Boats, planes, and turtles (posted by Ann)

Wonderful sailing Wednesday night with a crew from work. Perfect weather, good company, and Wednesday night fireworks. Here are Molly and Mark in front of the lighthouse at the beginning of the evening.

Then, on Thursday after work, Don and I flew to Orlando and then drove to Sebastian, FL to the Velocity factory for a test flight. In one of the pictures, you can see the "Experimental" sign on the door behind Don. There are two wings, one little one up front called a canard, and the regular one. The engine is in the back. Looks pretty cool, doesn't it?

Here is the coast of Florida mid-flight. It was really pretty, and with Don and the pilot putting the plane through its paces I had lots of opportunities to look down at the water and the coastline. I told Don afterwards that his current airplane is like a nice trail horse - reliable, not flashy, does the job - and the Velocity is a thoroughbred revved up for the track. It's fast!

We will stay on the beach tonight - here's the view out the window of our hotel room. It is turtle season, and they are laying eggs at night. We are planning on getting a bottle of wine and sitting on the beach to see if we can spot one. There are tracks and nests everywhere, so I'm very hopeful that we'll see one. If I can get pictures without using a flash, I will, but if not I'll at least get a picture of the tracks and nest tomorrow morning.

Then we're off to Orlando tomorrow to visit Don's Aunt Betty, and his friend Richard Peacock. Here's my favorite Richard story. Don was moving from New Hampshire to Florida to go to work for Richard, and Richard came by with one of his vans to help Don move. Don looked at his stuff, and looked at the van, and said "It won't fit." Richard proceeded to bet him lunch that it would fit. And, of course, it did.

So lunchtime rolls around and they stop at a small town diner, where Richard proceeds to order every single thing on the menu. Everything. This was in the early 80's, and as Don remembers it lunch cost him over $100. After that, he was more careful making deals with Richard.

I'll close by showing you what has to be posted on the dash of any experimental aircraft.