March Surprises

In early March Mother Nature flipped the “spring” switch and the days were consistently warmer. The waxing supplies were once again being utilized during the slow-paced “work” days and we continued to spend our down time turning the pages of interesting novels and magazines. In fact, Chris had read at least two books by mid-month in contrast to her not having read even one book in the last two years. Jay was overjoyed to at last have finished reading his 2006 historical naval and aviation publications.

Looking forward to enjoying this lifestyle for many months to come – the serenity was shattered by a surprise e-mail from Kevin. He and Sarah had been looking at homes in the price range they could afford to buy, just to see what was out there; good for them, bad for us. They found a townhouse they liked and the sellers accepted their offer.

We were stunned!! Knowing we could not afford to continue this serene lifestyle and support an empty house, our future plans dissolved before our eyes as we groped for a solution. Chris was in turmoil and Jay was in a wild rage!! After a few days we finally agreed that it is better to have happened now rather than later when we could have been in Utah and would have had to travel thousands of miles back to Maryland to prepare the house for lease or sale.

We were disappointed that a two year rental agreement had imploded into a two month tease. The beauty of the arrangement with Kevin and Sarah allowed us to minimize the painting, repairing and complete packing up of our household goods required to rent to someone else. We were faced with leaving Florida when they were moving out at the end of March; at least two weeks earlier than we’d originally planned.

In the midst of all this we managed to squeeze in a fun visit with Jerry and Linda Paxton (Chris’ ex-brother and sister-in-law) at Bok Tower Gardens. The carillon tower and surrounding gardens were built by Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies Home Journal magazine from 1889-1919 and Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Photos below are of the tower and gardens with Jay standing beside a HUGE succulent plant.

Just as Jay was beginning to touch the ground from the last “high hover” e-mail, another arrived on Friday, the 6th of March, informing us that Kevin and Sarah were getting married on the 9th. Jay was speechless and Chris didn’t know if she should laugh or cry.

Hasty flight arrangements for Chris were made to leave very early Sunday morning. Naturally, the alarm was accidentally set for PM but we did wake up only 30 minutes later than the planned 3:30 AM reveille. We were not too concerned since we had planned a safety margin and could still make the arrival at the Tampa airport, an hour’s drive away, in time for her 6:30 flight. Keep in mind that we’d had no radio, TV or newspaper for several months and were quite content in our “glass bubble” lifestyle. Although someone had mentioned the time change earlier in the week, it didn’t occur to us to plan for it at the time. Sunday morning, when Chris picked up her cell phone and noticed the time was an hour later than she’d thought panic set in. Fortunately she had packed the day before so, we threw everything, including Max, into the truck, prayed and headed for Tampa. Even poor Max could feel the tension in the truck as we careened down the highway looking for police laying in wait behind every tree. Checking her bag and a slight delay at security caused her to streak, in stocking feet, through the empty terminal to the gate; boarding just before they closed the door for takeoff. Whew, Max and Jay had to pull over to the side of the road and gather their composure before driving home.

The wedding went well and though it was a simple courthouse ceremony, they had the very finest professional photographer, that doesn’t do weddings, in the free world.

The happy couple!!

Chris with Sarah and Kevin.

Shortly after we arrived in Florida, Jay was excited to learn that a Shuttle launch had been scheduled for early February. We’d planned to drive to Cape Canaveral and find a viewing location close to the launch site but the dates were rescheduled so many times that we decided to view whatever we could from the Bushnell area. RV park residents told us that we could see the launch from the top of our RV!! So, not expecting much of a show, we climbed up – camera-less. Big mistake!!! We thought we’d see something akin to a jet contrail since we were over 100 miles away. Considering the distance, what we saw took our breath away. We could literally see the fire from the engines belching a huge, thick, white cloud of smoke and the separation of the booster rockets. Chris finally scrambled down to retrieve her camera and took a few photos of the lingering smoke trail as it turned to soft shades of red and orange with the light of the setting sun.

Smoke trail of the Shuttle Launch of March 15th as seen from the top of our RV in the Sumter Oaks RV park in Bushnell, FL.

Lastly, we fit in a visit with Joe and Rose Kennedy and Art and Edda Ross. On a beautiful, crisp, sunny day, the Kennedys took all of us out in their power boat and we cruised a river near their home in Homosassa. The manatees were prolific and visible just under the surface of the water. Navigating around them was tricky and essential to protect them from injury from the propeller blades. We learned that this river is one of the political hotspots where the residents are fighting against the boat speed safety laws that are in effect to protect the manatees. Many of them have multiple, deep scars from boats that have run over them. It is sad that some people can only focus on how fast they want to go and the fun they want to have over the well-being of another creature.

L-R, Rose and Joe Kennedy, Art and Edda Ross and Jay Crouthers in front of the Kennedy's home in Homosassa.

The month waned and we thought we had a handle on all the surprises tossed in our path. Little did we know that March was going to end with a BANG!!!