Leather and Chaps

Not a whole lot happening during the day Saturday. I decided to temp fate and try getting a hair cut again. What's my chances that I would run into another famous Fisherman? Reta had pointed out a Barber Shop on one of our drives out. What the hey, lets give it a try. I walked in and there was only one person working and he was already busily clipping someones bald head. I sat patiently and watched as he made sure he got every last hair off this man's head. Then he moved to his ears and would take the clippers and move them around to get every protruding hair from his ears. To top it off he pinched the guys nose and clipped every hair sticking out. I hope he's going to clean those clippers. Finally the moment arrived. My turn. I sat in the chair and proceeded to tell him that I wanted a "light trim". LIGHT TRIM? I DON'T DO LIGHT TRIM. I ONLY USE CLIPPERS. He continued to rant on about how would he know what a light trim is if the hair is still growing. Finally another Barber showed up and I asked if it would be better that I go with his co-worker. Yes was his disgruntled reply. This other guy turned out to be much better and pulled out a comb and scissors to start trimming my hair. The conversation was light until I asked about the "No See Um's". The little mosquito type bugs that will eat you alive. I asked it they bite for blood or just bite. Uh Oh. This got everyone in the joint (lets call it discussing very loudly) into the conversation. Each had their own opinion and knew he was right and was determined to convince the others. What have I done. When I left they were still going at it. Who would have known. From famous fisherman to No See Um's.

I wanted to go out and sport my new head piece so we decided to go up the road to downtown Fort Myers and check out the water front. (There is Fort Myers "city" and Fort Myers Beach. Two different city's about 1/2 hour apart. One is on the river and the other, of course, the beach.) We got there and were pleasantly surprised to find a Biker Rally happening in Historic Downtown. Great time walking among the leather and chaps, checking out the different bikes and bikers and listening to the live bands. Lets just say that Reta and I stood out like two Mexican jumping beans in a pile of white rice. We had on dress shirts and nice pants while the majority had jeans and leather.

We found this neat roof top bar with a beautiful view of the two bridges that cross over into North Fort Myers. After getting some dinner at a Tapas Restaurant we did one final walk through the rally and headed home.

With much sadness we are in our final 2 days at Marsh Harbor. This entry will end our journey to the Bahamas. The last day found us doing a couple loads of laundry and cleaning up the boat. We also had to take apart the dinghy and haul it up onto the deck of the sailboat to be secured. It went better than expected. We packed our bags and were ready to go. The next morning the Taxi driver that Deb had made friends with would be coming by at 8:15 to pick us up. At 7 we started to hear a lot of thunder. I poked my head out the hatch to see these two amazing sites. The look out to the west was of these furious storm clouds moving towards us and when I looked to the east it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen.

Hard to believe this is the same day, same moment. Within 10 minutes the wall of water was on us and it rained like I thought we were on Noah's ark. Send in the animals! By 8 the weather was clear and by 8:15 we were in her taxi on our way to the airport. Of course the plane was delayed for an hour because of the weather but we didn't care. The flight home was uneventful and yes, Reta slept most of the trip while I was busy taking pictures and watching the pilots flipping switches and turning knobs. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and it felt like we had landed in Anchorage Alaska. Cold, cold, cold. Only thing left to do was see if Road Hazard survived without us.

Looking back at all the pictures and recounting the memories has made us realize more that we are very fortunate to have been able to experience a trip like this. Thanks again Deb and Charlie for making it possible. I know we weren't the most experienced crew and we would get our port side mixed up with starboard. No, wait, that was the Captain who got mixed up. But, we did learn a lot about knots, sailing and boats. We saw islands that we never would have seen on our own. We experienced another way to travel and most importantly we had a chance to spend time with you two and truly have a great time, laughing, talking and eating. Thank you. When is the next trip?

Trivia question...

This sign was hanging up at the local watering hole in Marsh Harbor. Can anyone tell me what the letters stand for?

IITYWYBTHAD

I had to ask the bartender. I'll give you the answer on Monday.