I had been to the Florida Keys before, but never as far as Key West. I loved diving and snorkeling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo and loved the environment in the Keys. Key West was the first place I wanted to visit in my RV and booked the trip for my one-week summer break in July.

I immediately discovered there aren’t many RV parks in Key West, but I finally settled on the El Mar RV Resort because it only had 11 sites, but, more important, I was able to book a waterfront site.

I was looking forward to the first long trip in my new RV. Since Key West was 402 miles from my house and I knew I wanted to arrive during daylight so I could see the sights along the way, I decided to break the drive down into two days. On the first day, I would drive to Miami and plan to arrive around 6 p.m. On day two, I would wake bright and early and drive the rest of the way to Key West. Check-in time at El Mar R.V. Resort was 2 p.m.

I had heard that RVers could park overnight for free at Walmart stores, so I found a couple of Walmart Supercenters in Homestead, along the route I would be traveling. My first mistake was thinking this would be OK. When I got to Walmart, there were signs all over the parking lot stating “No Overnight Parking.” Luckily, there was another RVer sitting in the parking lot and the owner directed me to a close by BJs Wholesale Club where I could put my slides out, turn on my generator, and spend the night in their parking lot. The first thing I did after setting up the RV was take Pearl and Benson, my Lab and Maltese, out for a walk. Once they were fed and exercised, I made a sandwich and watched a couple of hours of TV before falling asleep. I was exhausted, and it only took a few minutes before the sound of the generator put me and the dogs to sleep.

The drive from Homestead to Key West was beautiful, especially driving over the Seven Mile Bridge. It was one thing I was looking forward to in my Class A RV with its giant windshield. Here’s a cool video I found that tells you all about the bridge.

After spending a couple of hours in a Publix parking lot waiting for my site at El Mar to open up, I was finally able to settle into my new home base for the week.

In the 95-degree heat, my two air conditioners were no match for July in Key West. The sun came blazing into the skylight in the shower and the ventilator fan in the kitchen.

I didn’t have a tow vehicle, so I rented a car for the week. I knew I wanted to wander down the streets in downtown Key West, experience some of the great restaurants and bars, and take the dogs swimming. My first stop was a the Home Depot to find something to block the sun coming into the RV.

I had heard all of the stories about Ernest Hemingway (one of my favorite writers) and his six-toed cats, so I spent one afternoon taking a tour of Hemingway’s home and hearing about his life in Key West.

The iguanas and chickens

The first time I walked the dogs down the little side street at El Mar, the dogs saw the giant iguana before I did and they both went crazy barking and tugging at their leash. The lizard monster was at least five feet long and bright green. Thankfully, it was more scared of the dogs than they were of it and it scurried away into the mangroves. Keeping Pearl away from iguana poop was going to be one of the hardest tasks for this Lab mom. They must have smelled delectable to her because she wanted them bad.

One of the things you learn fast about Key West is that there are feral chickens, roosters, and chicks all over the island. They even stroll through the restaurants and bars whenever they want. I guess the locals like these birds because no one does anything to get rid of them.

Here is the list of things I outfitted my RV with before this trip. Some were to make the trip more comfortable and others because they were necessities:

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• Because all RV mattresses are horrible – LUCID 3-inch Memory Foam Mattress Topper
• To learn how to use a convection oven – Cooking with Convection: Everything You Need to Know to Get the Most from Your Convection Oven
• The RV has to have a barbecue – Coleman RoadTrip LXX Portable Propane Grill, Black
• Double filters can’t hurt – Camco TastePURE Water Filter with Flexible Hose Protector
• To conserve water when boondocking – Camco 43711 Shower Head with On/Off Switch (White)
• Some RV parks require this “donut” at the end of the sewer hose – Camco 4″ x 3″ Sewer Hose Seal- Connects Directly on RV Sewer Hose for an Odor Proof Connection to Dump Station (39313)
• To keep the sand off my feet when showering outdoors – Bamboo Bath Mat Shower Floor Mat Non Slip, Made of 100% Natural Bamboo, By Bambusi