Wintering in Key West, Florida!

Wintering in the Keys is not a hardship by any means. Ninety percent of the time the weather, especially, the temperature is in the mid to upper seventies with an ocean breeze of 8 to 10 knots. Sun shining, beautiful sunrises and sunsets…OK, I’m rubbing it in a little too much! On the downside, living in Key West is exceptionally costly. Housing is out of site, hotel rooms can run $300 a night, some rentals go for $10,000 dollars a week.

Being bless is another thing. Being a retired veteran has given me and my wife a privilege of staying in Key West and an affordable cost at a military base campground! NASKW (Naval Air Station Key West) is the sanctuary for many retired veterans. This year the two campgrounds were able to commodate the snowbird veterans. Last year, for the first time, some were turned away because of lack of camping sites.

Being the second camper in the field, Oct 19, 2016… Things look different with 102 sites now filled!

Many of you would say, wow, you guys are so crowded! Yes, I would say we are, but we are crowded, but with some of the most wonderful people on earth. Their varied backgrounds, their varied home locations across the United States. Yes, for the mountain, country folks, like us, being crowded is a new experience, but a marvelous experience to listen to life stories from our campground neighbors.

A Pano of the campground from the top of my roof!

 

Writing a blog in WordPress is relatively new for me. I’ve had an account for some time, but I’ve been writing my blogs in “Blogspot” for a long time. I am thinking that WordPress is a more comprehensive platform and I’m going to try learning their capabilities. I especially like adding photos as a drag & drop item. I’ve always had problems in Blogspot which nearly discouraged me from continuing my blog updates.

We’ve been down here since mid-October and plan on staying here until mid-April. This qualifies for being a Florida resident. We are not switching State residency, but we were able to qualify as residents to be able to get or Monroe County Library card. It is a milestone in that we now are able to take different computer classes and other activities that the Key West library offers. This isn’t your ordinary library, with evening concerts in the garden, authors, lectures and many, many more activities, we love it!

Weather Alerts!

I’ve written about the Discovery Center in previous blogs in Blogspot, but our latest evening lecture was on Hurricanes in or near Key West, Florida. The Hurricane season officially begins June 1st to November 30th, but the interesting fact is that the peaks happen around the first part of September and again in the middle of October. The lecture was presented by NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) which is located here in Key West. The weather station here is one of the oldest in the country, being 147 years old. They know their Hurricanes! The point that I’m getting to is that we rush down here for the opening day of Trumbo Point Campground in mid-October. We will keep an extra watch for the weather from now on. The presenter had some pretty interesting photos of KW during several Hurricanes that crisscrossed this area. The last Hurricane was about ten years ago. We might be due for a good one in years to come!

Staying Healthy

The big problem with life styling in Key West is going out with neighbors and/or friends to eating establishments! Yes, with 300 restaurants and bars its hard to stay healthy in the eating department. The way I attempt to combat this is a personal challenge! I have set a goal of biking 1,000 miles this winter. Starting on October 19th I have biked 642 miles as of this writing on February 2, 2017. That leaves me with 358 miles to go until our departure on or about mid-April. I’ve lost some weight, but the main benefit is the strengthening of my left leg. I’ve  numbness in this leg for a few years now. It all falls back to five bulging discs in my lower back. Mind you I have no pain, just pinched nerves which create numbness in my left leg. Enough of my health problems.

That is what we saw and did!