The Trip to Missouri and St. Petersburg to Crystal River

We arrived in Springfield, Missouri, the evening of April 4th and were greeted at the airport by our friend Nila Hayes who then took us home with her where we enjoyed a wonderful pork loin roast dinner with all the trimmings prepared by her husband, Everett.

Having gotten accustomed to the warm Florida weather, the cold front that hit Missouri the day of our arrival was a bit of a shock! After having had unseasonably warm weather in Missouri the two weeks prior to our visit, we spent the next ten days in unseasonably cold weather, even for Missouri in the early spring!

After spending the night with Nila & Everett, Everett took us to meet my niece, Jennifer, the next morning. Jennifer had driven to Springfield to pick us up and take us to Lake of the Ozarks where my parents were getting settled in to their new lake home. My nephew Greg, his wife Crystal and their new baby, Lily Juliet, arrived unexpectedly late Thursday evening and spent the night and most of Friday with us.

The rest of our time at Lake of the Ozarks was spent doing what we could in the cold weather to help my parents with various chores; unfortunately, much of what we had planned to do was outside work and the weather prevented us from accomplishing as much as we had hoped. Todd helped dad with several projects, though, and even managed to get in a little fishing while he was there!

My great niece, Lily Juliet, who is about nine months old now.


Great grandma (my mother) feeds Lily while her father (my nephew, Greg) assists.


My brother Dewayne and his wife Penny came to the lake house the final weekend we were there and then took us to Lebanon late Sunday afternoon where Nila & Everett graciously met us and took us back to Springfield. We went to Ebbets Field that evening a met up with several friends from the University including Bob & Linda Eckels (who had visited us a few months ago in Fort Myers Beach), Howard & Sue Berriman (soon retiring and moving to Savannah, Georgia), Glena Admire and Karen Bench (both former co-workers in the Purchasing Office), Karen's friend Mike and daughter Tish. We then went back to the Hayes' residence where we were staying for the duration of our visit.

On Monday Todd rode to work with Nila and spent the day visiting various friends and former co-workers on campus while I recuperated from a bug I had picked up Sunday evening. Todd went back into town Monday evening to spend some time with the Teale family, Kelli's friend Stephanie and another friend, John Whitworth, while I continued to convalesce.

Todd rode to work with Nila again Tuesday morning and continued his campus visits. I had sufficiently recovered by then to ride into town with Everett shortly before noon, drop him off at an appointment and take his car to the University to have lunch with a couple of former Purchasing Office co-workers, Dave Yurchak and LaDonna Hansen. I was also able to spend a few minutes visiting with Greg Burris, Vice President for Administrative and Information Services, before he had to leave for a speaking engagement elsewhere in town.

Todd and I shuttled Everett's car back to him after lunch where we got to spend a few minutes with Betsy Burris, Greg's wife, then we ran a few errands in Nila's car and made arrangements to meet Everett later so that we could leave Nila's car on campus. Nila had obtained skybox tickets for a Missouri State Bears baseball game that evening in Cardinal Stadium so we met her at Maria's after work to grab a bite to eat while Everett went to a Board meeting.

While at the ballgame, we ran into and visited with several University employees including the University's president, Dr. Mike Nietzel, and another of its vice presidents, Dr. Don Aripoli. We learned that Dr. Aripoli was going to be in Clearwater the following week and made tentative arrangements to see he and his wife, Becky, on our way north from St. Petersburg.

Todd again rode to campus with Nila Wednesday morning and I took Everett's car in later to see a few other people on campus, including Tim Kilpatrick, Director of Communication Services, and John Black, the University's General Counsel. I also ran into Greg Onstot, retired Vice President of University Advancement, while in the Student Union and spent a few minutes chatting with him before he had to return to his meeting.

Todd spent some time earlier in the day with the former president of the University, Dr. John Keiser, and his wife Nancy who were in town from Idaho for the University's Public Affairs Conference. We then returned to the Hayes' house Wednesday afternoon where Everett was preparing an early dinner, did a load of laundry and got packed for the return flight to Florida.

After a wonderful meal of roasted summer squash and bacon pasta, salad with homemade dressing and garlic bread, Nila & Everett dropped us off at the airport where we ran into Dr. Ron Fairbairn, Dean of the College of Continuing and Professional Education, who was there to pick up a speaker for the Public Affairs Conference. We spent several minutes chatting with Dr. Fairbairn while waiting for our plane to begin boarding and then had an uneventful flight back to St. Petersburg where our friend Cathy picked us up. Mike & Mary of "What Daze It?" had arrived at Cathy's earlier that day after making their way north from the 10,000 Islands area and were docked in their "usual" spot.

A parting shot of us with the Hayes at the airport.


We spent the next week at Cathy's where Todd and Mike completed several jobs including laying sod in the area Todd had previously cleared in December/January, staining the deck of the boat dock, installing some decorative fence panels to hide the air conditioner, repairing the fence gate hinge, installing a new motion sensor on the spotlight at the dock and planting a few more plants.

Mike & Mary decided to leave Cathy's Wednesday afternoon, April 25th, and go as far as Caladesi Island for the evening. Todd and I left late Thursday morning and had only gone a few miles when we were informed that the Treasure Island bridge was closed for the day and that no traffic was being allowed through. So, we reversed our course and headed out into the Gulf for the trip north to Clearwater where we planned to meet up with Dr. Aripoli and his wife Becky for a brief visit.

The unexpected bridge closure cost us about 90 minutes of backtracking, but we arrived in Clearwater around 3:30 that afternoon, had a nice visit with Dr. Aripoli & Becky and then continued north to Anclote Key, arriving about 7:00 p.m. It was a relatively windy evening but the anchor had dug in nicely and we were secure for the evening. The wind picked up even more about 5:00 a.m. Friday morning and continued to blow steadily throughout the day, so we decided to stay at Anclote another night rather than pull up the anchor and go into Tarpon Springs where Mike & Mary had gone after leaving Caladesi Island on Thursday.

The wind finally abated somewhat late Friday afternoon so we got the dinghy down and went over to the island for a few hours of shelling. Our "finds" were minimal but we did collect a couple of sizeable sand dollars and a few other nice trinkets for my collection.

Dr. Don Aripoli and his wife Becky as honorary Captain and Admiral on the flybridge of "Life's2Short" in Clearwater.


We left Anclote Key about 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning and met up with Mike & Mary as they were leaving Tarpon Springs to begin the approximately 60-mile trip to Crystal River. The water and weather were very nice and we arrived in Kings Bay shortly after 5:00 p.m. Bob, who we originally met when we were here in December, came out in his Bayliner Sunday morning with visiting relatives from Naples and spent some time chatting and catching up.

A few hours later, we took our dinghies over to Bob & Phillis' house to show Mike & Mary where they live and where the Three Sisters springs are. As you may recall from one of our December postings, the Three Sisters are among the thirty-some natural springs that pump 300 million gallons of water into Crystal River each day and is a popular spot for both tourists and locals.

A beautiful sunrise photo taken by the Captain from our anchorage in Kings Bay.


Monday was another beautiful day and Todd & Mike dinghied over to help Bob unload some heavy building materials around noon before going in to town to pick up a few boat supplies. Phillis invited the four of us to dinner that evening but Mike & Mary declined since they were planning to leave early the next morning to begin their journey north to Steinhatchee; however, they did take some time to visit the Three Sisters springs and join us for a few cocktails with Bob & Phillis before dinner. Todd and I enjoyed a wonderful meal with Bob & Phillis and then stayed up into the wee hours of the morning playing Mexican trash train.

Phillis & Bob at their home in beautiful Crystal River.


Based on conflicting schedules, we may not catch back up with Mike & Mary for several weeks, if at all, before we head north out of Mobile toward Demopolis, Alabama. Mike & Mary's plan will take them in a different direction over the course of the summer but we will most likely see them again this fall when they are in Tuscaloosa and we are back in Demopolis.

Todd ordered a package last week to be shipped to Bob & Phillis', so we will be in Crystal River at least through Wednesday (May 2nd) unless the package arrives sooner than expected. After leaving here we will go as far as Cedar Key before continuing on to Steinhatchee for a few days and will then likely make the Gulf crossing sometime this weekend if the weather cooperates. At any rate, we should be on the Gulf coast of Florida by the time we post our next update.

Keep your fingers crossed for smooth seas between now and then. As a final note, it was exactly one year ago today that we made our first Gulf crossing aboard "Life's2Short" on our 7th wedding anniversary, which makes today our 8th anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Captain!