North America 2021 Roadtrip #2: Key West, Tampa, Panama City, and New Orleans
I really enjoyed my stay in Key West. Great live music every night, walking around the historic neighbourhoods, cats with 24 toes. The glass-bottom boat ride out to the “only living reef in American waters” was actually pretty sad. There’s a small reef system just off the coast of Key West but it’s in really bad shape. Coral disease, hurricane damage and of course global warming increasing the water temperature all combine to significantly kill off the corals. There were a few tropical fish swimming among some soft corals waving in the current, but the seafloor was littered with dead bleached hard corals. On the way back to shore we stopped for a view of the sunset and of course a big cloud on the horizon blocked the view of the sun but set up a great glowing orange image. I had some doubts about the hostel I booked into, called “Not Your Average Hotel”, but it turned out to be a cool funky place, run by a very professional and helpful staff and I’d definitely go back.
I rented a bicycle and rode 4 miles in the blazing sun to get to the Arcimoto electric motorcycle rental place. I don’ think my bum will ever be the same. The Arcimoto ride was fun and I’ll do a whole post about it later. The bicycle ride back to the hotel was equally unpleasant. On the way back I spotted a guy flying exactly the same kind of drone I have, over a marina. I stopped and we had a chat about drones and how the whole island was a no-fly zone. He hadn’t done any research and had no idea that the US airspace was heavily regulated and he’s subject to a $100K+ fine if they decide to throw the book at him.
The Tesla Supercharging system has been glorious! The stations are located strategically for long highway trips, fast and convenient and the car tells you where to charge up as it performs the navigation to your destination. The only downside was a rookie mistake on my part. As I was driving into Key West, the nav system had me arrive with enough charge to get there while minimizing the time needed at the last charger along the way. OK, now I’m in Key West with a low battery and there is no supercharger here! The closest one is back on Marathon Key 50 miles back up the road! Oops. I checked an app called Plugshare which lists thousands of charging stations of all different types. It showed that two Tesla owners on Key West were offering their chargers to people in need. I messaged them both on the app but didn’t hear back. Plugshare also found quite a few hotels with Tesla Destination Chargers, the same unit that we installed at Jordan’s house. Most of these sites were restricted to hotel guests only which is justified I guess. I did find one called 24 North that said it was open to the public so I headed over and the front desk staff said it was fine for me to pick up a charge. I plugged in and went to the pool-side restaurant and had dinner, surrounded by people attending a 1976 Key West high school reunion. Man, those people 5 years older than me looked really old! Oh, wait… :^)
I headed out from Key West to a quick overnight stop in the Tampa area. Couchsurfing came up empty again as none of the hosts seem to want to respond to requests. I did get one response from a guy who said he’s out of town, but his listing says it’s available for the day I need. Hmmm. I ended up booking with an AirBnB superhost with instant book, the way I found that works best on my 2015 around-the-world trip. This listing was a 3-room upstairs setup in the owner’s house, which I think is really the way AirBnB should be. Unfortunately it’s becoming more and more full of apartments which are restricting the local housing rental market or actual hotels looking for another sales channel. AirBnB really needs to tighten up their property qualifications, but it’s all about the money baby.
I left Tampa in the morning and headed up the small highway route along Florida’s upper west coast and panhandle toward Sharon McClellan Thomason’s house in Panama City. The drive takes you through a lot of state pine forests. With the Tesla running the Full Self Driving beta system, it’s making for a very relaxing ride where I can enjoy the scenery but stay prepared to take over when necessary. I’m building the outline for a story about the self-driving system and will post it later.
The highlight of that drive was when I spotted one of those “Wide Load” vehicles coming in the other direction. It passed me, along with about 10 more vehicles, all with flashing lights and signs. And then you know what came next? A freaking SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket! And then you know what came next? Another freaking SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket! As you might imagine, the SpaceX fanboy in me just about lost my mind. I managed to retain my composure and press the Tesla dashcam capture button and hoped that it saved the video from all of the car’s cameras as the convoy went past. Spoiler alert: It did! A video post will be coming out soon!
I arrived at Sharon’s house in Panama City and settled in. We went to a nearby seafood restaurant and then I took them to the supercharger station and Sharon charged up the car. Along the drive of course I was showing off all of the features and they said a friend of theirs is also buying a Model Y. It was great to meet up with Sharon and Sam and Randy after all these years of us living in the Huntington’s Disease community.
I packed up in the morning and have now arrived in New Orleans. The drive here…. sucked. Nothing I hate more than driving in torrential rain for hours. I’m here for 2 nights and I hope the weather improves a bit! And… no. I can hear the rain bucketing down outside my window. Oh well, I’ll try to keep myself amused and dry.
