Day 15- By Vicki

Today was another very good day, not a good hair day, but a good day.  Like any other day, it started out with a visit from a mechanic, that is how most days either start or end, but no big deal.   My friend Peggy came down for a visit, and we had a nice day shopping and sightseeing in downtown St Pete.  Aaron went for his massage and was able to relax a bit.  For Aaron, the deep tissue massage was a true necessity.   This boat stuff is really stressing him out.



Vicki and Peggy on Day 15
 

Shortly after Peggy arrived, it rained just enough to frizz out our hair and make the walkway super slick.  Peggy took an awful fall on the Vinoy steps but shook it off and said she was thankful that they gave her a free towel to wipe herself off.   

Now something interesting about Peggy is that everywhere she goes, weird people come out of the woodwork and approach her and they do the weirdest things.  For example, the first time we went out to lunch she was eating a burger and a man stood about two feet from her face and watched her eat the entire sandwich.  She wasn't even phased.  When we went to the beach, a hairy, shirtless man insisted she climb on his back and use him as a footstool to get over the seawall to the beach. Not phased by that either.  For Peggy, it turns out, weird people find her wherever she goes.  After I was with Peggy for a few hours today, I said to her, "Where are the weirdoes?  You always attract the strangest people."  We determined that her dark sunglasses were protecting her.  After the rain, she took off her sunglasses for a while and strange people approached her from every direction.  A shop owner explained to her how his pottery is made with animal dung..  A man dressed like a pimp and doing the pimp strut flashed her a big smile and lingered by us for a while.  A completely normal looking woman asked her for two bucks.  Even a squirrel  followed her around when she took a picture under his tree.  After about ten minutes of this she put her sunglasses back on.  I think she will start wearing them a lot more.

Peggy in Downtown St Pete

We haven't had a car for two weeks, and were running out of the heavy stuff- water, soda, kitty litter,  cat food, vinegar for the toilet- so Peggy took us to Walmart to get some supplies.  We walk to Publix, which is just over a mile away, every couple of days for supplies, but I can't imagine walking back carrying a 25 pound box of kitty litter.  So, thank you, Peggy. 

We've spent quite a lot of money on repairs this past two weeks so we are trying our best to save money wherever we can.  We walked to Burrito Boarder tonight for Taco Tuesday for $1 tacos.  They have awesome tacos, so we will probably be there every Tuesday.  I highly recommended Taco Tuesday. 

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention (I try to block some of this stuff out of my head), we learned today that our favorite mechanic from Hernando Beach did some pretty shady work when he  "fixed" the air conditioning before we left.  Turns out the "new" pump Aaron was charged $300 for by this joker was used and over 20 years old. The mechanic of the day showed me the part and basically said it was junk. He's going to do his best to make it work for the moment but said it was very wrong for the Hernando Beach "mechanic" to charge $300 since a brand new pump shouldn't cost more than $330.   I could tell the part was ancient because it was that weird yellowish color that really old plastic gets when it's neglected for many, many years.  The guy from Hernando Beach also put it in ass backwards so it wasn't getting the proper air flow.  Just some of the reasons our air wasn't working.  We are waiting for some new parts to get the air fixed.   My prayers for all your boaters is that your boat never breaks down in Hernando Beach.  If you do, Call Pete from Hudson.