The annual trip down to the Florida Keys. The temperature down there is so nice this time of the year that if it is better than this any where in the world, I don’t want it. The same goes for the physical beauty of the place.This time we stayed right in the middle of the Keys, Marathon. And like every vacation it becomes an experiment in how far I can stretch the limits away from the routine of the work world the rest of the year. In typical Keys fashion the guy who rented us the bikes did not even make us sign anything. So right away after the two hour flight down to Miami and the shuttle ride south, we got on the rented bikes and headed out to the beach. The sun felt great since it has pretty much has disappeared in Pittsburgh. We found a deserted part of the beach and I jumped in the ocean in my camouflaged underwear. Did not think to unpack the shorty wet suit that I brought down for the colder water temperature this time of the year. The water was around 75 degrees. The air temperature was almost 80. It was cold getting in but it felt good after a while. This beach has choral outgrowths right up onto the beach. The islands are all ancient choral rock. Every trip I go on I make a note to invent a waterproof money belt that won’t let the money and i.d. cards get wet. Everything that I have bought in dive shops and from travel companies always leaks and I always end up having to dry the money out on the bed with a towel. And I remember traveling overseas I would always have to cut the swimming short because I never had a way to keep my passport dry. So now I have decided that I am going to invent a pair of shorts that are money-theft proof and waterproof. The only thing that I found that doesn’t leak are those little plastic film canisters. I am going to sew them into a pair of shorts like an ammo belt. I have some other ideas about how to keep a passport dry. Everyone thinks that if you stay at a decent hotel you should be able to leave valuables in the room. But experience has taught me that I trust no one when it comes to money. So the money got wet again. I found out that one hour and twenty minutes in 75 degree water even with a small 2 mm wet suit on makes you euphoric especially if you did a lot of biking and/or hiking before the swim. The water pulls the calories out of the body and you start to feel extremely joyful. This I think comes from exhausting all the carbohydrates from the body. Hunger can be such a strange thing when you are into the routine of the work-world but when you get into your own time food seems to be less important. And when you get into the water you forget about the pangs. Sometimes people sitting on the beach remind me of people sitting in traffic. Just waiting for their next feeding. The wet suit also makes you really buoyant and you can float on the surface without any effort at all. You can almost fall asleep, but you have to be careful not to float out to where the fishing boats are flying by. After that initial swim without the wet suit, it made me appreciate the black rubber thermal properties in subsequent swims. I always swim with a snorkel and mask so that I can see everything under me. Crabs, lobster, fish are always around in the Keys. It makes the swimming more interesting. They are having a great year on stone crabs this year and they were on all the restaurant menus. I read that the fisherman only pull the claws off where most of the meat is at, and throw the crabs back in the water where they will regrow their claws. That is what I like about Marathon. There are a lot of fisherman here and a fair-sized commercial industry. Not as touristy as Key West. If you walk back into the streets you will find workers assembling crab and lobster traps with air nail guns. And other workers processing fish in warehouses. Since we never stayed here before we ended up exploring all the new territory. It seems like when I get down here I can live on sunshine alone. I can go a long time without food and water, while hiking, biking or swimming. This used to lead to a lot of arguments with Laura but since she started carrying water bottles and energy bars that eliminated any problems. At some point after you have used up all your food reserves the metabolism changes and you go into what I call overdrive. And by the time you do get around to eating and drinking you pretty much can eat and drink as much as you want because your stomach is not going to be able to hold enough food to replenish what you have used up. And the rest of the day and evening you are kind of in a endorphin glow. And it does not matter how old you are it feels the same in your teens, twenties thirties, forties, etc… Later in the week we bicycled to Pigeon Key. The old railroad bridge converted into a road takes you there. It was the place where hundreds of workers built the railroad that opened up the Keys. This little island still has the houses that the workers used. The converted bridge is a nice bike ride or walk above the ocean. We ran into the German people we met at the restaurant the night before. This is always a good thing because that is part of the reason for traveling because you always meet new like-minded people. It seems like when you break your routine, it is invigorating. More swimming, more hiking, more fishing by the time you drink a margarita the booze in the drink goes straight out your pores and it’s like drinking lemonade… Our hotel was right in line with the Marathon airport and one day there was a Canadian cargo plane circling around there all day. This plane had four props and they were flying really low. They were doing some kind of maneuvers dropping objects to people on the airstrip. It was interesting to watch. This continued all day. Even out at the beach I watched the plane circling the town. This is the kind of wide bodied plane that can transport tanks and jeeps. Later in the week we biked out to the airport and looked into a flight to the Bahamas. There was nobody in the airport except a couple car rental people. The walls were all painted white and there were a lot of windows making it very bright inside. Something that I like in a building or house, brightness. I think it makes you feel better. There is also a lot of very small aircraft at this airport. Makes you want to fly especially because of the flatness of the terrain. But I’m not sure flying is a good idea on a part-time basis. At least in a boat if the motor conks out you can still float. Gravity is too unforgiving. In this town you get to see your share of planes and boats of all types… One day we went to breakfast at a Cuban restaurant and behind the restaurant was what looked like the working class section of the town. It was mostly trailers and it was pretty ingenious the way the people living there put additions onto their homes. It was a nice contrast to some of the huge structures that were on the waterfront.