Monday 21th April, 1997 Key West - Down Town                     Key West - Historium                     Miami - South Beach                   Stats.: Route: Key West 1 41 41a Miami: South Beach Road Kill: UNKNOWN----7 Birds------3 Key West marked the farthest point South in the USA, and the farthest point away from San Francisco. But I was not considering my outward bound trip complete until I reached Miami. When I awoke, I had to fight back the desire to jump straight in to the car and drive back up Route 1 to Miami, and to the turning point in my trip. A mental, calm and rational voice chipped in and first suggested, and then reiterated, that this may be the only time that I would ever be in Key West. Eventually,the rumbling in my stomach won over all else, and drove me to the nearest breakfast emporium. Thankfully this was next-door to my lodgings. As I filled in my diary, I momentarily reflected on the four-thousand plus miles that I had covered to date, and the twists of fate that had made the trip possible. I HAD to look around this key. My mind made up, I slouched back in my chair and troweled the hash, eggs, sausage and OJ down my throat. I had twelve minutes before the next tour tram left. As I signed my chit, across the street the propane-propelled tram pulled in. I stood, strode out across the street and on to the tram. The only seat available was next to a lone elderly lady. She stayed completely mute for the rest of my time on-board. We left the stop and headed to the end of the block, where conch (pronounced "conck" by Key dwellers), shells and souvenirs were on sale, our guide pointed out a plaque. I had been staying in the Southern most motel in the USA! The guide talked about the plants, the houses and Key West's history. Much of this I eventually tuned-out to. It was nothing new. It was cool to see all these places as a spectator, and not have to drive and map-read at the same time. I eventually disembarked in the old warehouse district. Here I joined some other tourists on a narrated visit to the Historium - the tallest remaining wooden structure on the keys. The narrators dressed in period costume, and stayed in character, as they drew-out an abridged history of the area. Inside we were treated to a video, which covered the same, in greater detail, and exhibits of treasures retrieved from reef wrecks. After this I walked briefly around the area, before heading back to the tour pick-up point. After I boarded the tram, it took me, and my fellow passengers, around the rest of the island. On this final leg of the trip, something struck me (the hyper-critical one). To me, guided tours should be the equivalent of wafting a tantalizing morsel of the most exquisite banquet in front of some one's nose, while explaining to them, in a sultry tone, what they could experience if they hung around and waited for the main course. However, most of the USA's guided tours, that I have experienced, are more like melting-down the entire subject, skimming the unsightly and non-uniform elements off the surface and then casting a large nail, which is placed against the guest's fore-head and driven home with a lump-hammer. I can only assume that this is a highly popular and cost effective means of getting the facts across to your audience. All this is certainly not to say that the tour was a waist of time. Only that it's content could have been a little differently presented. It was worth every cent, just to see such a comprehensive cross section of the island and its architecture. And I did learn one very important fact, one of the reasons why Key West can survive solely on tourism dollars, is because its climate remains extremely stable for most of the year. A fact that I am sure will pop into my mind the next time I have to scrape ice off my windscreen, before I can drive anywhere. I think that last night, I had blindly ended up in my favorite area of the island. It was a little less tourist infested, and like the Castro area of San Francisco, it's gay community had effectively merged a number of different cultural and architectural influences, with a dash of camp, archiveing stunning effect. I had not caught-on to the fact that there was at touch of Castro in the air, even with tell-tail signs such as last night's benefit, the fact that I had breakfast at "Diner Shores" and the "Queen's Chambers" were across the street. I had to be able to compare it to the rest of the island before I could see the obvious. My oh-so-brief liaison with Key West left me with quite mixed feelings about the area. As with so many places, I wish that I could just take a trans-dimensional tube train to the past and see it in its previous incarnations; Back when the gulf-stream and coral reefs produced innumerable wrecks and it's close proximity to Havana made it the port of entry for innumerable tobacco products. Today, Key West's laws governing development, have enabled it to become cute, whilst remaining true to much of it's heritage. And - while I would go crazy if I had to stay for any prolonged period of time - I would love to return to this tropical island for a couple of weekends, so that I could scuba-dive along the reef and see for myself, the wrecks that made it the wealthiest city in the US for nearly a century. Satisfied that I had see as much as I could for one day, I got back on a the end of Route 1, and drove out the way I had come in. I hit Miami during peak commute-hour and, after tooling around the city for about an hour, decided that I wanted to see what the beaches had to offer. I crossed to Miami Beach, via the Mac Arthur Causeway bridge, and headed for the Art Deco district, South Beach. The exit from the main route was a little disconcerting. Yes, I was surrounded by Art Deco ... but most of it was rubble, with huge demolition cranes looming over their prey. Had they destroyed it all?! Fortunately, the answer is no. And whilst I have no explanation for the destruction, the majority of the beach front area was still there in all its neon and brightly painted splendor. I ate at the Colony (fitting, huh) while I people-watched. As I chatted with my waiter, a well - if scantily - dressed crowd milled by. He was a little depressed that Miami's tourist season had ended so soon. I had not really thought about it, but summer is Miami's off season. In a month or so the temperature here could be as high as one hundred and ten degrees centigrade, with an accompanying ninety percent humidity. And then there is the rain. Too hot to handle. ------