at 630 am to see the sunrise. Why do you ask? Well the sunrise and the sunset happen very quickly in Key West. From the moment you see the first piece of the sun to the moment it is all out it takes less then 4 minutes. Very quick. After the sunrise we went back to sleep for a few more hours. Life is good! We rented some bicycles and went around Key West, about 17 km. There was lots of people today in Key West. Sure enough, 2 cruise ships were in town. By 4 o'clock we were back at Mallory Square for the "Sunset Celebration". Mallory Square is where most of everything happen during the Sunset Celebration. Lots of street entertainers and this is where you can watch the sunset. Really pretty.

     Again, up at 630 am on the third day for the sunrise. Very beautiful again. We wanted to take a cruise with a nice supper to watch the sunset from a boat but when we called we were informed that the boat was in dry dock for its 2 year inspection. Darn! So we took an Glassbottom/Sunset cruise. WOW, so nice, we got to see some turtles, pretty fishes and lot of corals. We went at more then 15 km from Key West to see all this. Where we were, there was less then 3 meter of water. During the sunset we drank some champagne to celebrate de sunset. I recommend this cruise, so pretty.

     Day four, up again at 630 for another nice sunrise. This time there are clouds on the horizon but it look like mountains so it is very pretty again. We spent a part of the afternoon by the pool. Back to Mallory Square for another sunset. Again very nice specially when a sail boat goes by the sun as it about to set, WOW! We stayed in Key West to watch Santa's parade.

     Too many clouds on this fifth day for a sunrise. Today is a relax day. Most of the day was spent by the pool or the motorhome. Very sunny and warm day at +28.

     Last full day in Key West. Lots of wind last night. They say a Canadian Cold Front is on us. Darn Canadians, keep that cold up there! No sunrise for us again. +18 with lots of wind and cloudy, not nice. Getting ready for our departure tomorrow. Happy Birthday Michèle! After a Tequila shooter we went for supper to celebrate Michèle's birthday. We went to an out of the way local Bar&Grill, very good! Tomorrow back to Miami and the same campground we were before we came down to Key West.

     The trip back to Miami went well, temperature was on the cool side, even cold! Between Key Largo and Homestead (just before getting back to the main land) we hit some construction. No problems. At about 8 km from the main land, still in construction, our lane moves to the right and we go over some very big rumble strips, boy they are big! A little while later we cross again the rumble strip and shortly after that the motorhome start to behave like it is still on the rumble strip? No places to stop to check it out, we continued on but check the mirrors and we look for smoke of rubber flying. Nothing, just noise and a hard ride. As soon as we got to town we stopped in a parking lot by the highway to check things out. As we get out of the motorhome we notice the right side of the motorhome is very low, so maybe it is and suspension air bag gone bad. But as we got on the other side ant it is low. We don't know. The back end of the motorhome is sitting on its ass! Not good. I have peek behind the back wheels and I can see some sort of line just hanging there. AH AH! But the back end is too low for me to get underneath (Not because I am we rounded!). Got an idea, why don't we use the leveling jacks to raise the back end of the motorhome so I can go under and have a better peek? We raised the back end and we could see that is is one of the linkage that maintain the motorhome level that came undone. Quick fix and we are on the road in 15 minutes . We arrived in our campground only to find they lost our reservation! They found a site for us no problems. We had supper at some friend we meet the last time we were here. Thank you Manon and Jean for the great supper and the good company.

If you missed some of the links in the text, here they are again...

The rest of the trip went well...

Our campsite.

The pool.

Duval street.

Sunrise in Key West.

Sunset in Key West.

Santa's parade.

Michèle's birthday.

Trip back...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Today we are on our way to the Schnebly Redland's Winery. Our friends Manon and Jean loved it so we decided to go!

What a nice place. The sad part was that we could not visit the the winery but we could still visit the wine tasting area.
The wine is made from fruits and not from grapes. The fruits they use are, Avocados, Carambolas, Mangos and Guavas, really good wine but a few were not to our liking. Of course, we made some purchases.

Christmas does have to have the Nutcrackers.

We tried twelve different wines.
The server was very good.

As I mentioned before, irrigation system are pretty BIG in Florida.
Well, here we are going in one of the sprinkler.

A very good day. We recommend a visit at this winery.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

We left Miami for our new home in Palm Beach Traveler RV Park. This campground is located about 55 km north of Fort Lauderdale.

Florida always surprises me with the different scenery you get to see. Here is a dead forest in the Everglades.

Less then 50 km later, you can smell the money...

Cars, so many of them!

Our new home, Palm Beach Traveler Park.

Some photos of the campground and our site.

Pretty campground, the people are very nice.
After we got settle in, we went for a visit at Giselle and André's place at the Trailer Park.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Giselle and André invited us us to play Pétanque with the people from the park. Of courses we went. Very nice afternoon playing pétanque with very nice people.

Here I am looking a the play and my uncle, André, who won the tournament with his team.

Pretty Giselle!

After the pétanque, Giselle and André invited a few friends over for a drink before going out for supper.

After supper, André took us to a street where all the houses are decorated with Christmas lights.
What a nice day!

From the 11 to the 15 of December, 2010

The following days are in the relax mode. Some shopping, visiting Giselle and André and some cleaning of the basement (again).

Saturday we went shopping in two Flea Markets. One in a drive in and the other under the highway. Kind of funny to hear Spanish speaking all around us. We fell like we are in another country..

Matte'Muffin breakfast.

André mentioned this store was full of "electronics". Well it was. WOW!

Somme more sorting/cleaning of the motorhome basement. I did well because we got two more boxes out of there. They were full of stuff we will not use in the next 9 months, so out it goes. Now I have room for a TV in the basement so I can watch it outside when it is hot. Hummm!

A very nice week, we are pretty happy to be stationary for the next 19 days. The routine is settling in. Every morning we play either Shuffleboard or Pétanque at our campground. Kind of nice because it makes you meet people.

See you later...






Tuesday November 30 to Tuesday December 7, 2010 I going to try something different with this page. On this page I will tell you all that happen (well almost) while in Key West. In the text you will see links to other pages with all the photos with more detail text of the activity. We left Miami without any problems. We had to wait for over half an hour to get diesel at the gas station because the truck before us had 3 tanks to fill and I guess they were all empty. The reason we chose this gas station is that not all gas station are easy to get in or out with the motorhome with the car, this one we can. You really have to be careful if you have a big motorhome or a fifth wheel. No problems and we are back on the road. 30 minutes later we hear this big crash in the back of the motorhome... Michèle goes and investigate and found the light above the bathroom sink as fallen off the wall. I guess after 100,000 km of going down the road it is going to happen eventually. Took the light off and continued. The rest of the trip went well. We have about 222 km to go to get to our campground in Key West. With the speed limit being 70 to 90 km/h we are not going to be there in less then 3 hours. Like most of the roads in the US, they are very good. The weather is hot and we have to use the generator to use the "camper" air conditioning because the "truck" air conditioning can not keep up with the heat and the space inside the motorhome. We arrived at our campground with out any other problems. Our camp site is located on a little bay. We would have loved the other site by the water but the campground is undergoing renovation at this time and these sites were not available yet. Our site is a little small but nice and clean. For $120 a night we have a heated pool, cable and free internet (I hope so!). We will be able to watch the sun rise from our campground. We are only at 8 km from downtown Key West. Between the 1st and the 6th December we will try to visit as many things as we can without going crazy. We will go and walk down Duval street. Duval street is the area where almost everything happens in Key West. One end of the street starts at the Atlantic ocean and at the other end you end up at the Golf of Mexico. Duval Street is mostly made up of bars, restaurants and gift shops. Our first full day in Key West is cloudy and cold. We have to wear warm clothes today. Duval street is almost empty, very few tourists. We started our visit of Key West with a "Conch Tour Train". We found the price to be on the high side at $58 but after taking the tour, WOW! For over 90 minutes they drove us around Key West and told us many things we would not have guessed about. A very well spent $58. After the tour we walked Duval street, all 1.6 km one way. We saw the southernmost tip of the United States where we are only 144 km from Cuba but 185 from the US mainland. I almost forgot, in Key West there are lot of chickens, wild chickens, weird! On our second day we got up at 630 am to see the sunrise. Why do you ask? Well the sunrise and the sunset happen very quickly in Key West. From the moment you see the first piece of the sun to the moment it is all out it takes less then 4 minutes. Very quick. After the sunrise we went back to sleep for a few more hours. Life is good! We rented some bicycles and went around Key West, about 17 km. There was lots of people today in Key West. Sure enough, 2 cruise ships were in town. By 4 o'clock we were back at Mallory Square for the "Sunset Celebration". Mallory Square is where most of everything happen during the Sunset Celebration. Lots of street entertainers and this is where you can watch the sunset. Really pretty. Again, up at 630 am on the third day for the sunrise. Very beautiful again. We wanted to take a cruise with a nice supper to watch the sunset from a boat but when we called we were informed that the boat was in dry dock for its 2 year inspection. Darn! So we took an Glassbottom/Sunset cruise. WOW, so nice, we got to see some turtles, pretty fishes and lot of corals. We went at more then 15 km from Key West to see all this. Where we were, there was less then 3 meter of water. During the sunset we drank some champagne to celebrate de sunset. I recommend this cruise, so pretty. Day four, up again at 630 for another nice sunrise. This time there are clouds on the horizon but it look like mountains so it is very pretty again. We spent a part of the afternoon by the pool. Back to Mallory Square for another sunset. Again very nice specially when a sail boat goes by the sun as it about to set, WOW! We stayed in Key West to watch Santa's parade. Too many clouds on this fifth day for a sunrise. Today is a relax day. Most of the day was spent by the pool or the motorhome. Very sunny and warm day at +28. Last full day in Key West. Lots of wind last night. They say a Canadian Cold Front is on us. Darn Canadians, keep that cold up there! No sunrise for us again. +18 with lots of wind and cloudy, not nice. Getting ready for our departure tomorrow. Happy Birthday Michèle! After a Tequila shooter we went for supper to celebrate Michèle's birthday. We went to an out of the way local Bar&Grill, very good! Tomorrow back to Miami and the same campground we were before we came down to Key West. The trip back to Miami went well, temperature was on the cool side, even cold! Between Key Largo and Homestead (just before getting back to the main land) we hit some construction. No problems. At about 8 km from the main land, still in construction, our lane moves to the right and we go over some very big rumble strips, boy they are big! A little while later we cross again the rumble strip and shortly after that the motorhome start to behave like it is still on the rumble strip? No places to stop to check it out, we continued on but check the mirrors and we look for smoke of rubber flying. Nothing, just noise and a hard ride. As soon as we got to town we stopped in a parking lot by the highway to check things out. As we get out of the motorhome we notice the right side of the motorhome is very low, so maybe it is and suspension air bag gone bad. But as we got on the other side ant it is low. We don't know. The back end of the motorhome is sitting on its ass! Not good. I have peek behind the back wheels and I can see some sort of line just hanging there. AH AH! But the back end is too low for me to get underneath (Not because I am we rounded!). Got an idea, why don't we use the leveling jacks to raise the back end of the motorhome so I can go under and have a better peek? We raised the back end and we could see that is is one of the linkage that maintain the motorhome level that came undone. Quick fix and we are on the road in 15 minutes . We arrived in our campground only to find they lost our reservation! They found a site for us no problems. We had supper at some friend we meet the last time we were here. Thank you Manon and Jean for the great supper and the good company. If you missed some of the links in the text, here they are again... The rest of the trip went well... Our campsite. The pool. Duval street. Sunrise in Key West. Sunset in Key West. Santa's parade. Michèle's birthday. Trip back... Wednesday, December 8, 2010 Today we are on our way to the Schnebly Redland's Winery. Our friends Manon and Jean loved it so we decided to go! What a nice place. The sad part was that we could not visit the the winery but we could still visit the wine tasting area. The wine is made from fruits and not from grapes. The fruits they use are, Avocados, Carambolas, Mangos and Guavas, really good wine but a few were not to our liking. Of course, we made some purchases. Christmas does have to have the Nutcrackers. We tried twelve different wines. The server was very good. As I mentioned before, irrigation system are pretty BIG in Florida. Well, here we are going in one of the sprinkler. A very good day. We recommend a visit at this winery. Thursday, December 9, 2010 We left Miami for our new home in Palm Beach Traveler RV Park. This campground is located about 55 km north of Fort Lauderdale. Florida always surprises me with the different scenery you get to see. Here is a dead forest in the Everglades. Less then 50 km later, you can smell the money... Cars, so many of them! Our new home, Palm Beach Traveler Park. Some photos of the campground and our site. Pretty campground, the people are very nice. After we got settle in, we went for a visit at Giselle and André's place at the Trailer Park. Friday, December 10, 2010 Giselle and André invited us us to play Pétanque with the people from the park. Of courses we went. Very nice afternoon playing pétanque with very nice people. Here I am looking a the play and my uncle, André, who won the tournament with his team. Pretty Giselle! After the pétanque, Giselle and André invited a few friends over for a drink before going out for supper. After supper, André took us to a street where all the houses are decorated with Christmas lights. What a nice day! From the 11 to the 15 of December, 2010 The following days are in the relax mode. Some shopping, visiting Giselle and André and some cleaning of the basement (again). Saturday we went shopping in two Flea Markets. One in a drive in and the other under the highway. Kind of funny to hear Spanish speaking all around us. We fell like we are in another country.. Matte'Muffin breakfast. André mentioned this store was full of "electronics". Well it was. WOW! Somme more sorting/cleaning of the motorhome basement. I did well because we got two more boxes out of there. They were full of stuff we will not use in the next 9 months, so out it goes. Now I have room for a TV in the basement so I can watch it outside when it is hot. Hummm! A very nice week, we are pretty happy to be stationary for the next 19 days. The routine is settling in. Every morning we play either Shuffleboard or Pétanque at our campground. Kind of nice because it makes you meet people. See you later...
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