A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN

We agreed when we were married, that our life would be as 
enjoyable as we could afford and we have lived by that rule
for over 60 years without regret.


I worked as an Industrial Electrician & Instrumentation
Technician.  June as a Banking Teller & Customer 
Service Rep. most of our working life. We moved from Maine
to Florida when we were both 26 years old. (Smartest thing 
we ever did. We will always love Maine, but not in the winter).
We love Florida and the south all year long.


The 1st big time fun project that we under took was to buy an 
old 22 1/2 ft plywood home-made open boat in 1964, with two 
1958, 35 hp out board motors and a rusty boat trailer. We spent 
many,many hours in rebuilding the hull to what we wanted. It 
would have to take our family of five, in some-what comfort, on
 overnight and week end trips .This was a project that we 
enjoyed doing as a family. In 1968, we put two 1968 55hp homelite
out board motors on it when we finished.(did you know 
that homelite made out board motors? They did and darn good 
ones too.( You did "not" have to add oil to the gas tank). 
 We named the boat,"THE BUDGET BUSTER", and kept 
it in a marina in St. Petersburg, FL. on the Gulf of Mexico 
for most of the 17years that we had it.


Almost every week end in spring,summer and fall , if the weather
was anywhere near good, we would head for the boat, load it up 
for the week-end and head out to Shell Island, off St. Petersburg, 
on the Gulf of Mexico On some mid'summer nights we would 
arrive at the boat about mid'night, load it up and head out of the pass 
with just the moon light and our hand spot lights to guide us..You 
can't believe just how exciting  and peaceful that can be with only 
the bright moonlight overhead lighting the way.
There would be from two to five families of us who had boating 
in common and we would tie up together and  tell stories and
jokes. Often we would have pot luck(every one bring something)
cook outs. Some week ends we would travel down to Egmont Key 
Island and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge area  and spend the
 night or go up the coast to Dunedin Beach.
That little sand bar showing off from the end of St.Pete was our
little retreat sand bar. After a  harricane, the sand bar would
change shape,but still be there.

St. Petersburg seen from Spot 

Another  boating vacation that we took before we retired, was a
two week trip on the "Budget Buster" from Saint Petersburg ,
down coast to Fort Meyers where we picked up the Intercoastal
Waterway across the State of Florida to Stuart. We took the 
route across lake Okeechobee, the largest fresh water lake in

InnerCoastalWaterway across Florida

Boating lock on Florida.s Innercoastal

the U.S. It is kind of spooky crossing Lake Okeechobee, because

 you are out of sight of land for quite some time following the 
"channel markers" until you finally gain sight of land on the 
other side.  The trip across the State was somewhat
monotonous, but interesting.The waterway in front of the homes 
are restricted to 5 MPH speed limit and "do not make a wake". 
Traveling across the "unsettled" parts of the State allowed a 
reasonable speed that would not cause damage to any property.
We passed some boats and were passed by some boats,
being careful not to cause a large wake when passing anyone.
We passed through several locks & dams that adjust the
water levels between Ft. Meyer's, on the Gulf Coast and Stuart
Coast on the Atlantic coast. We had to stop at a number of 
bridges to allow them  to stop traffic and either "swing 45 degrees" 
(Beam Bridge)or to "open up" (Draw Bridge) to allow boat 
passage through.

                                                                                                           Draw Bridge

                           Swing Bridge 

A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right. Small swing bridges as found over canals may be pivoted only at one end, opening as would a gate, but require substantial underground structure to support the pivot.

In its closed position, a swing bridge carrying a road or railway over a river or canal, for example, allows traffic to cross. When a water vessel needs to pass the bridge, road traffic is stopped (usually by traffic signals and barriers), and then motors rotate the bridge approximately 90 degrees horizontally about its pivot point.

Two years before we retired, we bought a 29 1/2 ft Prowler 
Regal Travel Trailer. We didn't know if we would enjoy camping
or not and we wanted to get  a little experience so we could give
RVing a good try. We camped locally a few week ends with friends
who had RV's, to find out how to operate everything and the value 
of having a good check- off list to go by.


 (From experience I can tell you that you should always set up 
camp & break camp using a check-off list.You would be 
surprised how many simple little things you over
look when you are busy making or breaking camp, like 
connecting the break-away switch to the trailer.(this switch will
lock all the brakes if the trailer breaks away from the (truck or 
car) or taking he corner jacks down before moving or even
disconnecting the power cable and putting it away.
I MEAN, "ALWAYS USE A CHECK-OFF LIST").


The last year before we retired we took a two week vacation
trip with our best friends to Key West, Florida. They were due
to retire the next year and they were leaning towards getting a 
Motor Home which they did the following year.
I want to tell you that the trip to Key West is well worth the
time.I know that it is quite a monotonous drive down  to Key 
West but it is worth it because there is so much to see.
If you are going by RV, plan your trip out first and be sure to
"make"your reservations and have them confirmed.
We didn't didn't pull the RV all the way into Key West, but
instead,  picked out a campground


Below are two of Mel Fisher's places for you to visit.

Mel Fisher's Treasures Key West , Florida	200 Greene Street Key West, Florida 33040 800-434-1399 Store Hours: Daily 9:30AM-5:00PM
	613 1/2 Duval Key West, Florida 33040 305-295-9555 Store Hours: Daily 10:00AM-9:00PM