December 2nd finds us still at the Swan Point Marina. The hoe down last night was supposed to have live music but the band canceled because of the predicted high winds. It was an indoor show so I guess the band was to have arrived by hot air balloon. I dunno.

We ended up with our new friends, Eddie and Pat, sitting in this little honky tonk with a few locals. It was kind of a dive but it was pleasant enough and we had a real good time.

I declared today a day of leisure. I’ve been working hard to get the boat apart and remove the old piece from the drive train. Now all there really is to sit and wait for our new damper plate. We can see the intercoastal waterway from our floating dock and it’s tough as hell to watch all the boats sliding past on their way south. I find myself hoping this one or that one breaks down so they’ll have to pull in and we can talk to somebody new.

We were sitting on a picnic bench up near the marina store and this guy walks out onto the docks and just stands there looking off into the distance. So now I’m watching him and he’s moving here and there till he finds a spot he likes. He leaves and comes back in his pick up truck from which he produces an easel and starts to paint a watercolor about thirty yards from us. We’re watching him for 40 minutes or so and Christy is sure he’s a local artist and that we should go check his work out. So finally I give in and we walk over and take a peek. I think I vomited a little. I mean holy mackerel; this must have been this guys first time holding a brush. It was bizarre; if I hadn’t seen him do it I would have sworn it had been hanging on the fridge in a house with a 6 year old artist. I’ve seen better finger painting. Now we’re trapped so I blurt “Wow…that’s great” and Christy is just as tongue tied so I point out a sailboat to her that we’ve both seen 40 times since we’ve been here and we wander away for a closer look.

I have to say that the people here are the most pleasant people that we have met on the trip. Its a little unsettling to have people just drum up conversation everywhere all the time. We took the marinas courtesy car and stopped at the hardware store on our way to dinner. I bought some screws I needed and just wanted to walk up and down the isles and look at everything and the manager wouldn’t leave us alone. It was like having an attention starved puppy following your every move. We had to separate just to get a moment of peace and you know he just had to follow me. After the about the fourth time of hearing can I help you, do you need, are you looking for, I finally told him that Christy was looking for citronella candles. He went off to help her. That’s it, good boy get the stick, get the stick. 