We made it to Key West. The roads don’t go any farther. I thought it would be a fairly quick drive – 3 1/2 hours, but I decided to avoid the Florida Turnpike and instead just go down Route 1. So we learned how big Dade County is. It added about an hour to the trip. But then, south of Marathon Island, we began to hear sirens and emergency vehicles speeding past us, going in our direction but on the wrong side of the street. Clearly, northward traffic had been blocked. Soon, our side stopped moving as well. We were on a causeway. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink. And no bathrooms. We were stuck for more than an hour. Three ambulances went back north, sirens blaring. And two tow trucks, one with a pickup and one with an SUV, both totally smashed in front.

After we were able to move, we could see how backed up the north lanes were. Maybe two miles.

At any rate, our arrival was not 2:30 or even 3:30, but 4:30. But here we are for the next three days.

As to the ride through the Keys itself, I have done it once before. About 50 years ago. The scenery is much different now. And not at all for the better. In fact, there is so much kitsch on the way down here on the more than 100 miles of US 1, that I wonder why anyone vacations on the Keys, when there are so many other places so much closer.

Key West is different. It looks like it looked 125 years ago, but the rest of the Keys?

Street parking is free in Key West. If you can find a place. We did, about four blocks from our small hotel. I hope we can let it just sit there until we leave.

Our goal is to walk around, see the major sites, and chill. Our inn, Heron House Court, has a very comfortable looking front porch, which I hope we get to use.

As to food, we found a restaurant named Sole, less than two blo ks from here, which it turns out has been ranked by Zagat as the best restaurant in the Keys. My duck and Edie’s snapper were A plus. It’s not inexpensive – the entrees are all over $40 – but, what the hell, it is so good and so convenient, we may make it our go to place.

In the meantime, we did hear a few more podcasts about current tragic events. Looking forward to tomorrow night’s speech (ha ha), and wondering what the Dems would do. I asked Edie how, if she were Shumer or Jeffries, she would tell the Democrats to act. She gave me some very responsible answers. My answer to my question was different.  I would tell the Democrats to wear old shoes. Just in case after they threw them, they weren’t able to retrieve them.

Finally, free coffee, tea and cokes. Two days in a row. Can you guess how that happened?

And one more question.  Why did the chicken cross the road?