Miami to Key West

As Mark has already said, we have now crossed the US mainland. Miami was a city of contrasts from the lovely white sand of South Beach

and all the art deco buildings

to the less affluent of Little Havana where they take their dominoes seriously

and monuments to the invasion on the Bay of Pigs are still around

Here is a view of the city from across the bay

Key West on the other hand, was completely different. After a few hours of driving across approximately 120 miles of causeways

We found lovely beaches...

sunsets...

and a laid back welcoming atmosphere. It doesn't matter who you are, your beliefs, background or where you're from, everyone is welcome here and no-one bats an eyelid re any outrageous behaviour (not that we witnessed any). It really is a lovely place and is nice and hot this time of year, especially as much of the country is still in the throes of winter. These will be our last sunsets over the ocean until we get to Alaska in about August. Key West is not a cheap place to be either, and Cuba is only 90 miles away and closer than the US mainland

Tomorrow we start our journey back to the mainland and up the eastern coast, where we shall try and make the most of the sunshine before we have to leg it to Canada...