Why do memories make me so sad? 2 comments
It's a hot day today. Outside reached 90 degrees, but I'm comfortable in the camper with the vent fan running. Next week brings some 100-degree days—that’ll be harder to handle.
Although I’m done reminiscing about Homestead Air Force Base, there's one last thing that few people know about the Base. When Richard Nixon was president, he owned property on Key Biscayne, Florida. That property served as the winter White House during his presidency. As with most other presidents visiting South Florida, Air Force One always landed at Homestead Air Force Base, and Nixon would take a helicopter to Key Biscayne, a 10-minute flight.
Key Biscayne held a special place in my heart because, when I was a kid, my family frequently went there for picnics on a Saturday Morning. Key Biscayne is home to the Seaquarium, where you can watch trained porpoises and killer whales do their acts. There was also a huge beach, an outdoor skating rink, and even a rent-a-horse vendor.
After a day of enjoying swimming and picnicking at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne, we stayed until almost dark. Then, since Key Biscayne is an island, we returned to Rickenbacker Causeway to fish. Everyone, including my younger sister, joined in, making it a great time for the family. It was there that I learned how to catch shrimp. After dark, my dad hung a Coleman lantern off the bridge down near the water and used a long-handled dip net to scoop up shrimp drawn to the light, like moths to a flame. And it wasn't just fun—even though it was—we caught enough shrimp to eat and use as bait to catch even more dinner.
On Dad’s GI pay, we were kinda poor, with little money to do anything except the free things like swimming at Crandon Park. So if we weren't going fishing later, we would drive around the neighborhoods on Key Biscayne, looking at all the mansions, and daydreaming that we would one day live like that.
Those were great family times. I only wish I had appreciated them more when they were actually happening instead of as an old man reliving memories of a time and places that no longer exist.
Theboondork
I came up with the brilliant idea of finding some pictures of what I've been writing about on YouTube, and in no time at all. I was deep down the rabbit hole, spending the entire morning looking at pictures of the old days and shedding more than a few tears.
This is a modern picture of the Rickenbacker Causeway, which you have to cross to reach Key Biscayne. And you can see Miami in the background.
On the far right of the causeway, you can see a pull-off area where folks park so they can go fishing on the low part of the bridge that goes all the way to the middle. Commonly done in Florida because fishing from bridges is a normal thing to do in South Florida, and it is too dangerous for fishermen to be mixed in with the traffic on the bridge.
This is an old picture from the 60s of a part of the Rickenbacker Causeway where the fishermen stand. I spent many a happy hour standing there with my family, staring into the blue water, waiting for a nibble.
A picture from the sixties of a part of Crandon Park, where my family would go picnicking and swimming back in the day.
I found this more modern picture of how Crandon Park looks these days.
The Homestead Air Force Base flight line after Hurricane Andrew…. There wasn't much left to save, which is why they didn’t even try.
Homestead, Florida, after Hurricane Andrew. Fortunately for me, after a couple of weeks, I packed up my car and headed back to Colorado, feeling an incredible sadness for all the folks who had to deal with this disaster for a couple of years before things got back to normal.
I never expected to find a picture like this on the internet. What you see is President Kennedy sitting on the back seat of his red Lincoln Continental convertible, heading towards the flight line and Air Force One at Homestead Air Force Base.
What's amazing to me is that this is exactly where I would stand and watch the president go by. It's the main intersection at the base, and it's close to base housing where we were living, so I could walk there in just a few minutes. I would have been 16 or 17 years old when this picture was taken. And for all I know, I might be in this picture somewhere.