Day Four - 19th October 2016

Day Four. 19^th Oct

Checked out ( a civilised 11am) and picked up car from municipal parking lot ($15 for 15 hours) and jumped in the car and got on our way.  We got lost again in the spaghetti junction of Miami’s interstate & freeway system – totally not our fault, and Dora has been put on notice; Garmin & Tom Tom get regular mentions.  Missed one turn-off which took us about 20 minutes out of our way but eventually we got back on track.

Time for a long drive down the Florida Keys to Key West.  It took about 4 hours in total, thanks in part to Dora’s uselessness.  We passed over a few spectacular bridges, but mostly the roads were lined with trees and you would have no idea that you were on a narrow strip of land heading out to the Atlantic.  We commented a few times on the cost and effort of maintaining this tiny strip of land to supply one small town at the end.  But it seems to be a real holiday destination for lots of Americans and foreigners so I guess it must be worth the cost.  There are loads of diving and snorkelling places en-route, clearly big business for them.

It was incredibly hot, and despite Deb’s romanticised idea of being “cool” with the top down, it stayed firmly shut. We topped up with gas and it cost $30 US for 10 gallons. So far we are averaging 3 miles per gallon.

Arrived at Key West about 3-ish and are staying at a hotel on the outer edge of Key West – it’s cheaper and they have a free shuttle to the main centre.  Parking is a bit of a nightmare, so that’s a pretty good solution for us.  When we arrived, the Concierge asked “can I get you a glass of water, or champagne ….”   Ha!  She also thought we were English, and the Londoner that was checking us in said she is sick of being mistaken for being Australian!!  So far anyone trying to guess where we are from has guessed English or Scottish.

We caught the shuttle in to the town and spent a couple of hours wandering around.  It looks quaint and quirky and there seem to be a few art shops that we ran out of time to see today, so have ear-marked for tomorrow’s explorations.  Grabbed a cheap and cheerful tea and then walked to Sunset Pier to …. watch the sunset.  Which was pretty cool.  Shuttle back to the motel and update the blog and download photos.  Time to settle back, relax and watch the final Trump vs Clinton debate on TV.