MAXIMO POINT ANCHORAGE, GULFPORT, FL

19-20 April, 2005. We finally crossed Tampa Bay to get here just in time for Mary's arrival from Denver, CO. Our friend, Jay, who we met when we lived in Tampa back in the late 90's, came to pick us up and take us to Bob's house. Jay is renting the "mother-in-law" apartment on Bob's property. Rocky, Mary and I stayed at Bob's house for 2 nights. Gail and her fiancee Marc were also there most of the time and we had a great time hanging out by the pool.

When Rocky and I first arrived in Tampa on Christmas Day, 1997, from Denver, it was raining. Either January or February, 1998, the rainfall totaled something like 27 inches for that month, breaking the record set in the 1880's by something like 10 inches. That was our introduction to Florida after driving from Denver (including a fierce Oklahoma ice storm). Shortly after we arrived in Tampa, we met Bob and Billy, who threw these great pool parties. We also met Gail, Jay, Rich, Hippie Don, Timmy and a lot of other great people.

We are currently in constant touch with Gail, who was living in a house that Bob owned in Zephyrhills (yes, the spring water). We were at a hurricane party at the house in Zephyrhills when we won the first 24 foot sailboat on ebay. We had evacuated Michael, Natalie and Roxanne from Ft. Pierce (on the Atlantic coast) and Timmy was with us also. We even called Hippie Don but he was on his way to Michigan for a month so we didn't get to see him. It was nice to be back among so many good friends after our journey from Chesapeake City, MD. Of course, we had a great time visiting Michael, Natalie and Roxanne in Ft. Pierce before going through the Okeechobee Cut to the Gulf Coast of Florida.