Abbey's Road

For a while now I’ve wanted to visit the Florida Keys, but last year I didn’t want to have to deal with the traffic, the people and the high prices. In the winter months the RV parks get ridiculously high prices and it is still hard to get reservations. So when I heard that there is a Habitat for Humanity in the Lower Keys and you can stay right at their place, I signed up. It wasn’t like the other builds I was on where a group of RVers all came in and left at the same time on a scheduled build. Here everyone comes and goes on their own schedule and you work on whatever needs to be done each day. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get any permits lined up for new construction for the winter season so we were left to do repairs and rehab stuff. I got stuck working on the same project the whole time. Some houses that Habitat built 3 years ago weren’t done right and they had water damage and wood rot. The hard part was that we had to take out parts of 3 beams that were in a tough place to get at. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say it was pretty frustrating the first few days as we kept running into one thing after another that made the job even harder. As one guy said, it was like cutting down a redwood with a pocket knife. After about 3 ½ days it finally felt like we were making progress.

I don’t know if it was because we were all on our own schedule, or because some of the group were staying elsewhere, but the camaraderie of this group wasn’t like the other Habitat builds I’ve done. Most of the time I went off on my own on our days off or after work was done for the day. We were staying on Big Pine Key, which is about 30 miles from Key West so I didn’t get down there too often. From what everyone says, the Keys aren’t “what they used to be”, but then again most places aren’t these days. Even though they have gotten much more built up and much more commercial, compared to many places I still don’t think they are that bad. Except for maybe Duval St. in Key West. The shops, restaurants and bars stretch for dozens of blocks. It’s kind of like a tamer version of Bourbon St., though not nearly as seedy. I didn’t get to go out at all in Key West, though I did take Abbey to the dog park there twice and I went on a tour of the Hemingway house. The tour was actually very interesting, but the most interesting story was about the cats. Hemingway loved cats and all of his cats were polydactyl meaning they have more than 5 toes on their front feet and some have more than 4 toes on their back. Actually, they all carried the gene but not all had the extra toes. Since Hemingway died, the house has been owned by a family friend and it is managed by a historical society who runs the tours. They also have taken care of the cats, all descendants of Papa’s originals, since they started the tours. There are currently about 50 of them on the premises, which is walled in but not fenced. These cats have the life so why would they ever run away. Plus, they run off any strays who try to horn in on their good fortune. The most amusing story, though, is that a neighbor complained to the USDA that the cats were being used for profit like circus animals. In its infinite wisdom, the USDA sent someone down to Key West for 3 weeks to stay in a hotel next door to spy on them and try to videotape the cats being “abused” and taken advantage of. No abuse was found but they are undaunted in their quest to have the cats put in cages or moved off the premises. Yes, this is our tax dollars at work.

Another interesting place I went was close to where we were working. It’s called the No Name Pub and is on, of course, No Name Key. The parking lot seems continually full but the wait is worth it. Inside the walls and ceiling are covered with dollar bills which people have signed, drawn on, or written witty sayings on, and tried to find a sliver of space to staple them up. Supposedly, someone recently counted them and there is over $100K. Amazingly, I don’t think too many are ripped off. The second time I went in there I took a spot at the bar and had my beer before I had warmed up the seat. I turned around to see Andrea and Kent waving me over to their table. They are 2 U. of Delaware business school profs who came down for 10 days to volunteer with Habitat before school started back in session. They don’t have an RV so they actually paid quite a bit of money to stay down there. They were one of the more fun couples to work with. The other one was a couple who retired from Proctor & Gamble in their early 50’s. They now live on a houseboat on a lake in Kentucky for 7 months of the year, volunteer for Habitat in the winter for 3 months or so and travel the rest. See, I’m not the only one who does this kind of thing!

I was scheduled to leave on Super Bowl Sunday but people convinced me that driving out of the Keys on a normal Sunday is awful, but it would be even worse since the Super Bowl was in Miami. Staying ‘til Monday meant that I could go to one of their biggest annual fundraisers, Terry Cassidy’s Pickin’ Party. It’s a pig roastin’, deep-fried turkey and folk music extravaganza with musician’s playing everything from a mandolin to the washboard. They were even going to have wood-fired pizza this year and I was going to help with the pizza. Only problem was that it poured like hell all day so the party was moved into the home center. It wasn’t quite the same, and the turnout was a lot less, but most of the musicians still came and the food was all cooked so someone had to eat it. We skipped the pizza so I served food until my back couldn’t take it any more. Terry Cassidy, it turns out, is a local musician who started this 18 years ago cause none of his friends were hired to work on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s turned into one of Habitat’s biggest fundraisers in the Keys, but unfortunately it didn’t work out too well this year, the first rainout in 18 years. The featured band was the Piper Road Spring Band from Whitewater, Wisconsin. Any of you Wisconsin guys heard of them? Even if you don’t like bluegrass, they are fun to see live. I got to see them the night before at a backyard BBQ dinner at a local restaurant. That was an interesting crowd. One thing I noticed was that many of the people in the Keys like to drink a lot. It’s no wonder things don’t get done in a hurry down there. Another thing you notice in the Keys is a lot of guys with pony tails. I felt right at home when I went several days without shaving.

On Monday I hooked up and we pulled out to head back to the mainland. I think Abbey was happy to leave cause the weather was hot and humid much of the time we were there. She doesn’t do well in that kind of weather. It also cooled off in general right when we went “north” – all the way to Pembroke Pines.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures early on in my stay, and I didn’t feel like doing any more driving than I had to so I don’t have any pictures of Key West or of the water or anything. I only have one of the Pickin’ Party musicians. The guy in the baseball hat is Terry Cassidy in case you were wondering.