End of the Road

We Started Driving US1 in Maine...We've finally came to the End of the Road

After a blog break, there is much to catch up on. We’ll start on Thursday with our arrival to Key West. We pulled into town early in the morning and Frank was making a horrible racket. Armstrong Ford had told us that the van just needed some new bushings and could be driven with no problem, but when we clunked and clang across town, we decided to get a second opinion.

Frank's Broken Axle

We found Duncan Ford and Dean their service manager walked out of the office to take a look. “Hmmm,” he said, “smells like axle fluid.” 3 hours later Frank’s wheels were off…again. They’d pulled the rear axle and sure enough our axle bearings were bad. Not only that, the bad bearings has worn a perfect groove into the axle. Had we continued to drive, it would have snapped and the wheel would have come off. So two completely wrong diagnoses later, we finally had our clanking solved. The next day Frank was running quietly as a mouse…ok a big deisel mouse, but he was definitely way quieter. It’s a huge relief.

Sign at the Coffee Plantation - Everything in Key West Comes at a Price

Meanwhile while Frank was finally getting treatment, we met up with Ann and Scott. They’d driven down for a long weekend from Fort Lauderdale and brought beautiful weather with them. We spent the next two days hanging out by their condo’s beautiful pool, enjoying great Key West meals and sunsets and even better Jackson Hole company.

Lunch Break

Sunsets are Their Specialty

Mark and Christine, our friends from Connecticut, came down on Saturday and we spent two very fun nights dancing to the nonstop party on Duval Street. Sunday was dedicated to beach time and they too realized the dangerous pull of Keys Disease.

Mallory Square Jesters

Monday we were back at the condo with Ann and Scott where we relaxed and recovered. We ended the night with the final slices of Mrs. Mac’s Key Lime Pie, washed down with the last sips of the Bourne’s Limoncello. It was the perfect farewell to Key West.

Farewell to Another Beautiful Day

Today everyone has left.  After a bit more exploring of the gorgeous Key West Gardens and the Hemingway house, Tim and I are camping by the ocean on the A1A. We’ll miss everyone dearly, but we console ourselves with the last two Key Lime Beingets left over from breakfast this morning. Now if the Tarheels could just pull out a win!

Exotic Palms

Hemingway's

Due to our long break, we are also overdue in wishing many birthdays! Warm belated tidings to Pat, Sylvia, John, and DC. We love you guys!