I rolled over and rested my head on my back pack. It had been a long, needed and good, if fitful, sleep. I was on bumpy, uneven ground snugged into thick, hidden undergrowth on a shoreline beside the #1 highway on Key West. Even on the far side of the urban sprawl there wasn’t a lot of choice. The previous day, after exploring the island and having been awake for 36 hours, I found an acceptable spot for my tent. I set up, crawled in and was asleep within minutes. Slowly I opened my eyes. The sun was rising and it was time to get up. I was suddenly wide awake! There was a significant sized ragged hole in my tent wall! Was it there the night before and I was too fuzzy brained to notice? Did I accidentally do it myself in the night? Then I saw a hole in my backpack and a hole in the waterproof bag inside my back pack that held my oatmeal. And oatmeal on the floor of my tent. Using my ace detective skills I put the clues together – but what furry foe was the culprit? I quickly packed up just as a woman glided into the shore and hopped out of her kayak. We started chatting and I mentioned the hole in my tent. “Oh, that will be a river rat”, she said. “They are super big, they will chew through anything. I hate them.” What! A river rat chewed into my tent and backpack and was eating my food, a foot from my face, while I was sleeping! I am no lover of rats (river or otherwise) and I can’t describe how grateful I am that I didn’t wake up during that! I was having trouble processing it actually. But in the end, the only thing to do was to buy a bigger roll of duck tape and just keep walking.

The weather has been warm and comfortable. I am feeling stronger and have been averaging about 30 kilometres per day. It’s a little tricky finding stealth spots on the limited real estate here now that I am undergrowth-by-the-shore shy after the river rat incident. Established campgrounds run upwards of $80 – $100 U.S. a night, which doesn’t suit me either. But I’ve taken to climbing under the bridges at the beginnings or endings of islands (of which there are many) and that’s working out pretty good.

I saw a key deer on Big Pine Key and that was super cool. They look like white tailed deer but are only half the size. They are the smallest deer in North America, are an endangered species and live only in the Florida Keys.

I woke up this morning close to the big 12-kilometre long bridge. I knew a storm front was moving in about 1pm and I wanted to be finished and off by then. By 7am I was booting it along on a separate walkway were people fish and paralleled the bridge. About two kilometres in, the walkway ended and precious time was wasted backtracking and starting again on the actual road.

A three foot high guardrail sounds like a lot, but in the wind on a long bridge, high above big water, it didn’t feel nearly high enough. Between the wind and the cars and big trucks whizzing past I must have looked like a drunken sailor. Thank goodness for my stabilizing poles!

The sky turned black earlier than forecasted. Must walk faster, I thought! I was about four fifths of the way across when the skies opened the wind turned scary. I struggled to get my rain coat and pack cover on as I was slammed by wind and rain. A few minutes later a truck stopped right on the bridge and opened the door. “Get in,”they yelled. I wasted no time scrambling over empty car seats, relief flooding through me. I was already drenched and shivering.

Their names were Jamie and Jo, a lovely 30 something couple from Wisconsin. They had just received a tornado warning on their phone when they saw me. They took me to their Airbnb in Marathon (the other end of the bridge) where I met their kids and parents. They dried my clothes and fed me lunch. They were a beautiful family and it reinforced my belief that there are kind, helpful, wonderful people everywhere. Again, I was overwhelmed with gratitude!

I am on Conch Key now and settled in for the night under a good bridge. The road overhead is loud but that’s ok! I’m writing this post fast as my U.S. phone plan runs out tomorrow. So my next post will likely be from the airport in Fort Lauderdale where I will have wifi. Until then, I’ll just keep walking. 😊