I just may have a bit of a promising post retirement career in the marketing industry. Time will tell.

I usually walk down to the dock before morning coffee to watch the mist rise into a limbo of sunlight and disappear as quickly as it rises. It’s peaceful there, and quiet. 

The water is silent, the docks motionless, and if you’re eyes stay keen, you can almost creep right up on the birds that await their morning sustenance. I was lucky to catch one swooping in for a landing and a breakfast of fresh lizards.

It reminded me that we were to meet Judy and Stoney, friends from Williston. After our morning walk we headed to the Neals as they were taking us to dinner. Charlie’s Fishouse Restaurant in Crystal River was a hit. 

Some of the best seafood that I’ve sampled in Florida. Inexpensive, on the water, pelicans awaiting your every need, and good company made for a great day. 

There was still a bit of daylight remaining after dinner and Judy and Stoney wanted to show us around. We decided a short drive out on the Fort Island Trail leading to the Gulf of Mexico. A good choice as we arrived shortly before the horizon engulfed the setting sun. It was worth the trip out of the way. 

The next day we did find our way to Gainseville to meet up again with Tom and Joan. We had befriended them last winter in Savannah while they were hosting in a park where we camped for two days. Later this summer they were engaged as workampers at Lake In Wood and we re-acquainted with them there. They’ve purchased a house on the outskirts of  Gainesville and have put their fiver on the market, having purchased a class B, in preparation for a few months on the road out West.  The remainder of the week was pretty much dedicated to our daily walks, a bit of work on the dumbbells, some laps in the pool, floating, and espousing personal philosophies to fellow snowbirds. Notice I went from laps in the pool directly to floating. I’m not sure all this “working out”, is working out. Approximately two hours a day are engaged in some sort of physical exertion but much to the dismay of both of us, we’re not acknowleding much of a significant weight loss. We’ll keep trying as it makes us both feel better but the loss of weight is in inverse proportion to our growing age. Dismayed by this lack of girth loss, I decided to make donuts for Sunday church services. I placed the oiled pot on the burner out front. I stepped inside to acquire the dough I already had prepared and punched into donuts and holes. In that 20 second time period a grease fire and flames roaring to the top of the windshield. Robin tartly beckoned my attention. I ran out to hopefully put an end to it while she grabbed for the extinguisher. Much to our dismay the Full indicator wasn’t quite right. Our neighbor saw the commotion and grabbed his as well. It didn’t work either. Thankfully another adjacent camping family came to the rescue with a full bottle of flame retardant but much to my chagrin, the front of the bus as well as the bra is going to have to be replaced.

It wasn’t long after cleanup that Robin had heard young Hunter hollering for his dad that one of the parks’ boats were sinking. We quickly ran down to the dock with buckets and anything that would hold water. 

Joe and his children bailed out the water, C.J. and Stacy held the front of the boat taut at the foreside, while I snapped away at the chaos. The trio had emptied the boat out enough for me to hook up a trailer to my truck and pull Joe and the sinking USS Minnow to shore. Needless to say, church was a bit delayed today.
Lessons learned….1. Enjoy friends and loved ones as if you’ll never see them again….2.Make homemade donuts as far away from the rig as possible….3.Don’t make homemade donuts, go to Walmart or Dunkin’ and buy them….4.When no one gets hurt in an accident, rejoice as the other stuff can be replaced. It’s only money….5 Have several fire extinguishers on hand at all times, locating at least one outside and two at either end of your rig inside.  And now that I know things come in 3′s, I’m wary at what may be next.

We did experience that cold spell that hit the eastern seaboard but forty-eight hours later it was just a memory. Temps are now back in the mid 70′s.

We christened the first week of the year by boating with Lenny and Mary, Jerry and Barb. We ferried down the Suwanee for half a dozen miles to a new eatery located on its banks. Treasure’s Camp Resturant has recently opened at Fowlers Landing and brings with it that old Florida ambiance.

They also sell gasoline which alleviates any fears of running dry on the next eighteen mile leg to the Gulf. Jerry was kind enough to pick up the tab and my posse was also intrumental in filling the tank.

They felt that the least they could do since we provided the transportation. Remaning days have been interspersed with walking, afternoons spent poolside, learning to make new breads with my kitchen aid mixer that the kids gifted me for Christmas, and a great deal of time commiserating with other campers on anything and everything.

Robin and I took a solo trip down river just yesterday and on the return home were fortuante enough to spot a bald eagle circling us in flight.

Wanting so badly to see it swoop down on some prey, we were eventually rewarded but the focus was a bit wanting.

I know now that no matter the problem with its weight and bulk, the big lens will always accompany me on the river.

No sooner did we put down that we were invited for dinner to the home of Mike and Gail. They  bookend us with shifts working the grille and counter at Lake in Wood’s famous Gnome Cafe. We had a wonderful time reminiscing and catching up on work gossip since their departure in September. We’ve been together several times since, tooling around the area looking golf courses and vacation homes, wharfs, and unique little shops in an attempt to flirt the day away. We met them at Poo’s in Little River, which has become their famous cuisine haunt and enjoyed fresh flounder, fries, and hushpuppies. Apparently Poo’s has become a regualar Friday stop and we’re finding ourselves doing the same.  Later in the week, more of Lake In Wood’s finest appeared at Willow Tree.  Jerry and Cheryl pulled in for a few days by mid week on their journey to Florida. Again Gail and Mike hosted us all for meatloaf, chicken, homemade mac and cheese, beans, buns, and sweet potatoes. However, Mike’s grilled hors-de-ouvres were the hit of the evening in my opinion. They were sublime. The remainder of the week has been spotted with additional Christmas shopping, photos at the beach, walking and lifting weights, a bit of driving golf balls and generally running around and making deposits to the stations owned by the big oil conglomerates.

We spent two glorious days in their company and they couldn’t have been more gracious hosts. Tom and I traded a site for a photo shoot opportunity, hoping that some of my work could help market the campground for them in the next brochure. We feasted with a small group in the social hall on Thanksgiving leftovers, met some new folks and chatted until the late hours. The next day Robin and I set out for some photo work, explored the campground, made a food run to Walmart. Tom and Nancy have completely turned this campground around for the better. Anyone traveling up and down I 95  needs to mark this as a waypoint. The campground is easy off and on, being a mere 1/2 mile from the interstate. All the sites are flat, graveled, well maintained with aesthetics that are pleasing to the eye. They make you feel as if your royalty when you enter the office and it is in evidence very much that the customers well being is the main tenet of operations here. Saturday night we were hosted at the site of John and Yuko for another round of “tales around the fire”. Hitting me like a Louisville Slugger, it was then I realized again what makes this life so special.  We’ve done it in two dozen states, amid a vast amount of differing flora and foliage, under stars and moonlit skies.

The fire is always brilliant orange and hot, the names of the people are changed from one venue to another but the stories, the laughter, the camaraderie is always “the holy grail” that we seek. Cynthia and Jim joined in and as the stories unfolded I had to laugh at the common thread that ran thoughout every get together by the fire. They’re all the same and yet, each one different. We left amid morning hugs and kisses, Tom and Nancy proving hosts hard to leave. But we’ll return. On our journey north to Christmas with the children, we’ll stop again and spend some time. Thank you, my friends, for just being you. 

I was more than impressed with the presentation. This, of course, was all gratis and free of charge to these vets who have served us so well from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Their arrival was greeted by a Scottish Highland clad bagpiper. Their departure some five hours later was sent with well wishes, hugs, and lightened hearts by every volunteer, workamper, and personnel involved in this momentous event. Governmental regulations prevents me from showing photos of the vets as they are residents of a hospital but no such rules pertained to my crew of wonderful ladies.

Today’s Fun Fact: In 1827 a new word and concept entered the American language–restaurant. It was in that year that two Swiss-born brothers Giovannia and Pietro DelMonico operated a coffee and pastry shop in the Battery district of NYC.Their enterprise was somewhat successful when in 1831 they invited nephew, Lorenzo, to join them. Though just 19 and with no catering experience, Lorenzo was born to culinary greatness. He did none of the cooking, but he did buy the food and made a point of arriving before dawn at the city’s main market to acquire the best and freshest provisions, a practice now routine but at the time unheard of. He transformed DelMonico’s pastry shop into Americans premier restaurant, bringing a dimension of elegance to America dining that it had thereto fore lacked. And now, more people eat in restaurants than do at home.

Oh, by the way we traded the Enclave this past week for a Chevy Avalanche. It feels good to be back in a truck once again. I must quit this fascination I have with purchasing vehicles. I counted them. This is the sixth one since we retired three years ago. Can I blame it on my arrested adolescence? I think not. Perhaps its my attention deficit disorder manifesting itself into high gear as I approach my seventh decade? Naw, I believe it’s because I’m never satisfied unless I have some quest to meet. Nevertheless, it’s damn fun, albeit an expensive penchant. And now to my bachelorhood. Robin began her second job today. That as baby-sitter grandmother. Carolyn had to go back to the office. There was no way “Momma G” was going to let her grandson go to day care. So she’s agreed to cover the duties a few days at the beginning of each week.  Maternal grandma Pat, wil commandeer the other two days for the new mother as she reluctantly trudges off to work. I’ll retrieve Robin on Wednesday evening from Jersey in time to ‘nest’, prior to stationing ourselves at the cafe on Thursdays. This experiment will be good for all of us. A bonding will form with Robin and Xavier that shall be priceless. Her eyes light up and I can see her burst with pride when he smiles at her.  It will also give her a chance to spend more time with both children across the Delaware. As for me, bachelorhood will give rise to mastering my mid irons, riding my bike, and spewing more bull amongst the campers.