Bridge Culture

Marathon, FL

I have taken advantage of the car to do something I didn't do in years past.  I take daily walks on the old Seven Mile Bridge.  It is a delightful place to walk, with grand views of sky and sea, fresh breezes, and isolation from traffic.  Without the car however, I would have to walk 6 miles to get to the start of my 2 mile walk.

It took a while for me to notice, but the bridge has its own culture.  First I noticed a wreath like the kinds people leave roadside as memorials.  I figured someone died there.  Then I began to notice plaques, and I thought they too were memorials.  Then I noticed that there were far too many plaques and began reading them.

Some of the plaques may be memorials to the deceased's favorite place.  Some (see below) memorialize nothing more than a fun weekend.

Then I began noticing padlocks everywhere.  I rembered the news item about the bridge in Paris with so many locks.  At last it penetrated my thick skull, "Aha!  Bridge Culture."

Boat traffic is also part of the culture and entertainment.  Next, a motorboat solidly aground on a sandbar.  It had been there for more than 48 hours when I took the picture.  Unless the owner has towing insurance, it will cost him close to $1000 to tow it off.  Damage to the propeller, shaft and motor could be thousands more.

In the next fuzzy picture, I saw more sailboats anchored outside the harbor entrance than ever before.  Then I realized, that these were Boot Key Harbor people leaving for the season.  They left the harbor the night before to get an early start.  But they didn't acutally depart until about 10 AM; tsk tsk.