Shortly after Steve and Claudia arrived we headed out fishing

I keep the dinghy right beside Rick Hendrick's 80' boat...Steve had never seen a fishing boat that big

For some reason Claudia had here name on the door when we arrived at lunch.

Steve and Claudia are on the left in this picture...Ron and Cyndy are on the right. We had a great luch together in a little Mexican joint on Duval. Great friends.


This is Rick Hendrick's boat coming in from fishing yesterday

Rick Hendrick is in the front left in this picture...Dale Earnhart Jr. is in the red hat. I told them I'd take their picture together. The fish they caught are Dolphin...beautiful fish

Log 96
Day 260
Thursday, February 05, 2009

8:30 AM EST
Location: A&B Marina, Key West, FL
Weather: 52 and very windy...there are wind chill factors in the Keys this morning

It got down to 50 last night...with winds all night howling above 20 mph, and 30 mph in many places in the Keys. If we were up north this would be a heat wave, but in the Keys...this is the worst part of winter.

Our friends Steve and Claudia got here on Monday afternoon (the pictures on the log really tell more of the story than I can today). It was a nice day with light winds out of the South, so I wanted to take Steve fishing as soon as he got here, because I knew the winds would pick up and this would probably be our last opportunity. So within 20 minutes of their arrival we were walking down the dock heading for the dinghy, and then headed out to my new fishing spot...about a 25 minute run. The good news was Steve caught several fish very quickly, but the skies were getting dark, and you could see lots of lightning off to the NW. I had to convince Steve to stop fishing, because he was enjoying himself, but finally did, and by the time we got back to the dock it was raining, and very dark. Shortly after, the skies opened up and it poured for most of the evening.

Tuesday was an exploring day of Key West, as the 4 of us walked all around the area. It was cool out (65), and windy, so it was a great time to walk. We ended up at Turtle Krawl for lunch, which is just across the harbor from our boat, and then walked Duval street in the afternoon. I finally had enough of Duval, and Steve and I came back to the boat, while Deb and Claudia walked for another couple of hours. For dinner we went up to A&B for happy hour, and were joined by Jerry and Lynn (across the dock on Sea La Vie). We didn’t spend much money (1/2 price for everything) and had a great time.

Wednesday...we met another couple for lunch today. Ron and Cindy Witzke...friends of ours from Michigan. Ron was VP of Human Resources for TLC...the company I retired from. Ron just retired, and he and Cindy have rented a place in Key West for the next month. The 6 of us had a great lunch and talked a lot about old times. Now that all of us are newly retired we also talked about what the next 12 months was going to be like. For Ron and Cindy...after a month in Key West; a month on the west coast of Florida; a month in South Carolina they head back to Michigan for the summer and then head to Paris...for 6 months. This retirement thing is ok. Also yesterday, the excitement (at least for Steve and I) was seeing Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhart Jr on the dock. I mentioned before that Rick’s boat (Reel Wheels) was here and I kept waiting for some of his drivers to come here to fish. Yesterday was the day, and when they came back in from fishing Steve and I were there to catch their lines and help them tie up the boat. They had no more docked, when out walked Rick and Jr out of the cabin. You can see from the picture we took they caught some fish. We decided not to bother them with any autographs...but it was cool seeing them, none the less.

Today...not sure. Because of the high winds, and cool temperatures we are not sure what we’ll do. I’m in charge of finding a cool spot for lunch, and after that...who knows.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob