Re: World tours??

Posted by sanford mitchell On 2010/1/21 21:51:31

Our dreams

Evening Bro's!!!

It is quiet tonight in Lake Wales Florida as I contemplate my own dreams...hmmm. We are staying with our neighbors who live in one of these so called 'gated communities' for retiree's...I find it totally boring...Now don't get me wrong, for some this is their idea of retirement living in double wides doing daily walks, going to excercise classes etc. Oh yes, i've been to the shuffle board courts, engaging in card games such as bridge, euchre and pinnocle.
But it is NOT the same as being with your friends in the old car movement,.,Now dont get me wrong, the folks are pleasant and very nice..but this just doesn't fit my lifestyle.

My Dad who is now deceased concurred with me..He said "I want to be sujrrounded by my children, to hear the sound of babies crying. or to be with his grandaughters and sons fishing.
Perhaps he is right in that regards..a continuation of the celebration of life even as we age.

but anyway' today I called on an old friend that lives in this community whom i havent seen in 30 years. A Weeb and Mary Austin of Salamanca NY. He is now in his late 70's He has been through a bout of brain cancer and now heart issues and in a rehabilitaion center in Winterhaven area.

Weber owned a newpaper called the Salamanca Press founded by his great great gradfather in 1867, Weeb is a 'pure gentleman.

In 1984 Dee and I decided to take a windjammer cruise off the coast of Maine on a schooner called the "Issac Evans' out of Rockland MaINE Both Weeb and Mary were passengers whom we met. To cut a long story short, on the third day out we were hit with a squall while tacking rsulting in a complete knockdown and sinking of the vesssel in the Atlantic. All 19 passengers and a crew of four floated in the friged 'reach' for over an hour. Helicopters were dispatched from Boston
but we were saved by the local residents in the traditional Mainer or Downeaster style which they are noted for.

Today Weeb and I talked about that day. He said it changed his life...shortly after the accident he said he sold his interest in the newspaper and embarked on fullfilling his life long dream. He and Mary purchased a Grampian 28 sailboat and sailed upp the St. Lawrence Seaway and down along the eastern coast of the US via the Inter Coastal water way. The journey was a casual one and they took a year. This was his dream which he full filled.

I then told him of mine.... a world tour in my vintage Packard. or at least a partial world tour of Europe Africa and Oz.

I then indicated that maybe I'm perhasps a bit old to embark on such a venture at 61, He sat up slowly in his bed and said....So what?? Age should have nothing to do with it if your in bascially good health.. He said " many people in life have dreams but are afraid to take the initiative to fullfill those dreams...."

ON Sunday, we will be heading over to the Tampa Bay area to stay with my wife's sister. There are several auto museums which i plan on visiting along with walking the beach and surf which i love. I do know there is a Packard chapter in the Tampa Sarasota area..and I try and contact a few of the members