Since we knew we
would be in this area for a few more weeks, my sister, Beverly, decided to
visit for a week. She is now living in
Oklahoma to be near her son, daughter-in-law, and their 3 girls. We wish we had room for all of them to
visit.
We decided to rent a
car for the week. That way Bev and I
could be tourists, but we could also run a couple errands. Arrangements have to be made to deal with a
car when you don't have a place to park. First of all, I took the local trolley to the
car rental nearest us. I then picked up
groceries before I picked up Bev at the airport. Now, where to park the car? On the north side of the bridge, the parking
is free, but you can't park overnight.
On the south side of the bridge the parking is $2.00 an hour, but free
between 6:00pm and 9:00 am, if you can find a spot. So every morning and night, we had to shuffle
the parking spots. A couple times, we
paid for an hour for the convenience. We spent one whole day of Bev's vacation running errands for boat parts and to the
Killion's to pick up packages. She SAID she enjoyed seeing the area and spending time
with us. The day Bev flew out, I went to
the grocery store and bank, then the airport and returned the car. I thought I would have to take the trolley
back to the boat, but they were delivering a car and took me back, which was
really nice. I hadn't thought through to
the part where I would have had to wait for a bus in the sun without a hat or
sunscreen.
Thursday, we went to
Sanibel Island to walk the beautiful beach known for their sea shells. When we returned that afternoon, we waited at
a bar with a dock for Dave to pick us up.
Bev said "Boy, life goes in circles. Here we are waiting for a guy to pick us up
at the bar. And they are playing the
same music, but now they are calling them
oldies." We also had a
friend from the Black Hills in town today.
Greg Gunderson, from Custer (now Spearfish Canyon) and his friend from
Naples joined us for a short sail (not much wind). It is fun to have people we know from SD see
how we are actually living on the boat.
On Friday, Bev and I
picked up Devyn Killion and went to a Manatee Park to kayak with the
manatees. Well, since it's warmer now,
there weren't many manatees in the area.
We did see a turtle and a couple snakes.
And we had a nice time kayaking.
That morning, we went to a fish market on the water and bought fresh
gulf shrimp. Dave made a wonderful
dinner for us on the boat that night.
Since it was a
hassle to park, Bev and I thought we should just go on a road trip for 3 days. I have been to Key West 5 times, but Bev had
never been there. So we decided to drive
to the Keys.
The morning we
planned to leave, Saturday, we wanted to help Dave move our boat to a fuel dock
to refill our water tanks. Once the
water maker is finished, that won't be a concern. Since we wanted to get an early start, Bev
thought she'd catch the sunrise that morning.
Well, we woke to a dense fog. It
was actually beautiful to see the other boats and their reflections on the
water. We slowly moved our boat to the
fuel dock, not far away. As we were
there, the daily ferry to Key West passed by us. I caught a picture of it with another boat in
the background. That boat was a touring
replica of one of Magellan's ships from the 16th century that circumnavigated
the world. Quite a contrast to see
together.
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