Gulf Coast Getaway, Day 10

One More Lazy Day

Tuesday June 1, 2010

Copyright(c) 2010, Jim Beachy

"Have a good walk!" I sleepily tell Kitty at about 5:30 AM. She's headed for an early morning beach walk with some other friends.

Ten minutes later she's climbing back into bed. "That was short!"

"There's lightening in the sky. Walk is cancelled!" she announces.

I sleep until inordinately late, and by that time four butterflies have hatched in the habitat. By late morning, all five have hatched. I'm glad we got to see them all be transformed out of their cocoons into beautiful butterflies. Some of them sit on the slices of orange or sugar-water-laced cotton balls that will be their food until they are released. Their expected life span is about two to three weeks.

Kevin is at work today but he calls and we meet him at The Dock for lunch. The place is nearly empty today for lunch, but it seems like it would be a lively weekend place with a live oyster bar, plenty of outside bayside seating, and that"cool place to be" feel with pictures of large game fish and actual fishing tackle scattered throughout.

When the Mississippi family lived in Virginia, Danica was deathly afraid of my Gold Wing and wouldn't go near it. So we've been surprised, this trip, that she's been asking for a ride. So after dinner, I take off the Utopia backrest to have a better sense of how my small passenger is doing. We gravely put her into jeans, work Kitty's helmet onto her head, plop her onto the pillion seat and plug in the headset so we can talk. Meanwhile, poor Carter is freaking out because he wants his turn too. "Mo'cycle! Papa mo'cycle!" he keeps repeating in a plaintive voice.

I give careful instructions to Danica and explain that the motorcycle will lean a little and that we will probably feel a few bumps. We make a sedate turn around the block at 15 miles per hour in first gear. "Would you like to go a little faster?" I ask.

"No, this fast is good enough!" she says.

Next is 22-month-old Carter, who sits between Kristal and myself as we do the little block thing again. He sits very still and is happy to have had his turn on the bike.

Lazy time has pretty much come to an end. Tomorrow we plan to head homeward in what promises to be a mostly-Interstate kind of ride, one that doesn't usually work into our preferences but we opted for more time with the family and less time on the road for this particular trip. Only problem is, Kitty is sick. "We won't be able to travel tomorrow if you're sick!" I tell her.

"You underestimate me! Remember when we went to Key West I had a temperature of 102 degrees the day before? I'll be fine."

So we enjoy a last evening with the family, and repack all the laundered clothes that have been piled helter-skelter into a corner of the room we're using. We've already been making plans for our next visit, which will be via airplane, not on the Wing. If plans hold and Kitty is able to travel, we plan to start our homeward trek tomorrow morning under a very unsettled weather pattern. We won't know how it works out until then.