Today was a tough one. Well, not actually, but I thought I would make you envious by letting you see how old people end their day on the Loop. Look closely and you will see us in the middle. 102 degrees of heat and bubbles cooking us in a bacterial stew. This is living.
This morning we decided to cross the channel and see what was on the other side. Now we could have taken the dinghy which we have not used since Fairhope, AL and run the 200 feet across or we could hop on our bikes and ride over that tall bridge to Gilberts for lunch. We took the bikes and on the way we were attacked by a large crocodile! I had to wrestle it and throw it back in the water. Alex, Lucas and Maggie, I could not get a picture because I needed both hands to fight it off but I did get this picture…
We rode up over the bridge and looked down on Jewfish Creek which we will have to wander through on Monday when we leave. Then downhill to Gilberts on the other side.
When we got to Gilberts we went to the Tiki Bar for lunch. Every place down here has a tiki bar and from this one we could look across and see Cbay.
At the bar we met two neat guys who were chowing down on a ton of food. They were Andy Childers and Michael McDonald. In front of them was lunch. A plate of peel and eat shrimp, a plate of coconut shrimp, a basket of blackened wings and fries and much more! These were young guys down here working on the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant. Now I do not know if exposure to radiation has increased their appetite or what but they also had five beers between them.
They were so nice that they offered us the rest of the wings they could not eat because as my mother used to say “their eyes were bigger than their stomachs”. So we had the wings and then an order of smoked fish dip and split a hamburger. We had to take most of the fish dip back to the boat. When we paid they gave us huge pens to sign the credit card receipts.
We certainly enjoyed our new friends and wish them well in the future. Jan decided to check out the fuel dock before we left since she will have to take the boat in here on Monday morning to take on fuel. She is becoming quite a pilot.
On the way back I stopped to talk to the man on the BIG Chicken Boat. He was weaving a new palm frond roof over his menagerie. A nice guy who said he learned to make these from a Seminole Indian. I later learned that this guy has built nearly all the chici huts in this area. See you never know who is a bum and who is a talented eccentric.
The manatees were back again for a drink and the dinner cruise was right on time tonight as we headed to the jacuzzi. Life on the Loop is just fine.
