Interesting People in Key West
Thursday through Tuesday, May 3-8, 2018
Clear, 82°
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends.”
Key West Naval Air Station (NAS) campground – Lloyd and Jackie Holbert were in a large Class A motorcoach they named Ruby. Not long ago, they had traded in their old coach, Daisy. They were from Virginia and traveling like us - their card said, “On the Road again Smelling the Roses.”
Like most everyone in this campground, he was ex-military and had trained our fighting men on weapon systems. It sounded like he had had some pretty interesting tours. We sat out as the sun went down and the stars came out telling about where we lived, schools, and when the conversation turned to Oklahoma, it turned out that Lloyd had attended Eisenhower Junior High – right next door to Eisenhower High where Maria had been principal. Chance meetings like this show you just how small the world can be if you look for it. Just like us, they are enjoying retirement, starting to travel, bad knees and all, but looking forward to each day and what blessings it may bring.
It was an enjoyable time under the stars and we hated to say goodbye the next morning as they headed out on their next adventure. Wishing them safe travels and hoping to see them again.
Key West Trolley - Met a young man on the free Duvall Loop trolley that gave up his seat on the crowded trolley for Maria. He was a lifelong resident of Key West. He had never left the island and did not plan to because his family is here. He was in training at the police academy to be a police officer in Key West. His smile was captivating as he talked and we wished him well in the training and once on the streets, telling him to be safe as there are many wild and weird people in this town. He replied, “Yes, I know!” It is always great in these brief two minute encounters Traveling Life’s Highways.
Key West at “The Southernmost Point in the Continental USA” Buoy – Standing in line to take photos there was a woman and her daughter who asked if we could snap their picture together when they had the opportunity in front of the landmark. The mother lived in Colorado and the daughter in Minnesota. They had come to Key West many times over the years and had lost their husband/father not long ago and decided to come back again to remember the good times had on previous trips. Photos were taken and they rode off on their two bicycles together.
Key West Naval Air Station campground – Terry and Susan are in the motorcoach next to us. This morning, we observed Susan sitting out front sketching the offshore view from their RV. She is a disabled veteran and they have been full time RV’ing for two years now. Their home base is in South Dakota and they travel all over the United States. They have not yet made it to the Northeastern part of the country yet and I told them that Maine is still the only State I have not traveled to in the US. We visited with them for quite a while this morning discussing her love of painting. As it turns out, both Susan and Terry are accomplished artists. Tomorrow, Maria and Susan will dabble in water colors. Maria hopes to learn some new techniques and is really looking forward to their afternoon session.
Key West Naval Air Station campground – Having a dog along on the trip has been a great conversation starter! It seems sooner or later everyone is curious about Tobi, a German shepherd. This evening it was a young couple, Albert and Stacey, who came over to ask if it was ok to pet him. Albert is actually stationed here and is getting his degree in Aviation Administration while Stacy is getting her Masters in Social Work. Like many of the people we have met along the way, they live in their RV full-time here at NAS Key West. Albert was the first to talk as Stacey was next door talking with another couple holding their dog. Shortly as she finished her conversation with the neighbor Stacey said, “Can I have a turn to pet the dog?” Albert went and fetched their dog while she came down and talked a few minutes.
It seems like this campground has its own version of Mallory Square as this NAS campground has a section nicknamed “Hollywood” due to the palm trees lining this section between the campsites. About an hour before the sun sets each afternoon everyone seems to go outside, pull out the lawn chairs and start conversations with each other or continue earlier ones if they have been in the park for any length of time. In most communities people are lucky if they know the name of the neighbor on either side of their house let alone almost everyone on their street. The camping community is great in that way as everyone is eager to get out, get to know each other and spend time together in the evenings. I think all of the campgrounds this trip has had people talking together in the evenings. Great ways to meet, greet, and enjoy a glass of wine together.