Forty-nine Felines

They are descendents of Snowball, the seven toed cat belonging to Ernest Hemingway. This one is named Ragamuffin. Get it? Muffin? Last Voyage...

Last night I slept at the KOA near mile marker 70. My enthusiasm for this drive south ran out about three hundred miles ago, but since I had come this far I might as well finish the trip south and see the place where Hemingway lived with over fifty cats. Visit the website and see if you think this cat is Ragamuffin. (I don't think so.)

It continued to blow all night, hard enough to rock my Jeep. It was a good night for sailing--moon is nearing full and wind ripping across the gulf. I spend the night curled up in my sleeping bag and slept okay, but woke with a stiff back that I wasn’t able to work out all day. For the $77 dollars it certainly was the most expensive campground I have ever stayed at. No telling how much a night in an RV costs. I got up and headed south to the end of the road–Key West
and the southernmost point in the Continental USA. I have also been to the southernmost point in the USA, South Point, Hawaii. (I have no desire to go to the northernmost spot.)

Ninety miles away across the milky green waters lies Cuba. Sixteen hundred miles back to New York. I’ll need another oil change by the time I get back to Saratoga Springs. 310586 miles on my Jeep.


Key West is the Last Resort, eclectic and wild, except when the cruise ship comes in. Then the town turns a shade of gray and settles for gawking mild.

I spent $16.00 to park for four hours as I meandered about the streets and shops. After a while one junky tee-shirt-souvenir shop looked like the next and looked like the ones found everywhere else in Florida except the ticky-tacky items for sale all said Key West. Come to think of it they looked like the same stuff found in shops from North Carolina and California.

“And then, there were the reefs. Long established trade routes came close to the Florida coast and the reefs just seven miles offshore of Key West. Stormy weather, or a captain's inexperience with this treacherous area, could easily cause ships with valuable cargoes to founder just off shore. As a result, wrecking and salvaging soon became the island's primary business and its citizenry became wealthy on the proceeds.

Storehouses and chandleries abounded, and people came from all over to bid on the valuable salvaged items. Between 1828 and the 1850s, Key West was considered the richest city, per capita, in the United States.”

For more History visit www.floridakeys.com.

I found the Keys a bit shabby, devoid of tropical color and way over-priced. Probably lots of mosquitoes too when the wind stops blowing.