Pensacola

Paula and I got back into our car, and I said, “If I lived here, my new best friend Bill and I would be out sailing every day.”

          Apparently Bill felt the same way because when he and Kim went back to their car he said something to the effect of, “Why can’t my new friend Don live nearby?”

          These two comments uttered simultaneously twenty minutes after meeting each other, probably came to somewhat of a relief to both Kim and Paula. When two great friends from High School get together eons later, one must ponder the fact that the two other people in attendance will either be just two lugs left in the dust as the girls re-live the glory years, or they actually strike out on their own and have a totally independent, genuine, and pleasurable conversation based on  new-found mutual interests.

          Boats and tools.

          Now before you go and say something like, “Duhhh!”

                   “Two guys?”

                   “Boats and tools?”

                   “What a stretch!”

          Let me explain.

          Not just, “Yea, my brother has a boat and sometimes I go out with him”

          More like, “Are you familiar with the Cape Dory 28?”

          “Yea! That’s a sweet design, I love the full keel on it!”

          Our conversation went on with references thrown back and forth with reckless abandon about, J-Boats, Sparkman and Stevens (Classic sailboat designers and builders), old wooden boats and their care, (I love the smell of a good spar varnish!”) joiners and planers, (Bill is a craftsman, cabinet making is one of his specialties).

          I believe that I’ve made my point here and will not belabor you with any more detail. Suffice to say that if Paula and Kim had any concerns about “if the boys would get along”, well, as you can tell, those fears were totally unfounded.

          We are on our way to Sugarloaf Key, and we knew that we would practically drive through Pensacola, Florida. That’s where Kim (and Bill) have lived for the past thousand years or so. Paula and Kim attended Montville High and have remained in Facebook Contact since then. Paula did travel here about eleven years ago with another mutual friend for a long weekend.

          So, we obviously made plans to overnight here in the ‘Walmart of Gulf Breeze’. We made plans to meet up down by the beach at the “Beach Ball”, a water tower painted as such. This place is everything that you’d want a seaside town to be, not a shortage of any desirable shore amenities.

          The beaches, which are right on the Gulf of Mexico,  are incredibly gorgeous as you can see from these photos.

          We went to dinner at a place named “Peg-Legged Pete’s” where we had cheeseburgers!

          No way! We had some really great seafood as you can expect from a seaside town plopped directly on the Gulf!

          After dinner we went back to the motorhome because Kim and Bill wanted to see what it was all about.

          On our way there we made a tiny side-trip to visit Kim’s kindergarten classroom.

           It was the highlight of the evening. 😊

          Kim has been teaching for something like 47 years and for anyone who knows teaching, after a while you get burned out.

          Totally natural.

          The key is to know when you are burned out and exit gracefully as much for the kids sake as one’s own.

          As you can see from these photos, and if you had been able to hear Kim talk about her “Brainiacs” in her classroom, you would harbor no fears that the dreaded “Burn Out” was forthcoming any time soon!

          Quite the contrary! This is a case where the kids and the school will truly be at a loss when Kim finally decides to put the chalk down.

          Back at the motorhome we regaled Kim and Bill with “Tales from the Highway” and showed a few photos of such. We explained the day-to-day living in a 400 square foot  “House” and the pro’s and (not many!) cons of life on the road.

          Photos taken, it was time to say good-night as we had a nine-hour day in front of us before our next stop in Sun City, where Barb, Paula’s sister lives,

          Gotta Go, Time to start driving!