Missed Blog Posts

Last year, I started saving the keys from the hotel that I stay in. I decided to lay them out and photograph my motorsports history in hotels. I stay in some hotels repeatedly, so I have multiple keys from those.


Finally, I'm back into a more 'normal' schedule. The last 2+ months have been fairly non-stop. Beginning at the end of September - my schedule was nuts!. I was away from home every day of October except for 3. I was only home 2 days out of the first 20 of November. Not all of that was work - we went to the Outer Banks for Jan's birthday and I moved the sailboat to Key Largo with my buddy Tim, but still - it had me 'on the go' for a pretty good stretch.

During this time, I didn't get all the blog posts in that I wanted to, so here's a 'catch up' blog.
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In late October, my buddy Tim and I moved Serenity from Daytona Beach to Key Largo. Our last race of the season was to be 2 weeks later and I wanted to have the boat in Key Largo (where we stay during the Miami/Homestead race) so that I could take the crew out on the boat as an 'end of year' treat.

The trip from Daytona to Key Largo is approx 300 miles and could be done in as little as 2 1/2 days if we could get out in the ocean and sail day and night to Key Largo. If the weather didn't cooperate, it could take 5 or 6 days in the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).

Well, we had days and days of strong NE winds which creates big seas in the ocean, so we took the ICW route all the way to Ft. Lauderdale - where the wind finally died down and we sailed overnight to Rodriquez Key. We anchored in the lee of Rodriquez and then motored into Largo Sound the next morning to the mooring field where I left Serenity while I worked the Phoenix race.

Here's some photos from that trip:

My buddy Tim at the Helm of Serenity


As we were passing through Melbourne, I called my friend Jim who you may remember sailed 2 years on Stardust, but is now living in the Melbourne area and working with a mutual friend Joe - importing some Light Sport aircraft from the Czech Republic. It turns out that a 3rd mutual friend Pete was visiting and they were going flying later in the morning. The 2 photos above are taken of Serenity as they flew past us. All of the friends mentioned are buddys from my life in hang gliding.

One of the many mansions on the water in Fort Lauderdale

Finally offshore around Miami as the sun is setting.



During our last week at work, we stayed in the Marriot Resort in Key Largo. It was the most fun workweek of the year. Of course with it being our last show of the season and having 2 and 1/2 months off, we didn't mind the actual job, plus we had a bit of a party atmosphere the whole time. Our boss was on hand for the race and he let us all know that it was the best motorsports year that our company had ever had. He was very pleased. This is always good to hear. The winds piped up to 25-30 knots for the day after the race, so we didn't take Serenity out into the ocean. I had 11 people - most of which had never been on a sailboat before, so I didn't think it smart for me to take a boatload out into those type conditions. Instead, we all went out and spent the day on Serenity while she was on the mooring in Largo Sound. It was a very fun time. I really like the crew I work with. They're all great guys and everyone is a very hard worker. I feel lucky to be on the crew.


The resort we stayed in was very nice. This is the view from my room.

There was a hut out next to the water with a couple of hammocks. Being the early riser of the crew, I'm always ready before anyone else. This is where I waited on the crew most mornings.


You probably remember that famous Humphrey Bogart movie called KEY LARGO that was filmed in this area in 1948. 3 years later, Bogart filmed the African Queen. For some reason, someone decided that the boat which was the namesake of the "African Queen" should be in Key Largo. So, here it is. Kinda falling apart.

This is the majority of the crew in the production room as we're readying for a show.

Here's a photo taken from the beach at Largo Sound. Largo Sound is inside the John Pennecamp State Park. I took the photo when I noticed that the canon was pointed at Serenity - the only boat out in the sound.



After the crew departed the area, I sailed the boat down to Key West to leave it on a mooring in Garrison Bight so that I could go down to to KW (with Jan as well - when she has the time off) and use the boat in a sailing ground that I really enjoy. It was a 2 day sail down to KW and most of it was magnificent sailing with 15 knots on the starboard beam.
Some of the beautiful water between Key Largo and Key West.


This egret landed on the bow of the boat as I was about to anchor in Newfound Harbor (near Big Pine Key). I tried to 'shoo' it away before dropping the anchor, but it was determined to stay. When I finally hit the remote windlass (winch that lets the chain out to drop the anchor) button, it flew away.

During the winters that Jan and I have spent time and lived in Key West, we met/befriended a guy named Rick (who we called Violin Man). Rick plays a violin on the street corners at night for tips. He's an extremely smart - yet socially disfunctional guy. We would just stop and give him a few bucks and introduced ourselves. Once he meets you - he never forgets you or most things about you. 4 years ago, we lived in KW over the winter and my parents came and visited. We introduced them to Rick in a very brief encounter. While in KW on this trip down with the boat, I ran into Rick and he instantly remembered me and asked about Jan as well as my mom and dad. He remembers where you live, where you work and all kinds of details. 4 years ago, he would only 'bump fists' with you - being one of those people who doesn't like to shake hands because of germs. Now he won't even do that. He's one of those interesting people that makes KW what it is.