Texas comes to Florida

What a trip! Karen and I along with my old (and I do mean old) college roomate Dean and his wife Terry joined mom and dad on the southern leg of the loop. After 4 great days aboard, we are reluctantly heading home with some awesome memories. As you can see from the captain and first mate's blogs, we visited 4 ports around Tampa Bay; Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Longboat Key, and Sarasota. Each stop was unique in it's own way, but St. Pete was my favorite. The yacht club is right downtown with parks, shops, and restaurants within walking distance. We happened to be there during the Rib Fest which was a first class PARTY! It included bands (Toto, Cheap Trick, Sly and the Family Stone, and more). Mom and dad are great hosts and went out of their way to show us a good time. We don't get to boat with them very often so I was very impressed at how great a pilot dad has become and how proficient mom is with the lines when docking and mostly how well they work toether during the process...quick, aliens abducted my parents and replaced them with Ozzy and Harriet! I have to give a 'shout out' to the Reagan Crew Dogs! As they say, every dog has his day, well I just had 4 of them! There actually is a lot in common between 'band crewing' and 'boat crewing'...you pee when you can, sleep whenever you get the chance, and never ever pass up a meal! I think I gained 5 lbs!

Thanks again mom and dad!