Driving through the Keys post Irma. (pictures)

As we were driving through the 18 mile stretch (the area between Florida City and the Jew Fish creek bridge) Tim comments:  It doesn't look like anything has happened.

Well, its the Everglades dear.  A nuclear bomb could go off and you wouldn't tell the difference.

Key Largo/Tavernier had been open for 4-5 days at this point and it was in full clean up mode. Water was back on, however a boil notice had been posted so when we stopped to get something to eat, all soda/ice machines were off. The Wendy's seemed a bit stymied by this and our options were bottled water or a Frosty.  We were also amused by the response we got from the high school aged girl when we mentioned that they brought the road sign in.  It's big, so it was an impressive feat and we thought really, really smart.

Her response:  "I don't know why they did that."  Oh, oh! But I do!

Also, really sweet to see was the "Welcome Back, Key West!" signs made-albeit on hurricane debris-but nice to see.

 So the pictures below are us heading south to Key West. Not necessarily in order because they are a mish mash of camera pics with phone pics.  There was no stopping once we got past Tavernier.
Some of the debris you see is from cleanup, but in some areas it is where they took a front loader and used it has a plow to clear the road and the debris was just where it landed.  I captioned pics to explain more.

Mangroves. Completely without leaves.

One of the many boats that were either washed out from a yard or just washed up.

This is mostly cleanup debris here.  Remnants of docks and tiki huts.

Lots of ice machines were caught up in the storm surge.

Below are some pictures of the military staging areas.  There were still many checkpoints in place for neighborhoods near where the eye of Irma went over.

Temporary camp set up at the Marathon airport.

Below are pictures from the worst hit area of the Keys.  You really can see the difference between the 'dirty' side of a storm and the opposite side of the eye.  Key West was on the 'good' side of the storm, if you could call it that.

Debris just scraped to the side of the road.

Sand that had washed over the road.

Linemen hard at work to get power back on.

The sheds you see belong on the other side of the road, storm surge moved them into the road.

Numerous gas stations did not fair well with their island covers.

No leaves whatsoever.

Part of an RV park that got a lot of media attention.

Really don't understand why that didn't get hooked up to a truck and hauled out.

Collapsed building.

One place where road was washed away and they got it replaced and painted.

It is supposed to be GREEN here.

Add caption

Another gas station.  I think some building code updates might be in order.

This poor guy. Tried to get his truck and camper to 'high' ground and still got washed over.

I have a lot more pics, but I think you get the idea. We got smacked around. 

On to Key West.