Subject: Hi From Ft Lauderdale
Date: January 16, 2002 11:52 PM
Greetings All:
I'm writing from "Floyd's Hostel and Crew House" - another rare find in the hostelling community in beautiful but too touristy Fort Lauderdale. It's actually my last night on this trip before I fly into Buffalo tomorrow (Has the snow melted yet??)This was another Drive-A-Way car delivery. I left Hamilton on the 8th and delivered the car on the 10th. The drive down was interesting. I came the shortest way - not recommended in the winter - crossed at Buffalo, passed Pittsburgh and drove through the mountains of West Virginia, North and South Carolina and finally through Georgia and into Florida. The interesting thing was that from Buffalo to the northern border of South Carolina there was all kinds of snow. In fact they had their biggest snowfall of the year two days before I left. The roads had all been cleared by the time I drove through and it was quite beautiful driving through mountains. Two days of driving got me about 100 miles south of Daytona Beach and it was cold - frost on my windshield when I woke up on Wednesday. But it was 70 F by noon and since then the temperature has averaged in the mid to high 70's. I dropped the car off at the airport in Fort Lauderdale and picked up a rental for a week. I got upgraded to a Ford Escape which is a mini SUV and since I brought a sleeping bag and air mattress, I ended up sleeping in the back for most of my trip - mainly in state parks. This is the only hostel that I have ended up staying in and it's unfortunate in a way because in the 3 hours I've been here, I've met several interesting people with stories to tell. If I could just get used to sleeping in dorms, I'm convinced that this is the way to travel if you are on your own and if you have an interest in meeting other travelers who are out there - and there's lots of them! Anyways, here's a quick overview of my travels:
- spent the first 4 days in the Keys - all the way down to Key West- beautiful drive as you cross over the many connecting bridges - water on both sides that is a marvellous turquoise (longest bridge is 7 miles long!)
- Key West is an interesting town - very touristy today but it has a rich history including its earliest days as a salvaging town for shipwrecks, then a major sponge diving port, once the world’s biggest producer of cigars, major exporter of turtle soup and more
- in 1908, Henry Flagler connected the Keys with mainland Florida with his railroad that is an incredible story in itself - up to that point Key West was completely isolated - Flagler is perhaps the best known entrepreneur in Florida's history and probably most responsible for the development of tourism in Florida in the 1900's. The railroad was built in 8 years and connected Miami with Key West. Two years into the building of the railway, a hurricane wiped out major sections of the track and a tidal wave swept over 200 workers out to sea but they just rebuilt it all over again. When is was finally built, tourists came all the way from Boston, New York and other east coast cities and fish and other goods were shipped back north.
In 1932, another hurricane destroyed major sections of the track and this time it was decided that it would be too costly to rebuild (Flagler was long gone by then). However, because almost all of the bridges had been relatively undamaged by the hurricane, within two years, a narrow two lane road had been completed - basically on top of the old railway bed - and Key West was once more connected to the mainland.
- The really interesting thing is that as you drive over the new wider bridges that have been built in the last 20 - 30 years, off to the side is the old bridge that carried the old highway and, of course, before that, Flagler’s railroad. If you close your eyes (not recommended if you're driving) you can almost picture the steam train chugging along on its way to Key West. Obviously, the Flagler railway museum in Key West was a highlight of my visit there
Well, I've rambled on so long about Flagler's railway that my time is up and people want to get on the computer so I'll sign off now and send a second instalment when I get home.
All the best,
Larry Return