Arrival at Sunshine Key RV Resort

It was about 10 AM by the time we pulled out of Clewiston yesterday. The drive was mostly a boring one as we went through a long stretch - probably 70 miles - of nothing but farmland and everglades. I thought Iowa was flat, but it is the rocky mountains compared to this. By the time we got to Key Largo, we were seeing some interesting shops and resorts that were along US 1 and gave us hope that the scenery would improve on the 100 mile road to our destination. It was definitely an interesting drive out to the Big Pine Key. There were many, many boats and boat businesses - sales and service - and many, many vacation spots - motels and resorts.There weren't many campgrounds which probably means that the chances are good that any RV spotted on this road is either coming or going from the Sunshine Key RV Resort and Marina where we are going to work.

We're not sure yet about this decision. We were a little disappointed in the campground when we arrived. There is no beach along the perimeter as the pictures showed, and the nearest beach is probably the Bahia State Park beach which is on the next island over. We did get a fairly decent site though:

and it is away from what was described to us as the "noisy" area, closer to the water. This "noisy" area, as described to us by the staff, is only a weekend occurrence. It seems that each weekend, the Cubans come out from Miami to party. It was mentioned in the office when we arrived that they were glad that Josie can understand and speak Spanish (a note on our resume). Josie wasn't too happy about that.

The staff seems nice from what we discovered in our brief encounter so far. We picked up a package of forms to complete and corporate stuff that describes rules, policies, etc. We will have the weekend to digest that material and we will return at 8:30 on Monday morning to begin our orientation.

After we got settled in and walked around the campground, we went for a ride to see what was around us. It turns out that, at least in the immediate area, there isn't much. We have to go to Marathon - a town about 10 miles east of us - to do grocery shopping. There is a Big K Mart further down from that town, and we don't know where the closest Walmart is located. Probably near Miami. We do have our bank in town which is nice, and the cell service for Verizon is super.

Today we will do more exploring. We plan to go to Key West which is only about 35 miles from here. That is about the same distance from us as Payson was when we worked at Happy Jack, AZ.

We'll see how things go. We like the proposed hours (8 to 5 each day) and the pay is for all hours worked which is great. Monday will result in a much better feel for how it will go here. Until tomorrow...