Reunion

It's always good to see old friends, especially if it's been way too long since you saw them last. We met Lynne and Mike through a mutual friend, and our first meeting was hiking into Big South Fork's Charit Creek to spend the weekend in a rustic cabin. We immediately felt like we'd known them forever, and have since gone back to Charit Creek and also spent a week on a houseboat with them on Norris Lake. And it's always a hoot!

Mike and Lynne are spending some time in their condo in Bonita Springs, and drove up to visit us at Twin Dolphin yesterday with Mike's Dad Charlie. Since Mike grew up in Crossville (well, he got older there anyway), he already knew the Mayberries. We all visited, had a great lunch at The Pier, showed them our boats, and enjoyed happy hour at Mattison's. We caught up on as much as we could remember, trashed the mutual acquaintances that needed it, and shared a few stories. Some of them were probably true.




We already miss them, but hope to see them while we're in Tennessee for the holidays. Thanks for driving 3 hours to visit!

So much to be thankful for

Happy Thanksgiving from grandkids Micah and Madison, a picture sent from the farm in Tennessee by their mother Julie. What a great tree for climbing and sitting. And what lucky grandparents we are!






Mattison's Riverside provided turkey and fixings to the marina residents, who brought potluck for a Thanksgiving dinner by the pool. Not the traditional Thanksgiving setting for native Tennesseans, but a wonderful dinner with great weather (80s and sunny) and good company. The Captain and Admiral surprised themselves (and everyone else) by being the last to leave...at the staggering hour of 9 p.m.!! It obviously takes us longer than some people to discuss world peace....

Hat Favre

It was retired....now it's not. The Mayberry birthday hat was too famous to retire, so Poor Old Judy got to wear it again. She was treated to an evening of fun by her daughters Allyson and Kathryn, beginning at Twin Dolphin and continuing at Mattison's and Cork's. One of the best features of the hat now is the coonskin tail in the back, which is really a toy weasel. Necessity is truly the mother of invention!

Goodbye friends.....and hello again

Tuck and Kathy, our neighbors on the infamous C dock at Twin Dolphin, have worked all summer (in blistering heat) getting their boat ready to cruise again. They've sanded, primed, painted, scraped, sworn, sipped, sewed, and cleaned for months. Finally, after having produced an almost brand new boat, they planned their departure for Saturday. We were sad to see them go, but happy for them too. We had a little get-together Friday evening to say goodbye....toasts all around and have a good trip. Saturday morning the guys helped them cast off and they headed for Egmont Key to spend the night before heading south for the Keys. S/v Mariah looked majestic (and clean and shiny) as they left.




























































And then on Sunday morning............here they were! Unfortunately, the transmission refused to go in reverse and the VHF radio chose to not work. So they're back making a few repairs before they leave again. Tuck also had a bad cold, so he got to convalesce back on C dock. We really think they just wanted another party.

Turn around, settle down, go again

We got back from Tennessee on Thursday, and left Friday morning for the RV show in Tampa. We were joined by Lyle and Mickie in their new motor home, and had a good time looking at all the choices available in the show. Some were small enough to drive onto our boat, and some were large enough to house a family of 6 -- in style! Prices range from a few thousand to a few million, so there's a lot to look at.

After leaving the show Saturday afternoon, we went to St. Pete because our friends Jerry and Lynn (we traveled for a few weeks on the Great Loop with them aboard m/v Sea La Vie) were there for a week's visit with Lynn's brother Jim. We spent a wonderful evening visiting in the garden paradise at Jim and Jorge's house.





The company was excellent, the scenery superb, and a good time was had by all. The Admiral got a great fur fix from sweet Roxie.
























We convinced Lynn and Jerry to join us Sunday afternoon at Ft. Desoto Park for dinner and a walk on the beach. It's a beautiful park on the north side of the Tampa Bay shipping channel and was voted one of the best in the nation for beaches and facilities. Each campsite was private, with tropical greenery on both sides. Lyle and Mickie came back to join us, and we spent two nights being lazy, wining and dining, and enjoying the company. We rolled out the chairs, grills, rugs, music, and maybe one or two adult beverages. Lyle made his special coffee drinks each afternoon, and they are SOME kind of wonderful! Mickie loves to cook, we love to eat, and life was good. We continued the tradition of photographing the Twin Dolphin burgee by having Sade and Bubba (her new little brother) hold it for us.

Headed north (but not for long)

We had the pleasure of spending a few days in Georgia babysitting for grandchildren Madison and Micah while their parents got a much-needed break in South Carolina attending the annual Marine Ball. Madison and Micah are of course perfect children, having come from an excellent gene pool. They truly light up our lives, and the only problem is not getting to see them enough.

We headed for Tennessee afterward to visit oldest son John, the Admiral's mom, and youngest son Jesse and his wife Brittany. All are fine, and even though we nearly froze on the trip north, the weather turned gorgeous for the week we were there, with temperatures in the low 80s. Jesse and Brittany are house-shopping in Chattanooga, so we got to crawl around as part of the inspection team. Hopefully the search will end soon with the perfect house.

Let's get a caravan started

We arrived at Twin Dolphin Monday evening, and much to our delight Lyle (Wild) and Mickie have bought a motor home. We're sensing a trend here; our friends from Marathon, Phred and Candy, just bought one too. Get ready for a caravan across the U.S. soon. We toasted the arrival of Beulah (Lyle and Mickie's RV) with champagne on Wednesday evening, accompanied by the gorgeous Sade, who is in charge of everything. We now have an official RV park at Twin Dolphin, with ours, Rankin and Sandy's, and now Lyle and Mickie's coaches. Let the games begin!

Reality bites...but not very hard

Headed back from Fantasy Fest. Haircuts (William and the Admiral), sunsets at Jolly Roger park (always beautiful), and good friends and traveling companions headed back to a tortuous life of living on a sailboat. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip, and even though we said we needed to "do it once," there's a suspicion that we might do it again. Cheers! The Fest is over...back to boat work and swimming pools and hot tubs. Do you feel sorry for us yet? We had so much fun on our trip, had a great time with William and Judy (there really is room for four people on the RV), and had a ball learning about Fantasy Fest and all its idiosyncrasies.

We enjoyed our journey across Alligator Alley (mating season; lots and lots of lusty gators in canals beside the road), and saw what was surely the world's smallest Post Office (Rusty, we have a new job for you!) along the way. The postmistress was just leaving for the day, so we got a quick chat with her before the photo session.

Fantasy Fest....day two...are we up to it???

Okay, we had a ball yesterday. We rode the bus full of colorful characters; we ate (very little); we drank (quite a bit); we wandered around saying "gollllleeeeeeee" just like Gomer Pyle; we giggled and pointed and took pictures. Total tourists. Now we're all grown up and ready to go back and behave like our parents would want us to. Or our kids. Or at least we're ready to go back.


We decided to take an early bus, assuming that the younger set (anyone under 60 qualifies for that set) would get a later start and the bus would have seats. Wrong. It blew right past us (which either means it was full or that we looked too seedy to ride, which is a possibility we chose not to consider, given the cast of characters we've seen on the buses before). So there we were, in the blistering sun, all ready to go gawk some more, and no ride. 20 miles. Being enterprising folks, we did what anyone would do, and stuck out our thumbs. But our thumbs must not look too good, because no one stopped. Captain Jaybird accosted 3 guys coming out of a nearby restaurant (Mangrove Mamas, where the guys had already slaked their thirst a time or two during the planning of Getting There Phase Two) and asked if they were headed to Key West. Guess what? They were! They just needed to zip over to their RV park to get one costume out of the dryer (remember this...it'll be important later) and take a shower. Hallelujah! A ride! They really did come back, and we were honored to meet Robert, Henry and Richard. They were very nice guys, all from Florida, who attend Fantasy Fest routinely. Our driver (we were in a pickup truck) was dressed in a crisp white chef's hat and apron (fresh from the dryer). We had a good chat on the way down and they even offered to bring us back or bail us out, whichever we needed. We got a photo of them when we got out at the parking lot in Key West, and were thrilled to see not one tan line.
































There were many options for paint schemes and themes (see poster and do enlarge -- you'll be impressed I promise), and many floats (very elaborate) at the parade on Saturday. The only rules within the Fantasy Zone (when isn't Key West a Fantasy Zone??) were that nudity wasn't allowed. Really?






The floats were amazing, as well as the street people/costumes which were either in or not in the parade (sometimes it's hard to tell). All in all, I highly recommend a trip to Fantasy Fest.....and in the Zone....

Key West beckons....let the fantasy begin

It was time for another haircut for the Admiral, so we took the motor home to Key West last week to attend Fantasy Fest. William and Judy (S/V Optimystique), our dock neighbors and long-time friends, went with us to share the fun. We spent the first night in Marathon, and revisited some of our old haunts from this past winter/spring. We then headed for Sugarloaf Key, where we stayed at Lazy Lakes during Fantasy Fest. This was the first time for all four of us, and we could barely wait to see the festivities.

We walked 1/4-mile to the bus stop on Friday, ready for the ride to Key West (the bus itself is an adventure, with lots of colorful characters).


Our marina manager, Mike, asked us to take some photos with the Twin Dolphin burgee so he could post them on the marina web site. We took LOTS of pix, but for some reason he only used one (and it didn't even have a Fantasy Fest character in it!!). You'll spot the burgee in a few shots, though.



We first visited Schooner Wharf, our favorite place in Key West, and were rewarded with Michael McCloud (Jay and William are total groupies) singing so well even the dogs slow danced. After liquid refreshment and some McCloud tunes, we headed to Duvall Street to see what all the fuss was about.

















We'd heard lots about this event, and have a friend who used to attend regularly. We'd seen his photo album. But you really do have to be there. All sizes and shapes, all ages, all persuasions.....costumes and lack of costumes and paint and two weeks of partying....it was a hoot for these 4 hillbillies! It was also obvious that some of the participants planned their outfit (or lack of) long in advance.





















































Just for kicks -- did you see the USMC hat? Me either.