What an interesting day it has been. We started with storms and ended with an elegant dinner in the Clearwater Yacht Club. Now to what happened in between.
We went walking out to lunch and settled on the Gondolier, a Greek owned Italian restaurant. Mighty tasty. Afterward we saw a trolley and on a lark decided to go sightseeing. Upon boarding we purchased a day pass without knowing where the trolley went. It went to downtown Clearwater where all the buses and trolleys converge. So we got off the Trolley and I found a phone booth with intact yellow pages and started calling bike shops. On the third try I found the part I needed and we boarded the correct bus and off we went.
Jan makes a friend at the bus station. He seemed quite taken with her and I thought he was going to get on our bus. He delivers Chinese food and gave us some tips on navigating the bus system while another patron screamed obscenities at a bus employee because they put him on the wrong bus and he missed his doctor’s appointment.
Jan waiting on the next bus. We are getting pretty good at using the public transportation. You meet many interesting characters. Unlike the Walmart where you see them but cannot really talk to them, on a bus you sit close together and can talk to anyone. Like the bald guy from Brooklyn with headphones who compared the Clearwater bus system to the one in New York City. But the best one was the nice looking young man with a 4 month old baby girl who he took care of every day while his girlfriend went to work. He was on the way to visit his probation officer.
Our bus driver Van was more than helpful. The man really loves his job and he has been to our hometown of Marietta, GA. He looked out for us and told us where to get off and how to walk to the bike shop and where to wait for him to pick us up. We walked about a mile, got the part plus a few other items and walked back. Within 3 minutes here comes Van.
So it has finally come to this. Two senior citizens sitting at the bus station in matching shirts and sunglasses. Man we looked so out of place. And shortly after this photo was taken we got on the last bus headed back to the Yacht Club and I sat down in my seat and suddenly felt very wet. After it sunk in I jumped up and saw that someone had used this seat recently and apparently had a bladder control issue. Jan laughed so hard while I was fuming that I was forced to laugh at myself. Thankfully this unknown wetter did not seem to have any urinary tract infections. How did I know? No strong odor.
Back at the boat a quick change and we were off to meet with the Cruisers’ Club at CYC and afterwards joined them in the elegant dining room for a wonderful dinner with new friends. Everyone wanted to talk about our journey.
Late breaking news on the propellers. They will be put back on in the morning and the price is most reasonable. Looks like with any luck we can head south on Friday. Now everybody go to bed. Its after midnight for goodness sake.
