I took today off from preparing Elysium for the nearly 900 mile trek back to Oriental to visit the home of Ernest Hemingway in Key West. Being a long time fan of "PaPa Hemingway", I promised myself I would see his home and studio before I left the Keys.

Hemingway lived here for 9 years. It was one of his most productive times as a novelist. He wrote many of his most famous works while living here. There remain many six-toed cats on the property, decendents from the original six-toed cat he raised. Please note the captions with the pictures.

While in Key West I took the opportunity to visit President Harry Trumans summer "White House" also...so a picture of that is included. And finally, a schooner caught my eye that I took a few pictures of. It is a replica of a famous shooner from the late 1800s. And, although it looks just like the original, this one was built with the most modern techniques. For example, although the masts look like solid ceder, they're really made of kevlar with a thin ceder wrap around them.

A weather window opens around Thursday, March 29th, so that is my tentative departure date. I will try to post updates as my passage progresses. Ciao'