63. 48 Hours in Key West: Miami to Key West on the Overseas Highway

WEBVTT

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The Shark Deck Johnny mc and travel
is back at season three. I'm on

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my way to Key West, Florida, but I actually took the portable recorder

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out. I can't believe I'm gonna
tell you this. I'm excited about an

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airport terminal. I'm here at Newark's
at Terminal A as I record this.

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This terminal is two weeks old,
and I was blown away on the drive

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here. I was actually telling my
daughter how much I can't stand Newark Airport

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and how it's horrible. But I
am impressed as anything about Terminal A hold

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right up, and it reminds me
of a European airport. I scanned my

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passport at a Kiosk, so the
first step is just put your thing down,

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beep, turnstile opens. And then
I had tsa pre which right now

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is all the way down to just
throw your stuff in the bag, including

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leave the laptop and the bag and
all my portable equipment, which is awesome.

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So right now I've got about ten
minutes to board, and I'm just

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walking around like any modern airport,
lots of shops, nice clean math rooms

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that I hope they're clean after two
weeks. Here we have the office,

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tavern and grill, which has a
pretty decent crowd for seven ten in the

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morning. It's a nice modern departure
board. Again, if you're familiar with

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Newark Airport, Terminal See is a
lot better than it used to be.

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But see now even the New Sea
has to step up its game compared to

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this new terminal. Ah. We've
got a nursing station if you have a

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young child with you, pant relief
men, women in all gender bathrooms,

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de Taco Joint pliable. The gate
is actually pretty close to security, so

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it's not like Terminal Sea. We
have to walk ten miles to get to

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Gate hundred and twenty three. Today
I'm at a eight. Here's a jersey

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Mike's an actual Starbucks and not like
made up brand coffee. Let me get

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down this aisle real quick. See
what I can see. Here's a place

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called Evolve that it was going to
describe to you as a Hudson Books,

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but it's Evolved by Hudson, so
it's Hudson Books. But the nice kind

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burger fi what he's buying burgers at
seven in the morning. Zaro's a family

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bakery is Sunglass Houts. In case
you who needs some sunglasses. At Newark

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Airport, there's a big long i'll
call it a broadway with a lot of

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gates and stores ahead of me.
I'm not going to head down there because

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my flights about to take off.
Shore Points Market. It's kind of place

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where you jump in and grab some
snacks and some beverages. Let's see here,

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big sign. You haven't seen everything
yet. The new Terminal A is

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only getting better. Terminal A Phase
two coming this summer. More gates,

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more dining and shopping. Super nice. All right, the plan for season

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three here. I'm on my way
to Miami and I'm gonna drive down to

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Keep West. I will be the
next few episodes. Let's hit the theme

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Travel is Back. I'm Johnny Mack
and Travel is Back. To kick off

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season three, I'm gonna share with
you a road trip I did at the

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end of January. I drove from
Miami to Key West. I only had

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two days, spent two days in
Key West, drove back hit the Everglades

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for about two hours, and then
got back on a plane. So that's

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what the first few episodes of this
season will be. Starting with episode two

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of this season, I had my
portable recorder with me, and I did

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most of the shows from out on
the streets of Key West and from the

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beaches and walking around the Everglades and
getting yelled at for being too close to

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alligators. This episode will be mostly
me talking to you, telling you about

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the trip and telling you about the
drive down if your new two travel is

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back. I'm a regular dude,
I flight coach, I use my miles,

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I like to drive places. This
isn't a show for first class.

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This isn't hey, let me tell
you which Michelin Star restaurant to eat at.

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This is for like the normal folks, you and I. The drive

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from Miami to Key West one of
the most picturesque road trips in the United

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States. I agree. As you're
driving, you just you look out and

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you're like, wow, there is
nothing off to the side. There just

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nothing but open seas. It's pretty
cool, with stunning ocean views and breath

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taking landscapes. The drive is a
must do for any traveler visiting Miami.

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This drive is a must do for
any traveler. I could have flown to

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Key West. I deliberately wanted to
do the drive. It was something I

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had seen on TV and in movies
and I wanted to do seven Mile Bridge,

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and I also wanted to record episodes
at the podcast. So I'm like,

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let's fly to Miami and we'll do
the drive. So landed in Miami

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International, got the rental car.
It gets a key west. From Miami

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Airport, you drive south on US
one. US one is also known as

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the Overseas Highway. It's about one
hundred and twenty miles. It'll take three

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hours and twenty minutes if you don't
stop coming back. I barreled through because

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it was five in the morning and
I wanted to go to the Everglades.

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But going down, we took our
time, stopped a few times, not

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as much as I would have liked
to, and I'll tell you about some

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stops as we go along. Here. One of the first things you'll notice

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is you start your drive is the
change in scenery. Miami gives away to

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clear waters, sand dunes, palm
trees, mangroves. There are plenty of

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places to stop and explore along the
way, several state parks, fishing villages,

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nice towns, and of course,
the landmark of the drive is the

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seven Mile Bridge. We'll talk about
that. I was pretty excited to get

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to Key Largo. I've heard of
it shows up in songs like Kocomo,

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There's a movie, and I was
pretty pumped. And when I got there,

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I was like, oh, all
right, it's just like a Florida

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town that happens to be south of
Miami. Don't get me wrong, there's

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nothing wrong with it. And I
probably definitely didn't spend enough time there.

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We just kind of drove through and
got some food, but I was feeling

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like there was going to be more
to it. It just reminded me of

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like driving through Delaware. Frankly,
the key larger people are going to be

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upset at me. But again,
I didn't spend much time there. I'm

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sure if you spend two days there, there's plenty of cool things to do,

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and it would not be the first
place that I've been to that I

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didn't get. I remember the first
time I went to Phoenix, I was

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like, ah, I get it, and right now, I love Arizona.

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Key Largo is the first and northernmost
of the Florida Keys. It's about

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an hour into your drive, so
we drove about an hour south from Miami

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Airport. Lots of cops, so
watch your speed limit there but it's mostly

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a one lane road, so there's
no reason of speed or pass And we

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made our way to Key Largo and
we found Alfredo's cook House. Let's take

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a look at the menu for lunch
appasize. There's some Mucco's nachos, fried

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calamari chicken wings. Coconut crusted shrimp
could be an option. Confritters, tender

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pieces of finely choppolate onions peppers.
That actually sounds good. Big bang shrimp

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coated in creamy spicy sauce, Tuna
nachos, got some salads. I went

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with these steak sauce. What did
you get? What's a mahi mahi basket?

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Where's that ahimahi basket? Fried and
serve with fries and coleslaw upgrades to

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onion rings. Now, some of
the things you can do that I didn't

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get to do, and I would
have loved to done this. How about

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John Pennacamp Coral Reef State Park.
It's the first undersea park in the United

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States. And you could do snorkeling
tours if I had more time. I

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love snorkeling. With snorkeling and Hawaii
twenty five years ago and every summer I'm

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like, I ought to go snorkeling, and I never actually do it.

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Reservations needs to be made online as
I'm pricing this out in February, and

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adults would cost you thirty nine bucks, kids thirty five bucks, and you're

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gonna need to rent some stuff unless
you brought a mask and fins with you.

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A mask is four dollars, fins
or four dollars souvenirs snorkel nine dollars.

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If you've got more game, there
are scuba diving tours. There's also

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a glass bottom boat, kayaks and
paddle boards. You know I'm down with

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that. See so, Johnny Mack, listen to yourself in your own podcast.

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You totally blue Key Largo. I
know, I just didn't have time.

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You may recall the nineteen forty seven
movie Key Largo, which start Humphrey

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Bogart. Well, as we kind
of twist the narrative here, Bogart still

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has a presence, but not in
the way you might think. The steam

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powered boat from the African Queen that's
available for canal and dinner cruises. Maybe

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towards the end of the series,
I'll go back in and do some more

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research on Key Largo and tell you
what I missed out on. All right,

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So that's John Pennacamp Coral Reef State
Park, mile marker one O two

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point five. There's also the spiegel
Grove shipwreck that's about six miles offshore from

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mile marker one hundred and two.
This massive Navy ship is about six miles

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off the shore. One of the
top dive sites in the Florida Keys in

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two thousand and two, was intentionally
sunk to create an artificial reef and home

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for marine life. It's a must
for divers visiting the Florida Keys. Let's

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keep driving at mile eighty eight Plantation
Keys mile marker eighty eight beach and bar

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with an unobstructed view to the west. It's a great spot for sunset.

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You got a good Instagram game.
Mile marker eighty six, and again we're

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heading towards miles zero is the end
of the road, rain barrel, artist

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ends village and lobster statue. You'll
see it. It's a big giant lobster.

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Next up we'll hood East La Morta
mile marker eighty four. Easta Morta,

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just south of Key Largo. I
think it shows up in a Jimmy

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Buffett's song as well, right Finns. Yes, It's best known for water

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sports and ocean life. You can
also visit the Florida Keys History and Discovery

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Center and the History of Diving Museum. Next up duck Key Tropical Vegetation Beaches,

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hawks Key Resort. Maybe you want
a beer the East Lamorta Beer Company

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Mile Marker eighty two. Let's check
out their beers. The American wheat al

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is called Sandbar Sunday. Love it. They have an Island Citrus ale that

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sounds great, India pal Al no
Wake Zone Coconut Key lime Ale. I'm

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so in on this. We also
have the Go Fish American Lager. Love

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these beers Button Mary's Blueberry Ale,
Floria Day's Tropical pale Al. Snake Creek

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is an oatmeal stout and when that
happens to be my favorite strawberry ale Florida

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Gal. All right, we're gonna
get distracted by all this wonderful beer at

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the East Lamorta Beer Company. We've
got some good looking shirts on their website

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too. All right, Johnny Mack, back to the road trip. What

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are you doing? There's another one
coming up at mile Marker eighty one and

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a half. Who's driving Florida Keys
Brewing Company. Make sure you have a

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driver with you who's not partaking in
the beer. The Florida Keys Brewing Company

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has a bottle cap tiled beer garden
and tap room mile marker fifty nine.

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The Dolphin Research Center provides a forever
home for animals that have been rescued and

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rehabilitated but can't be released back into
the wild. Established in nineteen eighty four,

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is a nonprofit provide a habit for
dolphins and educational experiences for visitors.

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There's the Turtle Hospital at mile marker
forty eight and a half. They started

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up in nineteen eighty six. Since
then, they've rehabbed and released more than

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fifteen hundred turtles back into the water. All right, now we're at seven

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mile bridge. Should we take the
break here? Yeah, seven mile Bridge,

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mile marker forty seven. You've seen
this in movies, you've seen this

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on TV. It's really cool.
I was really pumped for it, and

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when I actually drove across it,
it was okay, it's okay, Like

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I'm not. I wasn't disappointed,
but I wasn't like wow, It's just

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like, oh, Okay, it's
it's a bridge. I thought it was.

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I don't know what I was expecting. I thought it's gonna be a

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lot more amazing. It's okay.
Seven mile Bridge connects Marathon with Little Duck

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Key. It's actually two bridges.
The run parallel part of the older bridge

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is open a foot traffic on one
side of you, the Atlantic Ocean on

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the other the Gulf of Mexico.
It's kind of cool, but on the

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other hand, it's a bridge.
All right. Now we're moving. We've

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crossed seven Mile Bridge. We're only
thirty miles from Key West. You're gonna

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go through Big Pine Key. You
might want to stop at Springer's Bar and

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grill, get a little seafoods,
some vegetarian dishes. Sugarloaf Key is where

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you'll find the American Shoal Lighthouse.
And then a little further and we're into

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Key West. Key West known for
its colorful buildings, lively nightlife, and

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laid back atmosphere. Key West has
long been a favorite destination for artist,

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writers, and free spirits. Based
on my two days there, I described

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it two people as Cape May,
New Jersey, which, depending where you

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live, might not mean anything to
you, but a nice, fancy beach

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town on the southern tip of New
Jersey. I described it as Kate May

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meets Nashville. There are plenty of
things to do in Key West, from

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exploring the Historic District taking in the
architecture, to visiting the Ernest Hemingway Home

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and Museum, which is home to
over forty cats with six toes. The

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sunset celebration at Mallory Squares another musty
event. That'll be the next episode of

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this podcast. Then I'll have an
episode of us walking up and down the

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strip checking out all the bars.
After that we'll hit the beaches, and

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then we'll hit the Everglades. So
this is part one of the Key West

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road Trip. Follow the show for
free on Apple Podcasts wherever you get your

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shows, and don't forget there's a
whole bunch of back episodes. The Montreal

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episodes are really popular for whatever reason. There's an Arizona road trip in there.

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The Seattle and Vancouver episodes are pretty
popular. I did a lot of

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stuff around Las Vegas that was not
casino related. That was last year's February

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road trip, So if you want
to check those out, Travel is back

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wherever you get your podcasts right.
Meetsie here next week with the portable recorder

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and see what happens at sunset.
Did you know you can name a cockroach

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after your ex lover and have it
fed to the animals at the zoo.

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Hi, I'm Johnny Mack with Five
Good News Stories. It's a podcast twice

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a week where I tell you five
good news stories, five fluffy stories.

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I just want to make you smile
to start your day. I can tell

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you about a cat and a rabbit
that fell in love, or I can

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tell you how porto potties are about
to be a lot less horrible. What

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kind of show is this? It's
called five Good News Stories. The number

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five Good News Stories follow it Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get

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your shows. Five number five five
Good News Stories