Bill and Cathy McArthur on the Road 2011: 13

  Monday, April 11, the sisters went shopping. Bill went out for a hot and sweaty duathlon set: 2M walk, 2M run, 20M bike, and 5K run. The sisters ate at Altin's; Bill ate at home. Later in the afternoon, Bill helped Cathy prepare Super Scampi for dinner - excellent meal.

  Tuesday morning came early as Bill awoke at 4:00 AM to make coffee for the sisters, who left at 5:00 AM. Then Bill went out for a rather indolent 3.5 hour kayak paddle. We met with Tom and Jean Reilly and ate a wonderful farewell meal at Roy's in Bayside.

  Wednesday, Bill drove to the trailer and hitch place on Davis Blvd to get our electrical tow hitch connector repaired. Bill plans to buy lights to put under the back of the roof rack so that other drivers can see our brake lights and turn signals when we haul bicycles. He walked to Starbucks while he was waiting. Later, Bill did a good duathlon set: 2M walk, 2M run @ 8:59 min/mile, 20M bike @ 18.1 mph, 5K run @ 8:49 min/mile, last mile @ 8:18.

  Thursday morning, we had an early breakfast and drove to Marco Island to catch the Key West Express. The boat, left at 8:30 AM and cruised for 3 hours @ 30 knots. The water was smooth and deep blue. We arrived in Key West at 11:30 AM. We checked-in to the Wicker House and walked south on Duval Street to the beach restaurant at the end, where we had a good lunch. We did a good bit of walking around. We visited Mel Fisher's sunken treasure museum and enjoyed the history and the artifacts. Cathy bought a nice hat on Duval Street. Later, after we cleaned up, we met Cathy's cousin Ruth Ann and husband Harry at Blue Heaven. We had the usual great meal with Bananas Heaven afterward.

  Friday, Bill walked to sunrise at the foot of Duval Street. Then he stopped by his favorite coffee cafe for a cappuccino on his way back to the Wicker House. We ate breakfast at a table right outside our room. Then, we walked to Garrison Bight to take the Greyhound V for a fishing trip (videos: 1, 2). We stopped 6 times and Bill caught a lot of fish. He split the pool with a nice Lane Snapper. We waited for our iced bag of fish filets and then walked to White Street Pier to pick up Bill's packet for Saturday's 5K. We walked to the Salute Restaurant nearby and asked that they refrigerate our fish until we came back for dinner later in the evening. We walked back to Wicker House and got cleaned up. We walked back to Salute and enjoyed our own catch of the day on the beach. No wonder they call it Paradise.

  Saturday morning, Bill arose early and made a pot of coffee in the room. He sat at the table outside our room and ate a race morning breakfast of bagels and jam. After dressing, Bill walked to White Street Pier for the Earth Day 5K. It was very humid, so Bill's 8:17 min/mile pace was good enough for 33rd overall and 2nd in the 60+ age group. He got 2 cookies for an award. Cathy joined him for the awards ceremony. We hustled to get to the Wicker House in time for Bill to get a shower and for us to check out. Bill stopped for a cappuccino on the way. We toted our luggage to a storage facility next to the ferry terminal and stored our stuff for $10. Then, we walked over to Schooner Wharf Bar for lunch. We walked around for a while and then got our luggage and caught the Key West Express back to Marco Island. We saw a nice sunset on the way in. We went to Carrabbas for dinner.

  Sunday was a bit of a lazy day. Bill rode 20 miles on his bike. Then we went out for a 2 hour paddle in our new tandem kayak. We went to Aqualane Shores. We went shopping at Starbucks/Publix.

        Bill and Cathy