{"id":2412,"date":"2023-11-10T01:16:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T01:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2412"},"modified":"2023-10-05T13:21:36","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T13:21:36","slug":"chap-43-sally-finds-what-shes-looking-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2412","title":{"rendered":"Chap. 43 – Sally Finds What She’s Looking For!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter 43<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sally Finds What She\u2019s Looking For!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Friday, December 9, we re-gathered at Jerry & Peggy\u2019s campground before heading a short-ways up the Atlantic coast for North Palm Beach, Florida, the home of Sally\u2019s Uncle Alvin.  Ready to head off once again as a caravan:  a family from Ohio with young children, fellow campers at Jerry & Peggy\u2019s, already had the \u201cHoliday Lighting Boat Parade\u201d as their next destination as well, so that made three vehicles.  Huck told us Peaches was organizing his own caravan<\/em> over on the Gulf side of Florida to join us and catch the boat parade.  \u201cPlan ahead,\u201d Sunshine told Huck.  \u201cWe can be a real Rainbow Family Caravan heading north in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Huck\u2019s news prompted a discussion.  First, Sally said she definitely didn\u2019t want a caravan arriving at her uncle\u2019s place.  Then she surprised us with the news that Pirate Jack was heading back to California after the parade.  \u201cYeah, well, it\u2019s really good news,\u201d she said.  \u201cJack and I are planning a wedding!!!. . . as soon as I can get a divorce finalized . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cYow!  Wow!  Yea!  That\u2019s great!\u201d we all said in unison.  Patty took a quick look at Sally\u2019s ring finger \u2013 sure enough, Sally no longer had her wedding ring on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cThis trip has been the best time of my life for a lot of reasons,\u201d Sally continued, \u201cI\u2019ve become such a different person, seeing the world in a whole different way.  I\u2019ve got my spirit back, much more open-minded \u2013 you know, Pirate Jack\u2019s motto, \u2018Harnessing the spirit of imagination\u2019.   At any rate, Jack has to get back to his business, and you\u2019re all invited to the wedding once we have a date \u2013 it can be a Rumpkin Reunion!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cAll true,\u201d Jack said, giving Sally a big hug and a kiss.  \u201cAfter I meet Uncle Alvin, I\u2019m heading back.\u201d  And then, out of his pants pocket he pulled a rose-gold diamond engagement ring, got on one knee, and said, \u201cSally B, you\u2019re the best!  Will you marry me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cYou betcha!\u201d  Sally said laughing and crying all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cWhere\u2019s the champagne!\u201d Rocky exclaimed, \u201cA toast to what is fun!  It all goes back to that Hootenanny. . . \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cUncle Alvin has it all planned,\u201d Sally said.  \u201cHe wants us to arrive early for a ride on his boat.  He has the champagne on ice. His place is on the Inter-Coastal Waterway.  All the parade boats will pass by us on their way up the coast to Jupiter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Patty sought out Huck.  \u201cLook, do Sally a big favor, all of us a big favor.  Get a hold of Peaches and Sunshine and tell them this is a private affair.  I\u2019m not even going to start blogging again until we\u2019re way up the coast \u2013 maybe we\u2019ll never see the two of them again.  You told me they weren\u2019t keen on New York City, it being winter time \u2013 can\u2019t believe you were promising a great party – despite knowing I didn\u2019t like them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Uncle Alvin was a delight to meet, still spry in his 90s, still sharp as a tack.  Wearing his Admiral\u2019s cap, he showed us around the place, especially his 50\u2019 by 20\u2019 back deck and his 24\u2019 cabin cruiser.  With a warm breeze blowing, we took a short ride down the inter-coastal waterway, and then back to the deck for the parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Here\u2019s what a boat parade looks like, as captured by Patty\u2019s camera: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine the Las Vegas strip all lit-up, only on water, floating by you, with some Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Parade seasoning, and, according to Steve, a dash of the Philadelphia Mummers parade (some boaters were tossing water balloons at us on the docks) .  Literally over a hundred boats in a tight line-up, lit up like Christmas trees, or displaying manger scenes, or Santa and his elves, some blasting Christmas carols, some blaring rock n\u2019 roll.  There were fishing boats, sail boats, little boats, big boats, several of those \u201ccigarette\u201d speed boats, even a raft, but nary a yacht. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cGeez Uncle Alvin,\u201d Sally quipped, \u201cyou\u2019ll have to invite us back again next year so we can enter the Land Yacht on<\/em> a<\/em> barge<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Skip, Rocky and Max did their best to just enjoy the parade, hiding all the heightened intrigue (and alarm) that \u2013 so far \u2013 none of the rest of us had any idea about.  Max, especially, was worried sick about not immediately going to the authorities with what Skip and Rocky had told him, so worried sick that he excused himself to go crash in the Land Yacht.  Alone, he called his ex, Lisa, again.  \u201cSkip\u2019s telling me that Ken is in on some plan to stop<\/em> a<\/em> future<\/em> terrorist<\/em> bombing<\/em> \u2013 and going to the authorities is the wrong<\/em> thing to do,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The night of the boat parade we all slept in the Land Yacht, except Max, who was on Uncle Alvin\u2019s couch, and Sally and Jack, who had Uncle Alvin\u2019s spare bedroom.  In the middle of the night, Sally got Jack up to spend part of the night under the stars on Uncle Alvin\u2019s deck. In the morning we left for our one remaining stop, Skip\u2019s sister\u2019s place in Virginia, before hitting Philadelphia and New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 43 Sally Finds What She\u2019s Looking For!      Friday, December 9, we re-gathered at Jerry & Peggy\u2019s campground before heading a short-ways up the Atlantic coast for North Palm Beach, Florida, the home of Sally\u2019s Uncle Alvin.  Ready to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2412"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2483,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions\/2483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}