finally caught up and back online

[seapuppy]

Hi guys


I'm finally back from the east coast...a few weeks ago I got an email from US
MARINE-Bayliner/Maxum division and it turns out that they were holding a media
and guest event. They asked if I'd like to join them..
So ..I had to think about it for about a half a nano-second before saying
YES!!!..

well...all expenses were taken care of and after my memorial weekend cruise, I
got home and packed for the trip...of course I had to get up at 3am in order to
catch a flight at 6am....well...the first flight was uneventful even though I
was starving, I made it to cincinnati airport for my change flight to wilmington
NC...turns out my flight was delayed due to mechanical problems and after 45
min. we were on our way....
about 15 min. before bording, they escorted a young man that was handicapped on
to the airplane....

once they started bording I find that my seat is right next to the young man...I
say he's a young man of say 19 but the mentality of an 8 yr old..
my concern was if he decided to freak, would I be able to handle
him???....well..as it turns out there was an empty seat back a few rows and the
capt. of the aircraft asked if anyone would mind moving back for weights and
balance requirements....this was a small regional airplane and balance is fairly
critical....so..naturally I raised my hand...well...I moved back and greeted my
new row mate, when the Flight attendant announced my name and please raise my
hand...well....I couldn't figure out what I did this time so I raised my
hand....
what happend was while I was telling amy about my flight being delayed...the
other guy on my flight also told amy that his flight was also delayed...which
happened to be the same flight...
turns out we hit it off great and talked about boats, planes, boats, and
planes......oh...did I say we also talked about boats??...

When we got to wilmington we were both met by our driver who took us to the
condo in Southport marina. They were nice...a bit spartan but the supplied the
beer and fresh water....beds...one tv...and a place to crash..

I took a quick shower....talked to the admirable at home and then they took us
to a country club for dinner and a few drinks...we had a great dinner southern
style and then headed back to go to bed....

we got up at 6:30 am and after breakfast we walked over to the marina to start
the testing...well...I was so shocked....we had 12 boats ranging from an 18 ftr
to a 37 motor yacht....I got to drive them all but the smallest and we had a
blast...we stopped for lunch and continued to drive boats afterwords....we
didn't just drive them like a merry go round....we went out and abused the crap
out of them.....we had more air time than a pakistani cab driver in San
Francisco!!!....there were about a dozen of us US Marine invited including some
from boating mags and other boating websites....

We all were older guys and I don't think there was anyone under 30 other than
the staff......and the two girls that arranged everything were just
awesome...they catered to us for just about everything and herded us old farts
around like a herd of cats.....

All us old guys were having a ball on the boats and just enjoying the heck out
of them...I had to write up different boats and what I thought of them, how they
performed and my personal opinion of the boats....

after all of that was going on they took us over to bald head island for a
dinner that was posh beyond belief....I've been to some 5 star restaurants and
this one was up there....food was outstanding and I made the mistake of ordering
a long island iced tea while suffering from an aweful case of jet lag......I
basically had about 5 hrs of sleep in 2 days...

I finally got to sleep wed. somewhere about 1 am and woke up at 6 thursday for
breakfast/pack, toured the factory where they make the maxum and bayliner boats,
and then back to the marina for a final test for the Maxum 3700 sport motor
yacht....this boat was beyond plush....no expense was spared and it showed
it...we undocked and headed out to the intercoastal water way and drove it for
awhile...tried some docking manuevers then headed back....I took a few pic's for
the article I wrote and then thanked the capt. for letting me abuse his boat....

once that test was done I was taken to the airport by my friends that came up to
see me...we used to work together in our submarine engineering days and have
stayed in contact ever since....once at the airport, got checked in..thru
security and finally after about an hr wait...was on board heading
home................

it was a long trip and I was so tired yesterday that I could hardly get my brain
going.....took me a good 2 days to get my land legs back and figure out how to
drive a car....I haven't driven a car since a week ago last friday.....so it's
amazing how you forget the simple things that you normally don't even make a
second thought......

well....today was get caught up with lawns and grocery shopping, breakfast with
the admirable at a local diner to get caught up...and finally home....