No, I don’t do the souvenir shops that are along Rt. US 1 in the Florida Keys or any other place as far as that goes. What they have is a “not.”  Plus the decals on most of the T-shirts stick to me like a plastic bag when they get hot and are very uncomfortable.  I’ll be checking the racks at the Salvation Army, Good Will, Habitat for Humanity & thrift stores I can find on the way to Key West.  They have broken-in shirts, the right price, and are freshly laundered.  If that doesn’t produce one to my liking the hand-painted ones at Key West Sunset Celebration will.  Those stores are the source for most of the pins on my hat too, especially the Salvation Army Store in Marathon.
    As soon as I go through the racks of T-shirts and other shirts, where I find those great vented fishing shirts for a couple $$$ v. $20 plus at other stores, I head for the junk jewelry jar.  They have a big one like those that used to hold penny candy.  Mostly there are earrings, buttons and other stuff, but I look at them all.  I only want the pins that have significance to me, usually that means I’ve been there.  Last time I found a pin with a Chincoteague Pony on it. Try getting one of those in Chincoteague.  That’s another not! Or how about an Ocean City pin?!?  You can’t find one here!  A couple years ago in the same S.A., I found one from Ajo, Az., one of my favorite spots where if I ever drop out I just might land, although I’ll have to choose between there and Aravaca, Az.!  Both have people who wandered in over the years and never left.
    Also there’s many birding spots along US 1 like at MM 69 at the Layton City sign where I’ve seen more spoonbills than any other place in the Keys. There is a dense wall of mangroves between the road and the water, but the birds have to hear all that traffic noise.  I guess their descendants had their rookery there long before there was a US 1 in their environment.  If it works, why change? Why not let well enough alone?  Especially, when you can get by with what you have. That’s what those spoonbills are doing. There’s another place in Venice, Fl. where they’ve put a police station, fire house, and a storage lot for large road building equipment, but the egrets and herons had their rookery there first on a little island nearby before all that activity started.  They’re happily nesting and raising their young as they’ve been doing for eons. Maybe we should take a lesson from them! Birding, T shirt searching and getting another pin for my hat is a mission for a rainy or chilly day (there were very few of them during this visit) in January when I stayed in Islamorada at the Key Lantern Motel at MM 82 (305- 664-4572, www.keylantern.com & Info@KeyLantern.com <mailto:Info@KeyLantern.com> ) for $50/night and if you stay six nights you get the 7th free.  That’s the right price.
    This day as I headed towards Key West it was 52 degrees at 9a.m., so it was a good day to be in the car.  The chill produced a beautiful pinkish orange sky that engulfed the big orange ball as it appeared up and over the horizon to start another day.  Then the ocean and bay took turns displaying their beautiful array of blue and turquoise hues amongst the flats of white sand along Rt. 1. I quickly flip through the shirts looking for ones with something on the front and back or a button-down shirt with vents.  One with a fish on it usually gets a second look, too.  I found a fishing shirt and T-shirt with a dolphin fish on it and one from our Greene Turtle!
    A day trip to Key West also means I’ll be passing several places that serve delicious fish sandwiches for this is truly the fish sandwich capital of the world. The Big Pine Restaurant and Coffee Shop MM30, right beside the post office, served a delightful one to me for lunch.  Big enough to feed two people with lots of freshly caught grouper with a big mound of cole slaw with cranberries and mango in it.  That made it a little different, very tasty and certainly better for me than french fries.
    By the time I got to Key West the temperature had risen to beach weather, so no need for long pants and I was treated to a Catamaran Regatta off Smathers Beach. Then I took a long leisurely walk down Duval Street over to Zachary Taylor Park’s Beach, a short stop at Sloppy Joe’s and visited Chris, the Ocean Club’s former raw bar chef, at Kelly’s, then along  the old seaport boardwalk and back, and to the pier where the cruise ships dock for Key West’s Sun Set Celebration.
    As I meandered this winter from Florida to Texas to Arizona and back, thrift stores were a regular stop. I’d been looking for some American Indian handicrafts, but didn’t see any stands along the roads, but I got lucky in El Paso.  I was heading towards my return route to OC through northern Texas in search of more BBQ and the Guadalupe Mountains, when I passed a Salvation Army Store on Rt. 62/Montana Ave. across from the airport. I looked at my usual items, but nothing; then I thought of the Indian Crafts and looked around.  Amongst the drapes and bedspreads were three Indian Blankets, so colorful.
    They’d look great on my couches, but I thought they’d cost too much. So I carried them to the cash register to ask the price. On the way I found a $35 price tag on one. I didn’t want it that bad, but I asked anyway. The clerk said $35 was too much and since they had red in them that got a discount that day, and since I’m a senior citizen (no, I’m not that old but for j$ I agreed), that got me another discount. She keyed in the prices for the three blankets and said, that’ll be $13.35!  For that price they were going home with me.  Plus, I paid for them with a twenty $ bill that I found blowing around in the grass behind my car when I crawled out of my sleeping bag in Aravaca the day after I’d stuffed myself with BBQ & ACB (Old Style!) all day and photographed hummingbirds!  What a place!
    Now I’m back and doing fun family photo sessions on the beach. They’re all smiles.  If you want to set one up, let me know.