Take Two (But, in reverse)

While at Bluewater Bay, Lesson Plan has gotten her mast trimmed. Her sails have been re-stitched
and trimmed where needed. I have cleaned her from stem to stern, both inside and out. I have waxed her deck. Reorganized her cockpit lockers. And waterproofed her canvas. That’s got to be the equivalent of a mani-pedi, massage and facial/day at the spa. I bet she feels like a new girl.

Mother Of All Bombs

I had time to visit the Airforce Armament Museum while I was in Niceville. The Museum is the kind Loopers like, it’s free. I learned that Eglin Airforce Base is responsible for the development and testing of all non-nuclear armaments for the USAF, both defensive and offensive armament. I never really thought of defensive armament until I read and heard some of the testimonies from the troops in the field who were pinned down by enemy fire and a defensive strike saved their lives and allowed them to get out alive. There are 26 aircraft displayed around the outside of the museum and 4 more inside. It made me think of my dad, who was a RADAR tech on some of those planes (I wished he were here for me to ask some questions).

Now it is time for take two with Carol and Steve, but in reverse. If you recall, Steve and Carol were going to go with me from Mobile to Destin, but we were grounded at the marina. So now that it is time to head back to Mobile from Niceville, I have invited them to go along for the return trip. The forecast is for a south wind, so we should not have an issue with water blowing out of the bay. There is a 40% chance of rain for the two days it will take us to get from Niceville to Mobile. But, as my shipmate Steve Stahl told me on several occasions as we transited the Great Lakes, there’s a 60% chance it won’t rain. As I recall, our luck held out every time, we did not get rain for any of the days we traveled. Now we will see if it was just a stroke of bad luck that left us grounded in Mobile back in January, or if Carol and Steve have bad Juju swirling about them.

PS from the Niceville Blog Post

A reader (who shall remain anonymous) asked why I seemed to discount the theory of Niceville being named after Nice, France. Well, the thinking was something like this, Nice, France is on the Riviera and Niceville is on the Riviera of the South, so…..Remember Niceville was named in 1910.

The beaches are along the Emerald Coast from Pensacola to Panama City are referred to as the "Redneck Riviera". But the earliest references to Redneck Riviera I could find are from the 1960’s, including Tom T Hall’s song in 1966 titled Redneck Riviera. Or the Nitty Grit Dirt Band’s own Redneck Riviera.

Another interesting note on the area: According to the Daily News, the term Emerald Coast was coined in 1983 by a junior high school student, Andrew Dier, who won $50 in the contest for a new area slogan. Can you imagine if he got royalties on that phrase?

Lesson Learned: People actually do read this stuff.