Month: March 2012

Travel: Journey Home From Key West

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{Journal Entry}

Day 1 Trip Home:

Smooth sailing most of the way.  Only lost once per T.J.’s directions, so we stuck to the map from then on out.  Stopped in Homestead, FL., for gas and rest-stop (diaper change, etc.) and quickly realized that it’s a BIG produce, vineyard, garden/greenhouse town.  Agriculture everywhere!

Finally got on the right track on Hwy 41–Tamiami Trail–throught Miccosukee Indian Reservation Territory.  *Neat adobe houses of bright ‘earth tone’ colors, with tiki style thatch roofing.  They were hard to see because of the stockade fencing surrounding the villages.  We wanted to stop and visit.*

Instead, stopped at a little wayside park for a bit of a rest and saw first Alligator on this entire trip.  Many more swam up when Nico brought Baby up and she started to squeal a bit from excitement.  I think the gators thought she was lunch; an injured animal or something.  Lunch…either way!  Talk about scary…freaky!  It was eery to say the least!  **SEE Video Below**

We quickly escaped ‘gator park’ and made our way to a Motel 6 in Fort Myers for the night.  Exhaustion had set in, but it had been a good day trekking from the Keys…across Florida on the Tamiami Trail (Gator Ville, USA) back West to the Gulf Coast.

**CHILLING ALLIGATOR VIDEO**

Take it from me.  Keep Your Baby or Toddler AWAY from the Gators!  Far…FAR away!  We shot this from waaay up on a overlook, enclosed with fencing and thick gage protective barnyard wire-mesh fencing.  Even though we were at least 8 feet above the water, this still sent chills up my spine just to see how these gators responded to our little girl’s screams.  We high-tailed it outta there as fast as we could.  I had seen enough of the gators to last me a lifetime!

Leaving The Florida Keys

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Three weeks had gone by like a blink of an eye, and our stay in the Florida Keys was coming to an end.  It was time to start heading back to Tejas.  Even though we would’ve loved to stay in the Keys forever, we had obligations with the coming of our first grandchild.  Sometimes life just works out that way I guess.

And while the anticipation of a baby is usually a happy time, our’s was bitter-sweet, as our grand baby’s father had been murdered when my daughter was just two months pregnant.  It was a traumatic experience for her, to say the least.  So, while we’d been gone for almost two months, we had known all along that we would have to be there for her in her last trimester.  She had been spending time with her dad and brother in the time we’d been gone.  She was safe–of this we were sure.

So…the morning came when we sorted through the belongings we’d somehow accumulated in three weeks’ time, and begun to rid our ourselves of the things we knew we couldn’t carry and were sure one of our new friends could use.  T.J. was glad to take the small TV we’d been using for Baby.

We said our good-byes after the van was packed to the gills, and headed back up Overseas Highway; hoping to make it past Homestead by nightfall.  I sat quietly in my ‘copilot’s’ seat until the tears began to fall.  I could not contain my sadness for leaving this place we’d called home for almost a month.  To me…it felt more like home than the place to where we were returning.  I was overcome with grief.  Nico held my hand, comforting me from where he sat.

The scene was always like a dream: the endless miles of beautiful aqua blue water, the historic railroad bridge beside Bahia Honda State Park, the old abandoned Overseas Highway that is now used more for a footbridge or for bicyclists.  I was in love with this place for its quiet calmness, peaceful waters, even the ‘sometimes stinky’ mangrove swamp.

We had bonded with Key West the evening we sang at the Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square.  I remember, as we walked to our first gig as Street Performers, looking down at the well-worn and weathered brick streets in Old Towne…thinking how I’d love to walk barefoot on them.  The pirates who’d come to Key West hundreds of years before had walked those same streets.  I was fascinated by the idea of walking in their same steps.  Hopeless romantic…I am!

One thing I know for sure — I will always treasure our time in The Florida Keys and the nice people we met, the friendships we formed.  There is a special place in my heart reserved just for Key West and Sugarloaf Key.  To me….they will always feel like home.  I pray someday…soon, the wind will catch our sails and we will find ourselves there once again.  A girl can dream…a girl can pray.

.V..