Homes on either side, canal in back and more private than before

We liked Venture Out so much (proximity to Key West, secure, quiet, easy access) that early on Russ checked into how we could extend our stay. We ended up adding 6 nites to our time at RV474 and booking 11 nites at RV105 through Jan 31. Canceled our very pricey week up on Long Key and pushed out our arrival at (the very affordable) Southern Comfort RV Park in Florida City where we also chopped off time at the end to make only a two-week stay. Florida City didn’t look appealing in the “fun things to do” department and Russ wanted to visit the Everglades for a few nights after Florida City. If you are wondering, “pricey” is $100/night (or more) and reasonable is in the $40-65 range. Northeast RVing is not cheap by any stretch and the FL Keys command top dollar for parks that often are mediocre at best.

Site 105 was a luxury spot on one of the resort’s many canals and I was happy Russ was the one who booked it, not me. Moving day, Jan 20, one month after we’d arrived- time flies uh? This was easy; a short drive through the resort and we got to practice departure preparations. We’d checked out the spot several times and knew we would fit perfectly. Headsets on. I park Bonny a few sites up and Russ positions Annie to back in. One of our new neighbors comes out (we have houses on both sides) and a guy in a golf cart hangs out to watch the show. Yes, a motorhome backing in is major excitement here in Denture Out (oh did I say that?)

Unfortunately for the crowd, the show was boring. That’s why we use headsets. 🙂 Only one almost oops when I forgot to look up and see that Annie was about to get acquainted with a tall palm. Kudos from the adoring crowd and we got hooked up, with chairs and awnings out in no time.

The blimp as seen from the Overseas Highway

When we arrived in continental U.S. paradise, there up in the sky… a balloon, an advertising balloon, a blimp??? After seeing this guy in the sky day after day, Russ finally did the Google thing and we learned (once again) more than our brains could hold. Yes folks, we have Keys Disease. 🙂

Blimpie, otherwise known as “Fat Albert” floats tethered above Cudjoe Key except for when he comes down for high winds, re-fueling or routine maintenance.

Fat Albert is a large white blimp that’s tethered to a truck at the blimp base on the backside of Cudjoe Key. It’s named for the cartoon character by the same name. It’s actually a Tethered Aerostat Radar System or TARS. Nine other TARS exist throughout the country. Their primary mission is to provide low-level radar surveillance along the southwest border of the United States and Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean in support of federal agencies involved in the nation’s drug interdiction program.

A close-up photo of the blimp at rest

The secondary mission is to provide North American Aerospace Defense Command with low-level surveillance coverage for air sovereignty in the Florida Straits. The aerostat radar data is available to NORAD and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Basically I think this means Big Daddy is watching!! As in monitoring suspected drug smuggling flights, fast boats smuggling Cubans, weather, any low flying plane and other potentially harmful activity. The cost to operate is more than $500 dollars per hour.

Fat Albert is helium filled. He can be raised to a maximum 15,000 feet, but stays at 10,000 feet tethered to the blimp base by  cables with a maximum breaking strength of 26,000 pounds. He measures 175 feet long, 58 feet across and the tail wing from tip-to-tip is 81 feet. It can lift a payload weighing 1,200 pounds.

Look closely, you can see the tethers

We have a great view of this guy, being on Cudjoe Key and all. We’d seen him before, in our Nov 2007 trip to Key West. Looking through our bazillion photos we found a folder named “Key West Trip- Benj’s” and there was one of the blimp. 🙂