Key West - First Camping Trip in the 4Runner!

Did the slow break-in period of 500 miles and hitched up the Pikey Palace to the Land Yacht for a long weekend in Key West!

Traffic down and back was insane. Amazes me how some people have no regard for others, weaving dangerously in and out of traffic at top speed. If anyone knows someone who's driving a 90's model blue Honda Civic in southern Florida, your boy needs his ass kicked. Tell him for me that that's how Assholes become Angels. Return trip going through Hialeah to about West Palm Beach was equally bad. What the hell is everyone in that area doing out at 12:30 a.m. on a Sunday night/Monday morning? "Don't you people have homes?" (Thank, you, Judge Smails!) From Key Largo to Key West, cops were on it and taking zero shit from anyone. Saw more cops on this vacation than I have anywhere in a long time. Glad they're allowed to do their jobs in Monroe County, FL.

The campground was superb (shoutout to the folks at the KOA in Sugarloaf Key!) clean, no hassles, and fairly empty. Pretty much had the pool and beach area to ourselves whenever we were there escaping the heat. Campground staff was incredibly helpful. Did a lot of exploring around the outer Keys. There's some OBSCENE real estate in the area. Found Key West proper to be a fuster-cluck. I can see where the appeal would be there for the younger people, but being in large crowds of humanity in 90 degree weather really isn't my thing, especially these days. We checked out some shops, stopped here and there for some obligatory beers, took a long distance photo of the Southernmost Point buoy (standing in line also lacks appeal) walked around and looked at more oddities, and what made me lose my mind with absolute joy was the iguanas and curly tailed lizards that were everywhere. I've loved reptiles since I was a kid, so I was completely in my element. Tried like hell to catch one, but the little suckers are too fast!

Awesome first trip in the 4Runner. Pulled the Pikey Palace like it wasn't even there. (Thanks again to whomever said to get the 4-pin extension. That's a whole other post! Saved a few issues to say the least!) Got a consistent 15mpg going 60-65mph. For comparison, the Maverick - now a distant memory - would get about 18-19 while towing and 30-33mpg highway, sometimes more. That gas mileage I WILL miss.

Looking forward to many future road trips!