Mañana on the Loop: DAYTONA BEACH AND WAITING

April 2-11 - We are still waiting here in Daytona for our boat to be fixed even though we have had the go ahead from the insurance company. No one seems to be in a hurry here to do the work (I think they are all on island time). We were very pleased to have Dave's brother Stephen and his wife Lauretta join us this week for a visit. We were out every day doing something or going somewhere, the week just flew by. We went over to St. Augustine actually twice as Stephen was looking for something in that area. While we were there the second time we drove about another 30 miles to Jacksonville to visit Charlie and Bonnie. Charlie will be operated on this Friday coming to have his heart repaired. Our prayers are with you both. We also drove over to St. Pete's one day and while there we went to John's Pass and the Wagon Wheel Flee Market (two busy spots). Lauretta and I did manage to get a day of shopping in but we also walked for 5 1/2 hours including our walk back to the boat. The guys were starting to get a little worried about us when we arrived. Dave is getting a little ansi so he decided he would try fixing the damage to the window himself. He and Stephen took the glass out and then proceeded to try and straighten the window by pushing it back out with a 2 x 4 and a jack. It actually needed to be pushed out about an inch or so. They got it as close as possible then Dave bent the track back to the way it was and sanded out the gouge and filled it smooth again and we managed to get some paint that is very close to the original. You would not know it had been damaged at all. Horray, two jobs done!
We decided we should go to the beach while Stephen and Lauretta were here so we did that yesterday, walking a couple of miles down and back. Dave was having a bad allergy day and was in rough shape so we headed back to the boat so he could lie down for awhile. Steve and Lauretta left for home this morning. We want to thank you for everything you did for us from the bottom of our hearts and I hope you enjoyed your visit as much as we did. We will see you at home soon (if they ever get going on this).
We were honoured this week by a newspaper story about Manana in the Punta Gorda newspaper (front page no less!). This was put into motion by Ray Dion who once owned Manana and who has a good friend Bill Jones who writes for the local paper. We were unable to visit with Ray as he was in the hospital when we passed through Punta Gorda. Ray's wife came to visit us at that time and said that Ray was pushing to have this story told and was sending Bill over to interview us, which he did.
Thanks to you both Ray and Bill for this honour. We are truly overwhelmed by this gesture. I am so glad you are feeling well again Ray and may you stay that way for many years to come. We were very sorry we missed our visit with you as we were so looking forward to it. Thank you Bill for your wonderful story about Manana, it is truly an amazing story and you did us proud.

We just had the dockmaster come and tell us we are moving into the covered slips in the morning as they are supposed to be starting the work tomorrow.