How it FEELS to RV the Florida Keys (travel vlog)

Nice. Homestead. We've never seen this side of Homestead before. We've only been to Walmart Homestead which is one of the worst Walmarts in the entire country. This looks pretty decent though. Yeah it's got some charm to it. Continue for 57 miles. There we go ma'am. This is the part where it starts to get fun. Once you see the blue uh cement barriers yeah you're there. Yeah like all of a sudden the excitement kicks up a notch, your heart starts to beat, your palms get a little sweaty. I wonder how often they repaint those. That's a good question. I don't know. Looking a little faded here. Yeah. Now this road can get quite backed up like in the morning when people are lined up to come in. I love it every time we hit the one hour mark and we fall beneath one hour and we're 59 minutes. Aaron and I always do like a celebratory high five at that point and we're almost to that point and we're almost literally in the keys and the two of them combined is a double whammy. Power hour. Yeah. You think you're gonna hit the water like right away but you end up driving for like another 20 minutes it feels like before you actually cross into Key Largo. Crazy Florida drivers. Florida drivers Knew we'd hit a little bit of traffic. We always do. Can't get away that easy. I guess a little bottleneck to coming in so our 59 minutes might go a little bit back above an hour. Oh fresh pavement. Nice. Slicker than butter. Isla Morada. My favorite. This is where the water starts to sparkle, look extra blue if you have a nice sunny day. If you drive in on a cloudy day the experience is totally different because the water will look kind of gray. So it takes what like 30 at least 30 miles, half hour, 40 minutes to get into like where you feel like you're in the keys. Past Key Largo, past uh Tavernier. Yep. And a good way into Isla Morada. Isla Morada is our favorite. We love it here. There's so many restaurants and things to do. It's so fun to be in Isla Morada and this is where like the beauty starts to hit. You just get that glittery water and it just feels like we're here. And we are almost here. We're 17 minutes away. There's Publix. This is where I do our, well there's Publix here in Isla Morada and also in Marathon. We've been to that one a few times. We've been to this one a few times. Isla Morada Beer Company. That's where we're taking June for her birthday. That's where she has to go. Can't control where the birthday girl wants to go. She hears there's lots of dogs there that are super friendly. So as we were doing that no toad video and we were talking about how in the winter time we kind of slow down our travel a little bit. We stay longer in resorts and that's where like you would really need or want to have a toad vehicle. Yeah we even talked about like renting. Yeah we talked about renting. So there's all these places we just passed within 15 minutes of our RV park and you know if we didn't have a vehicle we would have to rent one Uber every time. So you know part of that was us thinking like man if we're gonna be... If we're gonna do it let's do it before the winter hits. Yeah I mean the winter is the time that we're gonna utilize it most. So I mean we still could have made it without it. We could have you know it's 10 miles. We could have easily done big day trips on our bikes. Yeah but it's not the same. Like right now would we want to get on get our bikes and ride 10 miles? After traveling all day? Yeah well actually maybe we would until it got dark. Yeah and that is a big thing about the bikes is it's more limiting for daylight. Of course you can ride your bike in the dark like there's no bike police that says you can't ride your bike in the dark but you definitely feel safer and more comfortable temperature wise when the sun's out. Yeah I got to get this water. Look at this water. Look at the boat. This is the money view. This is where you feel the turquoise right here. It just doesn't get as tropical you know the first third of the keys but once once you get to this point and continue going man you gotta get into the lower half. And then you got Robbie's of course. Robbie's is just fun. It's the number one tourist attraction and at first you're like oh that's just kind of like who wants to go there but then you go there and it's a really fun way to kill 30 minutes up to a few hours depending on how much fun you're having and how much free time you have. There's just like there's food if you want to eat. There's a bar if you just want to grab a drink. There's little shops like souvenir knickknacks. There's people watching. There's excursions. You can feed the tarpon fish. So much to do. Yeah this is really close to our RV park now. We're coming in to less than 10 minutes. We could actually bike to Robbie's. That wouldn't be too bad. That'd be a fun bike ride because there is some nice bike trails and paths in some of the spots here. Yeah and a lot of the bridges don't have good bike paths. You just gotta get on the highway with the cars. Yeah or like I remember jogging over them was not very fun. No. You know today's drive wasn't an easy drive. It was low speeds and low volume of people on the road but it was still a long day. It'll be like seven hours start to finish so it always feels good to get in and land and set up and just like you did it. Travel day is over. Fiesta Key. I love this little tropical entrance. Back at our stomping grounds for the winter. We've spent some time here. Yeah this feels like home believe it or not. Louis you excited? He's excited. Yeah. Oh they're not very busy here at all. No it looks wide open doesn't it? Yeah. Hello. Anybody home? Looks pretty dead here. Still the off season. Yeah they were in there. They were sleeping. Were they? They were taking a siesta. At the fiesta. Yeah I think I just caught them in a slope. Usually they jump on us and they're like too deep out here. Come on guys. But yeah we're all good to go. They're getting the tags off the back so watch out for her. We're 609. I like the female driver. Yeah she's she's in a good mood. Louis is getting amped up. There's an alliance behind us. Did you see that? There's an alliance behind us. I was just gonna ask you if you saw that. It is really nice to have the AC rolling and like show up with a cool coach. Oh yeah yeah. It looks empty. 547 isn't that the one they tried to stick us in originally? No we were down here on the left like where that Brinkley is. These I think are, these feel tighter on the left to me so. Oh is it an end run right here? You jump out. You be the boss man. Oh and then there's the other one. Louis come here. What'd they say? Okay the 609 that they told me on the phone was a money spot. Not so much? No because you got people behind you. It gave us a little bit of space on our driver's side but then you got two people behind you, people on the left of you. So now we're gonna be backed up to the mangrove so we don't have anybody behind us. We got some wind protection from the mangroves and a little bit of shade you know in the afternoon when it gets really hot so that's good. Is it buggy? No. Are there rats in the mangrove? I think it's about the same. We'll watch out for sewer rats. That's nice that they let you get out and look and take your pick. That's very rare. Yeah. These luxury sites up here. Yeah these are the ones we like up here. I really like this side of the park. I mean there's not a bad side like the other side's not bad. This side I just like better. Same. Earlier in the season these big expensive end sites don't they don't book out. Yeah. They are beautiful aren't they? Yep. Look at those views. Those people are checking out our setup. I bet they are and being back a little bit we're not that packed in. And it's nice we actually have the perfect RV right now to back into a mangrove. Yeah it's easy. Like window wise we don't have any windows back there. All of our windows are this way. Yep. Every once in a while we get into the parks early enough where it's not that busy and if you zoom way in. My windows are too dirty. Let me try this one. You zoom way in you can see the ocean. Yeah. I can see it from right here. That's right baby. Ocean view. Right there. I see it. I see the water out there just kind of rippling around and I can't believe that I'm sitting here right now. Of course I'm such a work addict. I tell you the first thing we do is I just gotta catch up on some stuff and I'm chomping at the bit. We're gonna go take a family walk. These dogs are just itching because they know this place. They've been here. They can sniff out that dog park from way over here and we're just gonna go loop the loops. You know it's already five o'clock but we don't know what we'll do. Aaron was teasing me saying he's gonna take the roof off the Bronco and take his sweetheart out on a spin. We'll see if we have time. We'll see what the night brings. I don't know if we're just gonna want to mellow and relax. We can still go out but I don't have time to take the roof off because I've never taken it off. Ain't nobody got time for that. We just gotta hit it. Plus like you know it's gonna be dark soon so. I know that's what I'm saying like we have an hour till sun set and you know. Yeah we should totally take care of the dogs, jump in the car, and try to go get a sunset somewhere. Yeah. Can we do it? Okay so we got to give another point to having a towed vehicle. Normally getting set up at five o'clock we would have just stayed in but now we hop in the Bronco and just start driving. The colors were beginning to turn but we still had some daylight left and by the time we made it to one of our favorite restaurants, the Square Grouper, the sun was just setting. We didn't have any reservations so we started up on the rooftop for a stone crab app and a drink. They already pre. They usually cut them. They make it easy for you. Are you supposed to dip it and then bite it? I'm not sure. Yes. That's so soft and tender. We then went downstairs to the restaurant and got a quiet bar top table right on the marina. The great thing about the Keys is the weather is still fairly warm even after the sun goes down and you can really enjoy the outside atmosphere here at night. Chris got the farmer salad and added the fresh caught fish of the day which I believe was a red snapper and me knowing we had plenty of time for seafood down here I opted for their half pound burger. Boy the Keys aren't cheap that's for sure. A couple of drinks, an app, and two entrees can run you about 150 bucks easy. But a lot of our favorite memories in the Keys don't cost a dime. We really love getting up with the sunrise and taking the dogs for a few miles around the island. Barely anyone is up at this time and you have the whole place to yourself. It's so peaceful. There's the first sunrise. First of many babe. Another favorite free activity right at the RV park is watching for all the wildlife you get to see without even going anywhere. Being surrounded by water it's not uncommon to see all types of stuff like dolphins, sharks, lobsters, birds, manatees, and of course iguanas. Remember Chris joking about the rats and the mangroves? Well that's where the iguanas live. He's big. And check out this prehistoric looking guy. They're so exotic looking. We did eat out a few more times in Isla Morada and tried a new to us restaurant right on the water called Papa Joe's. With their great food, amazing sunset views, and island atmosphere, it's now on our short list. And here's a place we've been many times and we just keep coming back. Morada Bay's Beach Cafe. This is a cool place because it's right on the beach, right in the sand, has fun colors and tables, sunset views, and really gives off the island vibe. They call it a Mediterranean bistro and they always have good fresh fish entrees. They're also dog friendly and we even brought Louie here once a few years ago. Down. Down. Louie. Down. Okay, back to reality. Because we really don't go out all that often and what gets us super excited is buying the fresh seafood down here from a local market and cooking it right at home for a fraction of the price. Our all-time favorite is the grouper and we'll get more in depth than this on the next episode and show you guys exactly how we cooked it. Oh, and don't forget about the Key West Pink Shrimp. Some of the best tasting anywhere in the country. So we've been in the Keys here for just one day and before the weeks get away from us I'm gonna make sure we take the top off the bronco. We've had this thing for about a month and I've wanted to take it off and I keep saying I'm gonna do it but today's the day. We've taken the panels off the front before which is just these two panels here but I haven't taken the back off. I'm hoping this is gonna work out pretty well but my idea is while we're here in the Keys to keep the top off the bronco and when we go out you know there'll be no top on it but when we come back I'll just set the top on it so that it keeps any overnight rain or I don't know wild animals out of it. So we're gonna pull the panels off quick. Pretty easy. Like I said it's a little bit more difficult with the roof rails on there. It's like a little bit tighter of a fit but they do slide off so I'll just repeat that for the other side. Next I'm gonna remove all the bolts from the top. Hey babe I do need uh how long are you gonna be? Yeah I just need to remove like 10 bolts and then I need your help uh picking the back off and like moving it so maybe just check in on your next loop. Okay every bronco comes with one of these little tool kits but it gives you everything you need to take it off but obviously if you use power tools it's gonna be a little bit quicker. So this is the extra step I'm gonna have to do every time is take the covers off and my goal is to just remove the front half of the rails and then we just pick the entire top up and leave the rails attached. I haven't seen anybody do that on YouTube surprisingly because I certainly wouldn't want to remove the whole rails every time I just want to take the top off. That's probably never going to happen. And then while we're up top here we just got two of these t50 bolts to remove. Paddle boards fit nicely in the two door and then there's two electrical well one electrical connector and one washer fluid nozzle that need to get removed and put into the storage position here. It's pretty simple. Whoa gotta watch the window. I guess here's where the ratchet comes in handy. It's kind of funny that eight little bolts are all that hold on your hood deer or your roof deer bronco. So that took about 15 minutes I guess roughly to get all the bolts off. You know that's the thing I think why people like soft tops because it's just so much easier to take your top off and now they have those convertible soft tops the electric ones that automatically go up and down. I know the two door just came out this year but five grand's a little expensive so we'll see how we like this. There's actually one more hiding behind this pillar back here. So that's a total of four on each side so eight and then two on the top nine ten. Ten bolts total. It's not hard but it's not that fast either. I had to pop these front rails off just so that they're loose and there's no tension with them on the bolts. So now I just gotta wait for the wife to get back and we'll see if we can pull this thing off. I've seen a few guys do it on their own. Not recommended. People are out having their cocktail. Test test. Okay so the game plan so all the bolts are completely off right now. Okay. So it should be loose. Should be. So I'm gonna go inside and I'm gonna push up just to kind of like push it up and I'm gonna have you stand out here. All of this is coming off so be careful of the glass just leave that open. Okay. This whole plastic roof is coming on. Yeah the entire thing. Or maybe it'll be easier if you go on the inside because you're just gonna push straight up. Okay. I think I think that'll be easier. Okay on three we're just gonna just push up and then we're just gonna go back just a couple inches. Roger that. All right one two three. Okay now my way a little bit. My way. I'm pushing your way. Okay hold on. We're I think we're hooked on the top. Yeah they these roof rails keep catching the bolts. Oh. I'm trying to avoid taking these roof rails off. Okay straight up and back on three. On three. Okay I was ready to go. Ready? Yeah. One two three. Did you go back at all? I'm trying. Okay stop. Those things keep catching. Let's go back in the hole. Okay third time's the charm. Okay. We're gonna get this. Okay. You ready? Not until three. One two three. And back. This is gonna be hard to put back on I can already tell. That's what it looks like half off. Yeah it's not as easy as like you think huh? No this seems like like I'd rather just leave it on. That's not happening. We're gonna make this work babe. Okay now come outside. Slowly walk backwards. I need a video on my chest right now. Okay now slowly bend down. Keep bending down. I'm gonna go back. Let's put it down then. Okay. Okay this isn't working. Okay that was awkward. That was awkward. Can you can you slide out of there a little bit? Yeah let me just slide right into the sewer. Okay watch out for. Watch out for iguanas and septic. Okay that definitely was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Can you believe that there's dudes that have taken that off by themselves? I don't know what that weigh is but maybe 100 pounds or something like that over your head. I mean it's just. It's just very awkward. Yes. I'm more nervous about putting it back on. Usually getting things off is the easier part. What do you think? Isn't that cool? It is cool. That's like a bronco from the 60s and 70s. It does look vintage. I worry about how dirty it's going to get in there to be honest. Well I didn't know that top was going to be that heavy and that hard because what I was going to do was just set the top back on each night. Not bolt it down but just set it on and you know maybe it'll get easier if we do it a few times. Yeah the first time is always the hardest. Yeah I'm a little blown away by the complexity. Yeah that's a little challenging but I could see it being worth it. Yeah. And then next I'm going to install that sun shade on the top so that it that'll help keep it clean too. Okay one two three straight back straight back and down. Oh we're like pros at this now. So much easier than the first time. Yeah. Oh it's been a while. Isn't it so fun when the top comes off? I really am excited yeah. Love it. Now this is either going to be a really bad decision or a really good decision because we're going to be an hour away from our campsite. We're not going to have anything to protect if a big rainstorm comes in. That's scary. Yeah. But it's kind of exhilarating at the same time right? Yeah. Like what's the worst that can happen? A little harder than I thought. Yeah I mean it's cool but with the effort it's like you want to be taking it on and off with that. Yes yes we do. Chris you're in the keys on a topless bronco. I'm just giving you my honesty. I get nervous about dirt and moisture and rain and stuff. I know it's like marine grade and it's designed for this but I like things clean too so we'll see how it goes. We learned very quickly after only one ride with the two front panels off you need some sort of sun protection if you really want to enjoy this thing with the top off. So I purchased an inexpensive sunshade for about 30 bucks from Amazon to try it out. It's vehicle specific and installation was pretty straight forward. So far we're really loving this thing and think it's a must have for top off rides. Okay it officially starts June's birthday party. With butt sniffing. The party has started. Louie's ready to go. Oh there they both found some sunshine. They found a pocket of sunshine. We're ready for some fresh wind in our hair. Driving Miss Daisy. Probably put my hand. Yeah. Finger that's on your left. So we didn't know what to do with the dogs with the top being off and we don't know if Louie's gonna jump out and chase an iguana so we're just she's babysitting in the back. Ever wonder where the name Irene Iron Travels comes from? It's actually named after my online fitness and nutrition coaching business Irene Iron Fitness. I help people move better, feel better, and eat better with strength training and real food. No fad diets, no harsh restrictions, no counting calories, and absolutely no processed food in a package. If you want to get stronger and feel better at any age, check the description below for the links with my new client special or join in on our next and upcoming group challenge.