Road Trip..Kentucky to Key West

Road Trip..Kentucky to Key West

When winter 2002 came it hit me just as hard as all the other winters had except this time I just wasn’t going to take it like I had before. This winter I had a plan.

Back in the summer when winter seemed years away I purchased a plane ticket to Miami and reserved a rental car for pick up at the airport. I would arrive in the middle of February and pick up a red convertible rental car for the trip down to Key West.

Things went just as planned. The snow was falling in Kentucky when I boarded the plane for Miami a nonstop two hours and forty-five minute flight and I instantly went from what seemed like one planet to the next. From twenty degrees outside temperature to eighty-one degrees in nearly a blink of the eye. What an awesome feeling of freedom and excitement!

Arrival in the Miami airport is always filled with excitement. There you see people from all over the world. Some coming for vacation others just arriving in the US to start a new life. The people are beautiful and the ambience of the place makes you feel like you are in a movie.

First stop South Beach to see the site where the movie Scare Face with Dustin Hoffman was filmed. As I crossed the bridge leading into Miami Beach I was awestruck at the sight of all the cruise chips and the hotels and condos that seem to shoot up from the ground in front of me.

I arrived and found a place to park on Ocean Drive directly adjacent to South Beach and across the street from the hotel steps where the movie was filmed. With parking meter fully feed I took a walk to the beach and was astounded at the view. This was the largest beach I had seen and the first where topless women were the norm. It all seemed very normal I might add.

A cup of Coffee at Starbucks on the beach and to the Keys I headed. I experienced the usually highway traffic getting to Highway one and within one hour I was on that famous road that takes you to the end of the US with the Atlantic ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. I enjoyed a pleasant two and half hour trip stopping at a few place to enjoy the view or collect a souvenir or two. I once read that if you are going to rent a car, make it a convertible and now I know why. The sun mixed with the breeze in a convertible is an experience in and of itself.

At the end of the road there is Key West. This is a strange little place where people seem to have a different approach to life than most others. They ride bikes or ride around in those electric cars. The place is surrounded with water and all the activities associated with water except that there is very little beach there. Miami is better in that regard. Open street bars, restaurants, shops and store are everywhere. It seemed strange as if it never rains or gets cold there. Many restaurants are completely outside it seems.

For the next five days it was pure relaxation. I checked into a small guesthouse off Duval Street and just allowed myself to leave the schedule at home. Just outside of my room under a group of palm trees was a hammock strung between trees that became my afternoon nap site. I was awaken at dawn each morning by the sound of rosters crowing and then went back to sleep for another hour or two. After awakening it was off to the outdoor shower in a partition area just outside of my window for an outdoor shower and a hot cup of coffee provided by the inn keeper.

I rented a bike and helmet (I was one of the few with a helmet) and visited all the places that I had heard about. The little White House, Mel Fishers, the Bull and Whistle, The Hogs Breath, The Atlantic Shores Resort, Jimmy Buffett’s place and of course the beach.

All week with no schedule, no phone and very little responsibility made me appreciate all the other things more.

If you have the winter blues and have ever thought of a road trip then this is the one I recommend. Five days were over in a snap it seemed and back to the Miami Airport I went. I was glad to be heading home.

Arriving back in Kentucky a fresh snow had just fallen but now I was glad to see it and to return to my old Kentucky home.