Still in Marathon

Sunday was a breakfast on the grill, then we loaded up the bikes and headed to Big Pine Key.  We managed to find a visitor center, got some information, had a quick slice of pizza, then headed down the island.  It was a nice ride, the bike trail was off from road, and we hit a couple of the side trails.  About 3.5-4 miles down the road, there was a little pull of place called 'Blue Hole', so we parked the bikes and did the short walk to the over look at the fresh water pool, where there was an alligator, turtles and lots of birds enjoying the area.  We then headed back, taking a detour (bigger that we thought) to go to an open house....wow, $370,000.00 doesn't buy you much down here.  It was creepy just walking into the place, it was a strange layout and small, but the lady there was really nice, so we chatted for a while and headed back.  We got back to the car about 3:00-3:30, loaded up the bikes and headed to 'No Name Key' hoping to see the tiny key deer.  We were not disappointed, there were lots of them, buck, doe and there was a little baby, it didn't look much bigger than Rudy, and he's just a 12 lb. dog.  After that we stopped a the 'No Name Pub' for a couple of drinks, the inside is covered with dollar bills, from floor to and including the ceiling, with an estimated value of $65,000.00....what a site to see.  We headed out to the patio with our beers and enjoyed the sunshine and breeze.  After that back home, sausages on the grill for dinner, a stay at home evening.

  

Monday, Brad made breakfast on the grill, then about 10:30 we headed up to Wheels-2-go.  We rented 2 kayaks, then over to Sombrero Beach where they delivered the Kayaks.  There were about  12 of us heading out (on our own) to do some kayaking around 'Boot Key'.  Not bad, a little ocean area (called Sister Creek) to traverse through then into 'Whiskey Creek' where there were lots of sail boats tied up, then we headed towards 'Silver Pond' looking for the smaller trails to follow.  We were trying to find 'Burdines Trail', but ended up on' Entrance Trail' that took you to 'Big Lake'.  What a beautiful trip, it's what they call an 'adventure trail' and you kayak on trails cut through the Mangroves.  We saw Sting-ray, sand-sharks and lots of other fish on the trip, with lots of birds to startle you when you got close.  After that we headed back through 'Entrance Trail', through 'Silver Pond', where we noticed a bit more wind.  Well when we hit 'Whiskey Creek' the wind was very noticeable, and then we got on 'Sister Creek'....oh no are we going to make it back, the wind was blowing  and you had to paddle hard and non stop, when finally we found the launch site....yea we made it back to the launch site.  After that back home for a couple of beers, then a nice salad with chicken for dinner, and Brad headed to bed at 8:00, I lasted until a little after 9:30, but then off to bed.

 

A Few Kayaking Pics 

Tuesday we were going to go to the beach, but it was too hot, so Brad worked on replacing the Moho batteries and I sat in the shade reading my book.....what a great day.  Something productive done and a lot of relaxing as well.  Brad had made breakfast on the grill, then we just had an orange for lunch and about 3:15 headed out to Sparky's Landing for happy hour.  Not a bad deal, .25 cent shrimp and wings..so after a bowl of gumbo, 2 dozen shrimp and 18 wings, we called our selves full and headed out.  We walked up the pier checking out the boats, trying to decide which one we liked the best.  Back home, a couple of trips around the Coast Guard Station, then we settled in about 8:00.....what a beautiful day. 

Gumbo

Relaxing at the CG

In my spare time I added up what it cost us to travel around.  A lot of RV'ers talk about but I never knew for sure.  This year we kept track to see just what it was.  So here is our 2014 expense/budget  for anyone who may be interested.


We traveled 11,128 mi, visited 16 sates for at least one night,
camp grounds cost $5113,
diesel fuel $5738,
 propane $450,
 repairs/maintenance $4090,
car fuel $1953.

The only big surprise for us was the maintenance and it appears that may be the normal. We will see how this year goes.