Robert got me

On my trip home, I was lucky to get a ride from Marathon to Key West from a friend of a friend, Marc & Michele’s friends, Mark & Becky from Muscatine, IA were here visiting, and offered me a ride down in their car.

As they had to leave Marathon early AM, that got me to the airport early. I had about four hours until plane time. I took a walk along the ocean front near the airport, and discovered an old fort which was open for tours. Pictured above, is Fort  Martello, which was built during the civil war. The war ended prior to the fort being completed, and it was never used as a military operation. It is now on the National Register Of Historic Places, a museum of Key West history, and also has some local artists art work displayed. Sorry I don’t have a better long shot of it, but it is a large, all brick structure, three stories tall in the center.

Gun ports on all sides of the structure!

Two  of the major industries in Key West early on were cigar making, and ship wreckers. Many ships struck the reefs coming into Key West, and an entire industry flourished with people, called “Wreckers”, who would go out and salvage the cargo and the ships themselves.

Cuba lies only 90 miles off Key West. Many Cubans would build makeshift boats, called Chugs, and attempt to escape Cuba, and head for Key West. If they made it, the boats were abandoned in the shallows, they would sneak ashore and try to blend in with the Key West people. Not all made it.

Key West is also home to some pretty eclectic artists! The entire third floor is a rotating display.

On display at this time were metal sculptures.

Pictured below is Robert. Robert was one of the things I first saw when I entered the fort, so I took a photo.

Robert is a doll given to 4 year old Gene Otto in 1903. Throughout Gene’s life, he blamed every bad deed on Robert. Every type of treachery, misdeed, and mischief that happened was blamed on Robert. By the time Gene was married, and had become a successful artist, Robert had been blamed for a life time of errors, sin and folly.  For years, Robert has been seen and heard moving around, shifting positions, and even heard giggling behind peoples backs.  The fort cats even keep their distance when looking at Robert.

After I shot the photo, I noticed a wall full of letters behind Robert. All of the letters asked for Robert's forgiveness. It seems that all of these people had also taken a photo of Robert, and soon after bad things had happened to them. It seems Robert does not want his photo taken!

As I left the fort later, the woman at the entrance asked me if I had taken a photo of Robert. I said I had, but really did not believe in VOODOOO!

I walked over to the airport, and ordered a sandwich at the restaurant. I then called Pat to let her know my plane would leave shortly. After the call, I hung up my phone, and it went dead! It would not restart, even with the charger plugged in! Guess I better write a letter to Robert!!!!

While I was home, I stopped to see our friends Phil & Rollie. Phil was diagnosed with lymphoma in ’08.

He was able to become cancer free, but the lymphoma reappeared last month. He just started another round of chemo. I could not believe what a positive attitude they both had! One thing they kept saying was to “Drink The Good Wine Now!”

We’re taking their advice!

Captn Ken

PS:  I just published this post, and checked it. When you look at the listings of posts on our site, the intro verbiage for this post is in a foreign language!!! And I don’t write or talk any foreign languages! Now do you believe in Robert!!!