Sunday, September 27th, Jean and I went to Mass at a Catholic Church (a practice she follows religiously) in Weston, FL, a few miles from where we spent the night in a massive high-rise resort complex west of Fort Lauderdale. As you may know from previous trek logs, I spend much of the time during Mass contemplating the structural design of the Church – that is if I am not soliciting Divine inspiration relative to an existing problem with the Jeep. Actually, that Sunday’s of theme “sharing the wealth” was a good reminder to do so. By the way, what is it with churches that they expend so much effort on coming up with such elaborate roof support structures to protect the congregation? It seems to me that one would want to make it as easy as possible for the inspiration from above to penetrate the roof to reach the congregation.
9-27-15 St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Ceiling Key West
After Mass, Jean and I stopped at a small Colombian restaurant for brunch. Jean and I discovered Aripa, a leavened corn “cake” covered in particularly tasty goat cheese crumbs .
9-27-15 Jean enjoying Aripa in Weston, FL
Then it was off on our final leg to Key West. This includes the crossing of a 7-mile long bridge joining two of the Keys. One would not think twice about doing this in a modern vehicle; however, in a 65 year old car that has just completed a 1,000 mile journey, and given the lack of places to pull off anywhere along the span with a continuous stream of cars behind, it was a little spooky . We, of course, made it just fine.
9-27-15 7 mile long bridge, FL Keys
9-27-15 Bahia Honda State Park lunch stop
This segment of the trek took us a good part of the day. We had our traditional (some would say tiresome) lunch at Bahia Honda State Park on Big Pin Key east of Key West. When we pulled up to the ranger station to get our park pass the lady ranger said – you guessed it “I love your car”. Jean showed no emotion. Resolving a hotel reservation SNAFU had Jean and me at each other’s throats as we tried to decide the best way to work it out. Have to have at least one incident on each trek where Jean threatens to find a ride to the nearest airport to return home and leave me to “work it out”. They say situations like this make a marriage stronger. I don’t know – she seems to get closer to catching that plane each time.