My 1986 Art Life in Key West, Florida

In 1986 I was 32 years old and I moved to Key West, Florida. Jana Hart was my girlfriend at the time and we moved there together. It's always easier to move somewhere else with someone. Obviously moving alone would be the alternative and not a good one if you are at all a social person.
So jana and I had been involved with each other for about a year and felt it was our time to move. I quit the job I had for the past 9+ years to move far awa to a land and culture I was not sure about. The biggest change I had made in my life to date was a move from the little midwestern town of Galesburg, IL to the much larger midwestern, central Illinois city of Peoria, IL. So I lived in Peoria for about 10 years. Already making the biggest change in lifestyle by aditting to myself and a small group of friends that I was gay. so now I'm tackling the change of moving about 1800 miles away to the most Southern tip of the continental United States - Key West, Florida. And Key West not only being the most southern point but also the gayest per capita, at this time, in the US. Maybe I just made that last statistic up but it sounds OK. So Jana divorced her husband, we packed our truck and drove away. It was a sad and lonesome feeling that day. Jana drove the car. I drove the big truck. We got separated on the Interstate and with it being pre-cell phone worl - I felt very lost and lonesome. I remember sitting on the bumper of the truck crying. Then I saw Jna come down the merge ramp in the car and I was so happy and relieved. Driving down the Keys for the big move was a beautiful ride. Very foreign looking. Palm trees, coral gravel, intense heat, bright sunlight, lots of fast cars, billboards selling shells and t-shirts, etc... Boats and water were evident after mile larker 75 was passed.Then I saw blue water, many boats and a generalized feeling of a big sigh of relief and absense of stress and tension. It was obvious and I liked it. We drove to Key West and stayed at the Econolodge because our apartment wasn't ready for us to habitate. Helen Wardell who was our landlady, promised she would hold it for us for $100.00 when we visited in September. She agreed that it would be painted and ready to move in when we arrived. This was my first idea that people can promise things all they want and that it doesn't mean that it will be done. Nothing had been done when we got there. The front lawn hadn't even been mowed. So we went back to the hotel and Jana crawled into bed and assumed the fetal position and stayed there for a couple of days until I got the apartment in good enough shape to move in.
I'm spending way too much time on this period of my life because nothing I say is really important enough here except that I didn't work for money the first month we lived there. I worked at least 8 hours per day in getting the apartment good enough for us to live in comfortably. Jana was working as a RN at the small dePoo Hospital on southard Street in Key West.