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| John cutting his carrot, "pirate" birthday cake |
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| John hugging his grandmother, Mary Alice |
Wednesday, November 6 and we're off to celebrate John's 30th
birthday in St Louis! Periodic telephone calls, texts and emails between John's girlfriend
Kristen and Sally have firmed up Kristen's surprise party plans to celebrate on
Thursday evening at the Flying Saucer, a "beer bar" offering nearly 200 different brews in downtown St. Louis with a large group of
John's co-workers, fraternity friends, St. Louis friends and relatives. Clay
planned a leisurely, slow-paced trip to St. Louis with a stop in Southaven, MS
overnight Wednesday, to arrive in time for Thursday's party.
John
and Kristen arrived to a room full of friends who made turning 30 fun for John!
The Flying Saucer was a fun place to celebrate, providing a private room large
enough to accommodate 50. Susan, Alan and Bob drove from Columbia for the
evening's festivities; Cindy, Walter and Mary Alice arrived from Louisiana.
And, we surprised John, arriving from Mobile where we'd left the boat for
anticipated repairs.
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| Hostess Kristen and John cutting the cake |
After
spending our first night at John's new home post-party, Clay and I had a
whirlwind weekend with a Friday morning business meeting in St. Louis, followed
by a St. Louis Bread Company stop on our way home for hair appointments for
both of us and an evening get-together with Clay's mom. Saturday and Sunday
passed far too quickly as we fell into our Saturday morning routine of Circuit
Training at the Y followed by a stop at Daybreak Donuts for Clay's caramel cake
donut (oops, donuts, plural) and to meet and greet and to see the new addition,
finished since our departure in August.
Cindy
had a family outdoor photo shoot planned for Saturday afternoon which gave all
of us some Logan family time on a beautiful fall day. John arrived for the
shoot and decided to spend the night, so I stoked up the coals on our grill and
fabricated a traditional family dinner out of the meager offerings in the
frig/freezer/pantry at 417. Too, facing a season change, I was intent on
setting thermostats and fans to accommodate the upcoming cold temperatures
while Clay drained the appropriate outdoor water pipes and checked on the Mary
A II at the marina. This early-November trip home was not in our original game
plan but turned out to be timely and a nice break from the boat routine.
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| Clay, Sally, John, and Kristen |
Up for our Sunday morning run, John and I (Clay opted out, citing 'too
cold') followed my usual route, arriving home
to a full breakfast cooked by Chef Clay. Gotcha! Nope, no breakfast awaited us.
But we three nonetheless gathered in the kitchen over a Sally-cooked breakfast
to replay the party and the weekend's memories.
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| John and Megan |
Packed,
loaded and heading south by noon, we three drove tandem to Wentzville for lunch
then went separate ways. Clay had designed our day with again Southaven, MS our
Sunday night destination which was a push with dark hitting early! We continued
our trek south toward Mobile, arriving at the boat at Turner Marina Monday eve
(by now, November 11).
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| The entire LOCKTON crowd |
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| Clay, John and Rennne |
The
squeaky wheel does get the oil! We'd left the Turner Marina staff with a list
of items needing repair, and our absence put the SaSea Sally at the end of the
list of boats. Mobile, of course, was the destination of all of the Loopers
leaving the Rendezvous mid-October heading south toward Florida. With many
needing oil changes, bottoms painted and electronics and mechanical issues resolved,
there was a hub of activity in all of the marinas surrounding Mobile Bay in Dog
River. So, finding nothing had been done on our boat, we were stuck at Turner
for another few days before our departure to Fairhope.
Clay
decided keeping the rental car another couple of days was wise, and, although
we used it little, we found Sally with a much happier attitude having wheels to
go if she wished....somewhere....anywhere! And, Clay was elated to send Sally
on a mission to the big, new West Marine store on Airport Road after the local
West Marine outlet couldn't fill his order. Sally was happy, finding a Panera
right across from the West Marine store! And, we made use of the car evenings
to explore some of the local eateries which offered seafood. We'd eaten at
Bonefish Grill (a chain) on our way into Mobile Monday night; Tuesday night
found us at the Original Oyster House; and Wednesday found us back at the
Mariner Restaurant where we'd been with Faye and Eddie only the week before.
Carless on Thursday evening and still stuck at Turner, we walked over to the
Mobile Yacht Club which served transients (us), even though a private club. My
meal was less than satisfactory, but Clay yumm'ed on fried seafood of some
sort.
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| Clay and Mary Alice (Grandmother) |
Temps
earlier in this week of November 11 had plumetted from 71 to 33 during the day
Tuesday. We dealt with howling winds and low temps off the Bay for the next few
days, culminating in rain on Friday. Thank goodness the workmen had shifted
into gear by Wednesday after presumably spending much of Tuesday searching for
and ordering parts. Wed, Thurs, and Friday work racked up a sizable (but
reasonable which I even admitted) bill for us to pay Saturday before our
departure. I was thrilled to have the aft stateroom ac/heat unit and front
head's joker valve (check that one out!) fixed, with such nice repairmen
tolerating educating me as they worked!
I
had found the bridge over Dog River to be a good jogging/walking path even with
minimal traffic and occasional semis, dump trucks and whatnot. It wasn't
Chattanooga or Ditto Landing (Huntsville) by a long shot, but it worked, and I
knew I'd miss the routine once gone.
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| John and some LOCKTON friends |
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| Mike, Tim, and John |
It's
now Saturday morning, (Nov 16), and we're soon to depart Turner Marina at Dog
River, Mobile Bay. More to come; look for my next installment. Again, I hope
you enjoy reading about our travels.
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| The LOCKTON office crew |
Randy
showed up the next morning (Wednesday) to cruise with us from Orange Beach to
Pensacola, FL, where we are currently docked at the Palafox Pier. Because Randy
spent many years in business in Pensacola, raised his family here, and has now
settled in the area of Tuscaloosa, his presence was even more welcome as he
helped us navigate the ICW, pointed out sights of iterest and tripped down
memory lane with Clay. NOTE: Clay and Randy (Schmitt) were childhood friends in
Louisiana, attended Westminster together and spent much time following
graduation together, Clay having been in Randy's wedding to Missy and Randy in
our wedding as well.
Margaret
arrived soon after our docking at Palafox Pier where we sought out Jaco's for a
combo late lunch/early dinner. Another town tour late morning today (it's now Thursday) and lunch at Marina
Oyster Barn for oysters on the half-shell helped to pass the day quite
pleasantly, regardless of the whippy winds and thus chill on the waterfront. A
stop at Joe Patti's for fresh fish of all kinds at wholesale prices, Clay and I
are now armed with enough fish for dinners for the next few nights aboard the
boat at a fraction of restaurant prices. Joe Patti's was a cool place where I
could have spent hours exploring their raw and prepared foods and seasonings
offerings. It was obviously a very popular place where patrons took a number to
hold a place in line for ordering. We ended up with Gulf Grouper, Amberjack, 2
different packages of shrimp (one for Doris' shrimp creole recipe...thanks,
Doris!..and one for grilling on skewers), plus a package of refrigerated pesto
and a Cavender's Greek seasoning which both Randy and Margaret highly
recommended for grilling, baking and for sprinkling.
