[Pipe_Dream]

I wanna go back to the Keys! But, like many places (including the island that I call home), from what I "hear" things have changed a lot in the past 20 years, and much of it was not for the better. Or maybe I've changed...

I first went to Key West in the early '80s on a college spring break trip. Roomie and I calculated we could do the trip (1200 miles each way) in my VW Beetle and Camp on Stock Island, eat and drink all for less than $200 a person. Would have managed it, too, except that we met up with girls and the $ went quicker! 'Twas an epic journey. Loved the laid back atmosphere. Roomie liked it so much that after graduation he packed up and moved there. I visited him 3 times, the last time I was there was around 1990.

Air was so clean and the water so green . . .

Then I moved to SC and the rest, as they say, is history. I have all this wonderful nostalgia for Key West and the Keys floating around in my brain, much of it awash in salty margueritas, and I keep saying I'm going to pack up the wife and make the trip back down there. Mapquest says it's 11 hours by car.

Roomie moved from Key West several years ago, up to Naples, and says while he still misses the Keys waters he is happier in Naples. So no more free place to stay, I'll have to be a tourist like all the others. If I had a good trailer I'd want to take the PD down there, into that beautiful clear water. (Sigh) Perhaps someday . . .