Guest visits and Theresa's First Day

I always enjoy it when visitors come calling. This visit has been in the plan for a long time and then I had a couple of bonuses with it. I have been communicating with Patrick and Cindy McLaughlin (Cindy is Theresa's cousin) for quite some time about doing the Loop and various boating experiences. A few years ago, before I started on my Loop, they did the FL Loop which goes across the lower pare of FL through Lake Okeechobee, around Key West and back up through Hawks Channel and the ICW. It was one of those things, when I saw Cindy's post on FB and it just help stoke my fire a little more about doing the Loop. I knew when I got close to Boca Raton, I was going to stop long enough for a visit. They have a beautiful 34' trawler named Sunshine. Patrick and Paul Thompson (another cousin, Cindy's brother) were planning on bring Sunshine down to the marina where I had booked a slip, but weather and other obligations interfered with the plan so they decided to drive down one evening.

Patrick, Cindy, and Paul drove down to Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday. After giving them the grand tour of Lesson Plan we headed down the River Walk to have dinner. We found a great place that allowed use to talk and have a great visit. I told them we were planning to stop at Boynton Harbor Marina on Friday (I was hoping they could come for another visit). We got some great news on Thursday before we left. They are going to meet us in Boynton Harbor on Friday night.

Friday went very well. We only lost 25 minutes waiting on one bridge, we got there just five minutes late. But on down, we got lucky and the bridge tender delayed the opening three or four minutes to let us through. We made it to Boynton Harbor about 12:30. Time to get cleaned up and relaxed before we get have visitors on Lesson Plan. I think Theresa had a good first day traveling on Lesson Plan. It was a relatively short day, and there was a lot to see in this stretch of the ICW. A lot of beautiful homes and boats. We even got to see Paul when he was out for his morning stroll. He told me that he walked close to the ICW so I shared my Google location with him and he was able to spot us and wave from the bank.

Cindy, Paul, and Gail (Paul's wife) arrived about 4:30. Patrick wasn't able to join us but we carried on without him. We enjoyed some of Cindy's famous Patron Margaritas aboard Lesson Plan and had a great time. It is always fun to catch up with friends and relatives. We look forward to our next visit with them.

Tomorrow will be a long day, we are trying to make 70 miles. We turned in about 9:30, because "Dawn comes early on a boat,. You're right about that, Boss. It happens every morning about sun-up." (bonus points if you know the movie). Hopefully it goes as well as today.

“Life gives us only brief moments with one another. But sometimes, in those brief moments, we get memories that last a lifetime.” Author unknown

NEBO Log 2019-03-01