We left the motor home in Florida City and drove the car down Highway 1 to the Florida Keys. We drove through Key Largo and Islamorada and stopped in Marathon to visit with Ken Baker. He was a Hawthorne Fireman and he and Bill worked together for 23 years. We visited with him for about an hour and a half and as we were leaving we saw a large iguana crossing the road. We continued on for about an hour and arrived in Key West at about noon. We walked along the marina boardwalk to Alonzo’s Oyster House and had lunch. I had conch chowder and Bill had red snapper. After lunch we walked down Duval Street and stopped at Sloppy Joe’s Bar that was once frequented by Ernest Hemingway. Next we went to the Hog’s Breath Saloon and Bill and I had a beer together for the first time in 37 years. We continued up Duval Street and stopped at Margaritaville to get a shirt for Amber. We walked over to the Mel Fisher Museum. Fisher is known for starting scuba diving in the United States. He was a treasure hunter and discovered by remains of the Atoche a ship that sunk in 1622. He spent 30 years looking for the ship before finding it with all of its silver bars, gold bars, boxes of coins, gems, and all of the equipment. The state of Florida tried to claim the discovery but after fighting all the way to the Supreme Court he won and got the treasure. The discovery was made in 1985 and they are still bringing up treasure. Our last stop in Key West was to the marker showing the southernmost point in the continental United States. We started driving back and stopped in Islamorada for dinner at the Islamorada Fish House. We had a great meal of dolphin fish stuffed with crab and shrimp. We returned to the motor home for the evening and in the morning we will go through Miami and on to Titusville, FL.
