Ordinary Living

February 12 2016

Its hard to believe but we're almost half way through our month here in Southern Florida. It's not that we've been busy, to the contrary, life has been rather ordinary. Millie and I haven't done anything exciting or adventurous, just normal everyday activities. That makes writing a blog worth reading a challenge and probably the reason I've been procrastinating.

Our February home

Our campground in Florida City is about as far south as you can go and keep your feet dry. The causeway to the Keys starts about a half mile from here. Billed as an “RV Resort” our February home is really just your basic RV park. Its not fancy but not shabby either, All the RV's are parked in rows like a trailer park but there is a decent amount of room between the campers. Our fellow snowbirds are a mix of Americans and both English and French Canadians, we're all very happy to be here. Millie and I like it well enough that we've made reservations for next winter.

The town of Florida City and the adjacent city of Homestead are fairly........nondescript. They're not tourist towns, have some shabby areas, nicer communities near the Air Base but none I would call affluent, the businesses seem to be doing OK. I imagine the economy of the area has seasonal ebbs and flows with snowbirds in winter and during race weeks at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The other big wave maker to the local economy is the Air Force Base, which has been part of the community since WW2. Busy during times of strife, slow during peace. the base also has the dubious distinction of being destroyed twice by hurricanes, once in 1945 and again in 1992. It is currently the home of the 482^nd Fighter Wing, assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command's Tenth Air Force. My brother Dave was stationed here in the 70's after a tour of duty in Thailand.

We discovered something interesting about the Keys that I'd bet most visitors don't know, and its not that the southern most point marker is not actually at the southern most point of the keys. Did you know there are two bridges from the mainland to the island chain? Everybody knows about Highway One, the only thru road in the keys that goes all the way to mile marker Zero in Key west. Just before Hwy One leaves the mainland there is another road to the Keys. Card Sound Road angles off to the left and runs as straight as an arrow to the eastern end of Key Largo. It is desolate most of the way, the only thing on its 20 mile length is a toll bridge and a bar called Alabama Jacks.

We traveled this alternate route and had hoped to explore the development on the end of the island. That didn't happen, my good looks and charming personality weren't enough to get us past the guarded entrance to the Ocean Reef Club. An internet search later revealed the homes in the gated community range in cost up to about 10 million. Their loss, we would have been great neighbors!

There is a open air market just up Highway one from the campground that is about the best Cuban cultural experience you can get without actually going to Cuba. The vendors and patrons are almost all Hispanic, mostly Cuban. All of the food vendors serve cuisine from somewhere south of the USA. You can't buy a hot dog or french fries here. Spanish is the language of choice but most of the people we spoke with know some English. We've been twice and both times I don't think we saw more than a dozen people of some other ethnicity and that includes both blacks and whites.

We had lunch today at a local BBQ joint called Shiver's, it's been in business since 1950. You are seated family style at long picnic tables, the food was very good. Afterwards we drove by the entrance to Homestead Air Force Base, Security is very heavy, I didn't even try to talk my way in. Years ago I drove up to the gate at Hunter AAF, said I used to be stationed here and just wanted to look around. No problem, they let me and I drove all over the base. Those days are gone forever. Next week we are going to go to the Homestead Speedway and take a tour of the racetrack. We walk, ride bikes, sit in the sun, Maggie plays in her pool, that's about all I can think of, just ordinary living.