January 8th 2003 Honk and drools: 11, 5 from the same guy Miles Walked: 19 Ride Offers: 6 Shameless plugging of sponsors day This morning I woke up to a beautiful, sunshiny day. I stretched, slipped on my comfy Bite Sandals, and padded off to the bathroom. I missed one of the bathroom steps, but luckily didn't stub my toes Bite Sandals have toe guards! While in the shower, I lathered up my feet with Vermont Soapworks tea tree gel. Brushing my teeth with Spirit Bear Toothpowder, I made a note to myself to respond to my PocketMail fan mail. It's so nice to send and receive email anywhere in the world! I lathered up my hair with Vermont Soapworks Liquid Sunshine backpackers soap, and used the Vermont Soapworks Butter bar to soothe my parched skin. Getting dressed, I slipped on my Malden Mills made Polartec Power Dry long underwear top. It wasn't cold enough to wear the bottoms, or the hat and gloves I also have made by them. Thank goodness my long underwear has silver threads woven into it to fight odor! I still can't smell anything, after 4 days of continuous wearing. It was a bit nippy outside, so I also pulled on my Polartec R-4 fleece jacket. I knew it would keep me warm, because when I rode 70mph on the motorcycle with Wally World, I could barely feel the wind. Wind only got in where I hadn't zippered all the way. Wally says he wants one to wear under his leather. I guess he can't be seen wearing fuzzy purple fleece in public. I slathered All Terrain sun block on my legs, and gave my feet a good rubdown with All Terrain's Recovery Rub before setting out. Before I left, I sat down for a quick breakfast. My road food habits are weird, so I had a combination of Big John's Beef Jerky, a coconut-pineapple Anna's Oatcake, and a chocolate chip Clif Bar. I opened the packaging by slicing it with my Leatherman Sideclip knife. For lunch, I packed some fresh salad greens, sprouts I had sprouted from Pinetree Garden seeds, and a couple of packets of Annie's Naturals Salad dressings. This time I chose Cowgirl Ranch and Goddess Dressing. To go with my salad, I packed some Chreese to make a vegan cheese sandwich. For my snack, I packed a chocolate almond fudge Clif bar, and a bbq almond Mojo bar. Walking along, I amused myself by pulling out a how-to guide to harmonica playing, and one of my nifty Lee Osakar Harmonicas. Today I'm using the Melody Maker, although the regular C Diatonic has it's many charms too. By the end of this trip, I'd like to be a harmonica virtuoso. For now, I can play "Amazing Grace" "Oh Susanna" and "When The Saints Go Marching In" pretty well. While walking, a guy in a late model red pick up truck drove by slowly, honked, and drooled. Then he came back, and did it again! When he turned around to honk and drool a third time, I was getting disgruntled. When he drove by, honked and drooled a fourth time in less then 3 minutes, I pulled out my cell phone. He came by honking and drooling a fifth time, saw my cell phone, looked scared and I never saw him again. I made sure my can of Mace was in a handy place, and fired a test blast just to make sure it was working well. If I had my Leki poles on me, I bet I could have done some real damage had he tried anything. I kind of zoned out for the rest of the day, thinking about past nights at Jabour's, Boyd's, Sunshine Key Resort, and the Fiesta Key KOA. While I was zoning out, I had my Brunton Solar panels on top of my pack, recharging my batteries. When it started to get dark, mom picked me up and drove to camp. She made dinner again, which is so nice. When I hit the real trail I'll have to cook for myself again. I'm looking forward to it though, as I won't be carrying my heavy old pot set anymore. I'll be carrying a Titanium pot set from Snow Peak Since I'm not off in the wilderness yet, I haven't had to use my sleeping bag from the Barre Army Navy Store, nor my Potable Aqua iodine tablets, Halladays food mixes, Brunton compass, Design Salt mummy bag liner, or bug juice from Lakon Herbals or All Terrain. I sure will appreciate them on the trail though! My Superfeet insoles have been keeping my feet happy the entire time. My ULA P-2 backpack has been important the whole time, as has my Packa rain jacket/pack cover. Luckily though, it hasn't really rained on me the entire time I've been in the Keys. I have dipped into my Vermont Harvest preserves, the Green Mountain Gringo strips and Salsa, and the tea from Cate Farm. Every day I use Spirit Bear lip balm, as well as Burt's Bee's toothpaste and lip balm. Variety is the spice of life! |
December 7th Shocking but true - I cleaned my room today! Well, it's really taken me 3 days so far, and I still haven't tackled my desk. But, I did finally clean under my bed. It's been at least a year, maybe 2 since I've taken everything out and reorganized. Scary, huh? :-) Notice I'm wearing a headlamp. It's dark under my bed... Next, I tackle my house! It shouldn't be bad, all I have to do is sweep, scrub the floors, and drag more of my stuff inside. Pictures of my house can be found on my Heather's House Odyssey page. |
Florida Journals and Pictures Key West to Everglades National Park |
Heather getting ready for Florida. :-) |
Welcome! Starting in January of 2003, I will backpack from Key West, Florida to L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. This page will show my progress through the state of Florida, via pictures and journals. |
Heather cleaning |
December 7th Shocking but true - I cleaned my room today! Well, it's really taken me 3 days so far, and I still haven't tackled my desk. But, I did finally clean under my bed. It's been at least a year, maybe 2 since I've taken everything out and reorganized. Scary, huh? :-) Notice I'm wearing a headlamp. It's dark under my bed... Next, I tackle my house! It shouldn't be bad, all I have to do is sweep, scrub the floors, and drag more of my stuff inside. Pictures of my house can be found on my Heather's House Odyssey page. |
December 26th 2002 I have arrived in Florida! Boy, is it nice. I feel so sorry for all of you northerners who had 2 feet of snow dumped on you yesterday! In reality, I giggled with glee when I saw the headlines... :-) It's been 70-80 degrees since we arrived in FL. We got here by way of interstate 95. It was one big parking lot from Washington, DC all the way to Florida. We would be going 65, and suddenly have to slam on the brakes. EEK! Most of the time, traffic speed was in the 40's. A lot of times it was stopped completely. It was horrendous! On the way down, we camped at Greenbelt National Park in Maryland, South of The Border in South Carolina, and Lake Delancy, in Florida. South of The Border is not to be missed. Although, how could you? Right off of I-95, it sprawls over several acres. The best time to see it is at night. When approaching from the highway, the first glimpse you catch is a giant neon sombrero, towering several stories above the pavement. Drawing closer, you realize that every single building is completely festooned with multi-colored neon lights. The buildings are painted gaudy colors, and hold such treasures as an ice cream store, an adult novelty shop, one of the largest selections of fireworks in the state, and of course, several liquor stores. There is a campground located out back. When we got to Florida, we camped at Lake Delancy, in the Ocala National Forest. It's one of our favorite spots. Mom estimates she has spent 4 1/2 months of her life there, and I have about 2 1/2 months invested. It's out in the middle of nowhere, and only charges $5 a night. They even put in a new outhouse! It's very classy :-) Lake Delancy is near the town of Salt Springs. We drove there to pick up some National Forest information. As we were headed back to our car, a guy drove up on his bicycle. "Don't I know you?" he asked. It turns out, we had met him on a previous trip to Florida :-) Let me explain the pictures that were above. The first and 3rd ones are of my grandmother's orchids. She has them growing OUTSIDE! This is a novelty to me. It's so cool to come down south and see things flowering in the middle of winter! I'm in the middle picture, enjoying the pool. The next picture, I thought was a real hoot. It just doesn't seem like Christmas to me, unless there's lots of snow on the ground. The blown-up Snowman really tickles my fancy. He inflates every evening at 5:30, when the Christmas lights turn on. When we drove past the Maple Corner sign, we swerved into the next driveway and swung around to take a picture! We live in Maple Corner, Vermont. We certainly don't have palm trees up there! The two bottom pictures ... the first is our van. It was bought with the help of very nice people, most of whom, we hadn't known until then. On top is 3 months worth of my backpacking food. It's the big grey blob. My food weighs over 200 pounds! Just think ... by April, I will have eaten it all. Mmmmm... :-) The other picture is really pretty ... it's the first time that I've been to that campground, and seen that much water. Stay tuned, I start hiking in the first week of January! |
Orchid |
Heather in Naples, FL |
Another Orchid |
" Season's Greetings! " |
Christmas decorations, Florida style |
Maple Corner, Florida |
The van in Salt Springs, Florida |
Sunrise at Lake Delancy campground, FL |
Naples Beach |
Heather on a pier |
Driveway in the ritzy section of Naples |
Heather and Zeke rollerblading |
Muscovy ducks |
BIG mansion |
Painting the tire cover for better advertising ;-) |
Mom hiding from mosquitos in the Everglades |
The first sunrise of the year, in the Everglades |
Jabour's, where we stayed in Key West |
Heather at the southernmost point buoy |
January 3rd, 2003 Miles Walked: 14+ Steps Taken: 25,960+ Honk and Drools: 8 Ride Offers: 4 Waking up at the crack of dawn, I slid up the window shades. The sun peeked out from under the ominous looking rain clouds, shone on the masts of the Sebago ships docked in the harbor, and promptly went back into hiding. Gentle rain drops splattered on the roof of our van. I crawled out of bed, and quietly got my pack together. Padding over to the bathrooms, I took a shower and braided my hair. I stuck an orange, 3 little bananas, and an Anna's Oatcake into my pack for breakfast, said bye to mom, and hit the road. Walking along the sleepy, wet streets of Key West reminded me of walking in New Orleans. There are the same quaint shops, cute little houses with great architecture, and flowering plants threading their way up the porches to the rooftops. Chickens and roosters roamed freely through the streets, pecking at the grassy lawns and on the asphalt sidewalks, scrounging for cracked corn left out by neighborhood people. I walked the mile and a half to the southernmost point buoy, and got a young family with several children who were at the buoy with me, to take my picture. They were astounded that I was going to walk all the way to Canada from there! I gave them my card, so hopefully they'll be reading along as I progress up the eastern seaboard on my hiking adventure. Walking back out of Key West along Route 1, I soon hit the downtown metropolis. The bike path meanders along with the ocean on one side, and drive-through liquor stores and restaurants on the other. Looking down into the ocean, I was able to spot 48 jellyfish, 2 small wiggly eels, and dozens of schools of fish. I walked over several Keys, and at mile marker 10, decided to stop and take a rest. I couldn't pass up a very interesting looking orchid shop. Inside were hundreds upon hundreds of orchids, palms, and colorful tropical plants. I sniffed all the orchids, took pictures of a lot of them, and talked to the owner. Someday, I'd like to be an orchid addict. Orchids are so pretty! I called mom and arranged to be picked up in an hour. I was trying to be good and take it easy the first day, so I wouldn't kill my feet. Mom picked me up around mile marker 13, and drove me back to Jabour's. Jabour's is where we're staying for two nights on Key West. It's a campground right in the middle of downtown. It's right on the harbor. We only have to take 10 steps from our campsite, and we're standing on the harbor dock. Very, very cool. Stowing my pack in the van, we hooked Zeke to his leash and went for a trot down the boardwalk. I drooled at all of the cool sailboats, catamarans, and cool looking seaweed, Zeke got everybody and their brother to pet him, while mom enjoyed the ocean breeze and the music drifting in from nearby restaurants. |
Mile Marker 0, Key West |
Bleak looking weather on old bridge |
Heather at Seacloud Orchids |
Seacloud Orchids, Mile Marker 10 |
January 4th, 2003 Miles walked: 15+ Steps Taken: 30,009 Drive by Honk And Drools: 16 Drive By Wolf Whistles: 2 Rider Offers: 6 The scenery in the Keys doesn't change much. Pavement, ocean, pavement, mangrove trees, pavement, ocean. The views from the bridges are wonderful! Gorgeous green-blue water stretches endlessly in every direction, broken up only by mangrove hammocks and little itty bitty Keys dotting the horizon. I loved walking over the old bridges that are now closed to traffic, and watching all the old-timers fish. Most people have multiple fishing poles set out. To amuse myself on the long stretches of flat road, I've been investigating interesting looking roadside trash. Today I saw 3 gloves, a toy racing car, several plastic letters, a greeting card to "Harold", from "Me" that gave him open invitation to visit anytime, two CDs, a condom wrapper, 3 non-winning lottery tickets <darn! >, And two CO2 cartridges, presumably for pistols. I think a great class on American history would be to troll our country's roadsides, picking up trash. If you were to pretend to be a historian from the future, I'm sure you'd draw a lot of interesting conclusions about our culture, based on the trash we've left behind. Mom and I played leapfrog today. She would sit and read at a bridges spaced a few miles apart, and wait for me to catch up. I'd sit a while and rest my feet at each stop. As I was leaving one bridge, a car drove by and wolf-whistled at me! The guy driving the car must have had a button he could push to make the whistle sound. I want one for my car when I get one! Drive by honk and drools were a lot more common today. I had 16 cars honk to get me to pay attention, then drool at me. One car gave me 6 honks! 4 out of 6 ride offers were from guys today. I had been thinking about taping a sign to my back that said "Do not offer a ride I'm walking to Canada" when a sleek Porsche pulled up. The nice lady inside insisted that I get in, that she had turned around special to get me. She kept calling me "sweetie" and really didn't want me to walk across the bridge that was coming up. I told her I was walking to Canada, and it wouldn't count if I got rides across bridges. She pulled out $20, gave it to me, and told me to think nice thoughts about her. Wow! Very nice. That evening mom pulled over to pick me up, just as another nice lady in a BMW pulled away, after offering me a ride. I'm surprised, it's usually poor people driving beat up old clunkers who offer rides. It's nice to meet nice rich people. Especially when they give me $20. That night mom and I stayed at Jabour's again. It is so nice to walk just a few steps, and be in the middle of downtown! Very convenient. I drooled over the ships again. Every night ships go out on sunset cruises. I'm amazed at how many people they manage to stuff on. |
Heather and Wally "World" Kohlman on his Harley |
Heather at Boyd's Campground |
A pretty, but unwalkable old bridge |
Mom leaving in the van after dropping me off |
January 5th, 2003 Miles Walked: 4 Honk and Drools: 4 Honk and Yell: 2 Ride Offers: 1 This morning I stepped out of bed and almost fell over. My left foot hurt so much, I could hardly put any weight on it without yelping. To kill time, I wrote postcards to the folks back home. While I was writing postcards, a new neighbor pulled into the site across the lawn from us, with his Harley Davidson motorcycle. A nice guy, he came over and introduced himself. I've always wanted a motorcycle! I asked that maybe, if he were so inclined, could he give me a short ride? He said he knew I'd ask. The weather was still chilly, so he promised to take me out later that afternoon. In the meantime, mom and I wandered over to talk to the neighbors. Once you get my mom started talking, it's almost impossible to get her to stop. Our neighbor lady was kinda the same way. We yakked, showed them pictures, saw their beautiful pictures of back home, swapped stories, and shared advice. We ended up talking to them for 3 hours! In between, the motorcycle guy waved me over to his site. I've never been on a motorcycle before. He had to show me how to get on and where to put my feet. We then hopped onto his Harley and sped off down the highway. WOW! Life looks so different on a motorcycle! The wind, the sun, the sights, the sounds, the smells everything rushes at you, envelops you, and makes you feel like a tiny but grand speck in our universe. We did about 20 miles, some of it at 70 mph. I asked how fast he's ever taken his bike he's had it up to 120! I now really, REALLY want a motorcycle. If anybody is so inclined, feel free to give me one. I finally got on the road and hiking at 3pm. I only went two miles before I saw a sign for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound school. I turned down the road and bumped into a startled guy. I guess he wasn't expecting anyone, as they weren't running any programs at the moment. He showed me their boats, and told me all about their programs. They used to take kids out on sailing trips around Florida Bay for 22 days at a time. Nowdays they mostly do 8 day courses. When I get older, I'd like to lead for Outward Bound. I met mom at a bridge just as the sun was going down. I called it a day after only 4 miles. Driving back to our campsite at Boyd's, we were treated to one of the nicest sunsets I've seen in a while. The sky was ringed with purple, peach, and deep blue for 360 degrees around us. It's such a treat to watch the sun dip below the horizon! Back home in Vermont, there are always mountains in the way. That night we stayed at Boyd's, which is the southernmost campground in the U.S. We have a site right near the ocean, and a perfect view of sunrises and sunsets. I love watching the sailboats go by. Boyd's, like Jabour's, graciously donated my mom and I two free nights of camping. If you happen to be down in the Key West area, I would highly recommend staying at both campgrounds! They're both on the ocean, in great locations, and are really cozy. Tomorrow, mom and I move camp. We have no idea where to though I am going to beg for some more free nights at campgrounds up the road. Wish me luck! |
Justin, Crissy, and Korey |
The south end of the 7 mile bridge |
January 6th, 2003 Miles walked: 6ish Steps Taken: 7611 Honk and Drools: 2 Swerve and Stares: 2 After packing up and officially checking out of Boyd's campground, we plugged into their modem jack and uploaded pictures to the website. Updating and publishing took a long time! By the time we got everything straight, stopped yakking to interesting people, and ate lunch, I started hiking at 2pm. On one of the bridges I crossed, I looked down to see some kids shuffling across the sand in swim flippers, holding two starfish. I had never seen a starfish alive and kicking before. I told them it looked neat, and they invited me down to take a look. If you've never held a starfish before, you should. They're really cool! They're hard, and covered with zillions of bumps. They feel sort of like those massage mitts you can buy. My starfish knowledge is a little sketchy, but I think I've read that when starfish are hungry, they expell their stomachs out and envelop whatever it is they want to eat. Mmmmm! Don't try that one at home! Justin, Crissy and Korey were very cool. I hope they have a great time down in the keys <They're from Michigan> and hope they see lots of interesting sea life. Just don't get eaten by crocodiles! Since I got such a late start yet again, I had to stop hiking only two hours later. I stopped just short of the 7 mile long bridge. There was no way I could cross it today without hiking in the dark, which I very dangerous to do anytime, let alone on a 7 mile bridge! Mom picked me up at the nice rest area nearby, and drove me a mile back down the road to the nearest RV park. I put on my cutest face, got up my courage, and walked in the office with my backpack on, a begging letter in hand. "Hi! May I talk to the manager if they're here? "I'm sorry, he's on vacation and won't be back for a few days" "Rats!" I was bummed ....usually nobody but the manager can give the OK for giving out free things. But hey, as long as I'm there, it's worth a shot! "My name is Heather, and I'm hiking from Key West, to Cape Gaspe Quebec, raising money for the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. I need a place to stay tonight, and I was wondering if you guys might like to donate a night of free camping" "Sure, can I see your drivers license please?" I was stunned. I hadn't even told her all of the great reasons she should give me a free night! She gave me a car pass, pointed out where I needed to go, and sent me on my way. As soon as we pulled into our campsite, we heard a voice over a loudspeaker; "Attention, all Sunshine Key Resort campers! There will be a potluck at the Kamper Klubhouse at 5:30! We hope to see you there!" Mom and I looked at each other. "Quick, help me make guacamole! Do we still have tortilla chips?" We threw together some of mom's excellent guacamole, with yummy donated Green Mountain Gringo chips and salsa, and raced over to the clubhouse. We hadn't had any serving bowls with us, so mom sliced off the top half of a plastic gallon water jug, and used that for the guacamole salsa instead. When we got to the clubhouse, we were confused ... instead of having the food at one central table, food was at each table people were sitting at. A nice lady next to us explained that this way, it made for a faster potluck. You sat down with your dish in front of you. You then said grace, took some of your own dish, then turned left and moved around the table, taking scoops of everybody elses' dishes that were at your table. When you reached the end of the table, you turned and went back to your seat. If there was still food left in the dish you had brought, you put it on the table in the front, for others to take a whack at. It was a very ingenious system! I especially liked it, because I was sitting in front of some of the only dessert present. :-) Tomorrow, I tackle the 7 mile bridge! Hopefully I'll get an early start, as I'm staying right near it, at the Sunshine Key Resort. Very convenient! This is a nice place too... the resort has an entire island to itself, half of which is undeveloped and very pretty. |
Pigeon Key, off of the old Route 1 bridge |
Why you can't walk across the old Route 1 bridge |
The nice Greek guy in the cool produce store |
Our lunch stop and waitress |
A pretty orchid |
January 7th, 2003 Miles walked: 18ish All other statistics on the fritz Since Sunshine Key Resort was right near where I ended yesterday, I was able to get up bright and early and start hiking from our campsite there. I started hiking at 7:20, and was on the 7-mile bridge by 7:50. The views from the bridge are striking! The water is such a vivid green, and is sometimes only a few inches deep. I didn't see very much sea life today, but was treated to a flock of pelicans dive-bombing the water in search of fish. My least favorite thing on the bridge were the idiots who would pass other cars, while zooming really close next to me. Ten cars passed other cars near me, one of whom even came over the white line I was walking behind. The semi trucks were nice though, and always made sure to scooch closer to the yellow line when they got near me. Some of the really heavy trucks would make the bridge undulate underneath my feet as they rumbled by. It was slightly disconcerting After the 7 mile bridge, I hiked a few miles and went out to lunch with mom at Herbie's restaurant. They had some of the best lobster bisque I've tasted. Mmmmmmm.Our nice waitress is the one in the picture with me. Walking along after lunch, I was craving something sweet. Just before mile marker 53 I went into an interesting looking produce shop. There was a lot of cheap fruit, and a variety of Greek foods, including yummy looking pastries and all sorts of cool foods from Greece.. It turns out, the owner is Greek. He's very nice. If you've ever in there, take a look at the pictures on his walls. He's got a Serval! <Did I spell it right?> It's spotted, has big ears, is the smallest of the big cats, and is very, very cute. One of the pictures is of the serval when it was still a baby, on top of his snoozing dog. Not much exciting happened the rest of the day. Tonight we're staying at the Fiesta Key KOA, who have graciously donated 2 nights of camping. This place is so cool! Originally, it was a very tiny key. Then Greyhound bus lines bought it, built on, added lots more land, and used it as a stopover point for its bus drivers. Nowadays, the entire key is a KOA campground. |
The hiking bridge that abruptly ended in the middle! |
We stayed here for 2 nights |
Manny and Heather. Good key lime pie!! |
Anne's Beach boardwalk along the ocean. |
Manatee mailboxes |
Workers checking the safety of key bridges |
2000+ miles and Zeke still wants to go for a ride ;-) |
January 8th 2003 Honk and drools: 11, 5 from the same guy Miles Walked: 19 Ride Offers: 6 Shameless plugging of sponsors day This morning I woke up to a beautiful, sunshiny day. I stretched, slipped on my comfy Bite Sandals, and padded off to the bathroom. I missed one of the bathroom steps, but luckily didn't stub my toes Bite Sandals have toe guards! While in the shower, I lathered up my feet with Vermont Soapworks tea tree gel. Brushing my teeth with Spirit Bear Toothpowder, I made a note to myself to respond to my PocketMail fan mail. It's so nice to send and receive email anywhere in the world! I lathered up my hair with Vermont Soapworks Liquid Sunshine backpackers soap, and used the Vermont Soapworks Butter bar to soothe my parched skin. Getting dressed, I slipped on my Malden Mills made Polartec Power Dry long underwear top. It wasn't cold enough to wear the bottoms, or the hat and gloves I also have made by them. Thank goodness my long underwear has silver threads woven into it to fight odor! I still can't smell anything, after 4 days of continuous wearing. It was a bit nippy outside, so I also pulled on my Polartec R-4 fleece jacket. I knew it would keep me warm, because when I rode 70mph on the motorcycle with Wally World, I could barely feel the wind. Wind only got in where I hadn't zippered all the way. Wally says he wants one to wear under his leather. I guess he can't be seen wearing fuzzy purple fleece in public. I slathered All Terrain sun block on my legs, and gave my feet a good rubdown with All Terrain's Recovery Rub before setting out. Before I left, I sat down for a quick breakfast. My road food habits are weird, so I had a combination of Big John's Beef Jerky, a coconut-pineapple Anna's Oatcake, and a chocolate chip Clif Bar. I opened the packaging by slicing it with my Leatherman Sideclip knife. For lunch, I packed some fresh salad greens, sprouts I had sprouted from Pinetree Garden seeds, and a couple of packets of Annie's Naturals Salad dressings. This time I chose Cowgirl Ranch and Goddess Dressing. To go with my salad, I packed some Chreese to make a vegan cheese sandwich. For my snack, I packed a chocolate almond fudge Clif bar, and a bbq almond Mojo bar. Walking along, I amused myself by pulling out a how-to guide to harmonica playing, and one of my nifty Lee Osakar Harmonicas. Today I'm using the Melody Maker, although the regular C Diatonic has it's many charms too. By the end of this trip, I'd like to be a harmonica virtuoso. For now, I can play "Amazing Grace" "Oh Susanna" and "When The Saints Go Marching In" pretty well. While walking, a guy in a late model red pick up truck drove by slowly, honked, and drooled. Then he came back, and did it again! When he turned around to honk and drool a third time, I was getting disgruntled. When he drove by, honked and drooled a fourth time in less then 3 minutes, I pulled out my cell phone. He came by honking and drooling a fifth time, saw my cell phone, looked scared and I never saw him again. I made sure my can of Mace was in a handy place, and fired a test blast just to make sure it was working well. If I had my Leki poles on me, I bet I could have done some real damage had he tried anything. I kind of zoned out for the rest of the day, thinking about past nights at Jabour's, Boyd's, Sunshine Key Resort, and the Fiesta Key KOA. While I was zoning out, I had my Brunton Solar panels on top of my pack, recharging my batteries. When it started to get dark, mom picked me up and drove to camp. She made dinner again, which is so nice. When I hit the real trail I'll have to cook for myself again. I'm looking forward to it though, as I won't be carrying my heavy old pot set anymore. I'll be carrying a Titanium pot set from Snow Peak Since I'm not off in the wilderness yet, I haven't had to use my sleeping bag from the Barre Army Navy Store, nor my Potable Aqua iodine tablets, Halladays food mixes, Brunton compass, Design Salt mummy bag liner, or bug juice from Lakon Herbals or All Terrain. I sure will appreciate them on the trail though! My Superfeet insoles have been keeping my feet happy the entire time. My ULA P-2 backpack has been important the whole time, as has my Packa rain jacket/pack cover. Luckily though, it hasn't really rained on me the entire time I've been in the Keys. I have dipped into my Vermont Harvest preserves, the Green Mountain Gringo strips and Salsa, and the tea from Cate Farm. Every day I use Spirit Bear lip balm, as well as Burt's Bee's toothpaste and lip balm. Variety is the spice of life! |
Heather in Island Body and Sol |
Heather on a carved alligator |
January 9th 2003 Miles: 14 Honk and Drools: 6 Ride offers: Twice from the same flammable materials tanker Other statistics broken until my pedometer gets fixed. Happy Birthday to my mom! She turned ancient today. She's 47. For lunch, I took her out to a fish market. She had the calamari basket, and I had a dolphin sandwich. Dolphin is also called mahi-mahi, and is not to be confused with cute mammals like Flipper. Dolphin fish look really ugly, and are quite tasty. Calamari is another word for cut up squid tentacles and tubes. Mmmmmm! Craving something sweet, I stopped in at Manny and Isa's, a little restaurant tucked back from the road. They're pretty gosh darn famous for their key lime pies, and have won tons of awards. I bought a slice to go, and had my picture taken with Manny. He squeezes up to 20 pies worth of Key limes a day during the busy season. Most of the walk today was pretty, but uneventful. Men are really starting to get on my nerves, however. Today I was walking along the bike path, when an idiot in a red sports car pulled off the highway and onto the grass median separating us. He sat and stared, then backed up against oncoming traffic to sit and stare some more. He did this 3 times before finally driving off. It would be nice that instead of endangering me, him, and the rest of the world, if he would just pull over, give me 20 dollars, say "Thanks for brightening up the landscape!" and drive off. An older gentleman in a sedan pulled up next to me later that day, and said he'd been seeing me hiking along the road since I'd been in Key West. Where in the world was I going? When I told him I was hiking to Quebec, he thought it was the neatest thing. He was glad kids my age were into doing interesting things, and hoped my knees hold up. This evening we're staying in America Outdoors Camper Resort. I had contacted them a month or two before about the donation of two nights of camping. The owner had written back, and said sure! Well, we had stopped here on the way down to Key West, and inquired if the deal was still on. The woman working the office that day was a total sourpuss when I asked. She seemed miffed that I was even taking up her time. She didn't treat me very well at all and tried to push me out the door as quick as possible. When I handed her my business card, she looked at it like it was a piece of trash. I have a feeling she threw it out as soon as I went out the door. Well.when we came back tonight, the same front desk woman was even more of a grouch then before. She insisted that she wasn't being difficult, that she just didn't have the authorization to do anything. She insisted that she couldn't call the manager and ask. She insisted her butt would be put on the chopping block. Well, I went out and got mom. Mom to the rescue! Mom was nice and polite, and informed the sourpuss lady that we had gotten approval from the manager, and could she please call to confirm? The sourpuss picked up the phone, muttered about her butt being on the line, and called. The phone call went like this: "Hi, I have a girl in here who's walking across the US, and says you gave her 2 free nights of camping? Oh. Ok. Bye" The manager must have said "Yup, I did" and that was the end of that. We then picked out a site, and went for a walk around the campground with Zeke. The sunset from the marina was spectacular! They have a really nice sandy beach here, with a picturesque pier. A bunch of people were out socializing on the beach for happy hour. We talked to one guy for a long time he had noticed us driving around in our Vermont van, and told us he had a daughter in Vermont. When I mentioned what a sourpuss the front desk lady was, he said that yeah, she was something else. I got the impression that she must have a bad attitude all the time, even with paying customers. Luckily, everyone else is very nice here, especially the security guy who helped us connect our computer to their modem. |
January 10th, 2003 Miles Walked: 14+ Honk and drool: 1 My mom deleted what I had to say about America Outdoors. Just as well ;-) Let's just say we only stayed one night, the atmosphere became even more hostile the next day and we shook their dust off our sandals and got on with life. The rest of my day was fairly uneventful, thank goodness! I did stop at a building that was built to look like a castle that had a big lobster out front. Inside were lots of tourist shops, and a courtyard with parrots. I bought a bright pink wrap-around skirt for hiking in, and a purple crochet top, because I've always wanted one. When I stopped hiking for the day, I downloaded and read my PocketMail. One guy had written a really funny letter to Zeke, my dog. He instructed him to pee on the car tire of the nasty America Outdoors lady... This time we found a nice, quiet campground called Florida Keys RV Resort at MM 106.. By 5 pm the office was already closed. A woman on a golf cart showed us where to park and said to pay up in the morning. Mom is getting antsy to get out of the Keys....me, too! Key Largo has way too much traffic. |
For Susan, who says there are no crocs in Florida |
Walking along the canals |
Signage along the canal |
January 11th and 12th Honk and Drools: 16 Miles walked: about 30 Ride Offers: 8 You don't get a real journal entry for both days, because I didn't feel like making them. The past two nights, I've had horrible anxiety dreams that kept me up at night. Walking all day and then not getting good sleep at night made me tired, cranky, and unwilling to stay awake to journal. A quick rundown: On the 11th, I hiked along the shoulder of the road in Key Largo. Very boring, although I did get to go into a nice air-conditioned library and read some books. Mom and I ate fried chicken and chocolate milk. Mmmmmm...junk food. On the 12th, I officially walked out of the Keys and onto the mainland. I then got to walk along the canals. I saw 4 alligators, 3 turtles, a myriad of birds, 2 boaters, 3 illegal ATVers, 1 Florida patrol officer, and a 3 foot long fish that looked a heck of a lot like a shark. (What was it doing in fresh water?) I also saw some flattened fauna it was either a squished Flamingo, or Roseate Spoonbill. No bird bill in site, so I wasn't sure. Very pink, though. |
