Florida: Carrabelle (Day 4 - Preparing to Cross the Gulf of Mexico)

Day 157
No Travel Today

Every once in a while boat chores just have to be done. Today was one of those days where it could not be put off any longer. While I cleaned the galley and the salon, I defrosted the fridge. Afterwards, I tackled the second state room which has turned into the catch-all storage area. I managed to dig through the mess to get some items stowed in better places and the rest more organized.

While I did my inside chores, Clark refreshed the zinc on the hull. Zincs are critical to defend against corrosion on the boat in salt water. While in the fresh waters of the lakes and river system, the zincs lose their effectiveness. As we are now back in salt water, we needed to spruce them up a bit to protect the boat. This project was a classic example of the work taking two minutes and the prepare and cleanup taking twenty. We had to drop the dinghy in the water off the stern to reach the zinc on the hull. Then we had to pull it back on and secure it.

After we completed our chores around 2:00, we decided to walk over to The Moorings marina to see the boaters over there. Before we could go though, we saw the start of a parade of looper boats starting out on their crossing of the Gulf.

One Bay at a Time following
American Pie as they head out to the Gulf

Next Chapter on their way

Ivory Lady traveling with Next Chapter

Clark pointed out that we needed to visit The Moorings marina to see who still remained that might be leaving tomorrow when we head on our way. Clark has been studying the wind and wave charts for hours and hours over the past few days to determine the best time for us to go. He felt that today was just a bit too soon since the winds and waves are projected to continue to settle down. He wants a smoother ride and is willing to wait an additional 24 hours to get it.

We walked over and found Kay from Plane 2 Sea walking her dog as the last step before pulling in lines and joining those who had already left port. When we got to her boat, we found the Oceanus crew there ready to say goodbye as Plane 2 Sea pulled out. We found out that Oceanus travels at similar speeds to ours and plans to make the trip tomorrow as well. I guess we found our "buddy boat" for the crossing! As we said our farewells to Plane 2 Sea, Sea to See and Namaste came in to dock for the night. They are both leaving tomorrow as well but will leave a couple of hours earlier than we will because they travel at a much slower pace.

As we walked back from The Moorings, we decided to stop at an ice cream shop, but when we got there, it was closed for the day. Instead of ice cream we ended up just going to the IGA grocery store to pick up some bread to make sandwiches for our crossing of the Gulf. We will leave the marina circa 4:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon and travel all night long to arrive on the west coast of Florida hopefully around 10:00 a.m. Since we will be taking turns driving all night long, we need plenty of food to keep us awake and going.

Many people have made this trip before us and shared the best strategy for crossing. Following their lead, we will leave around 4:00 because we want to get out to the Gulf in daylight. We plan to arrive at the west coast a few hours after dawn so that we will not be blinded by the sun as we make our way into shore on the other side. Starting several miles out from shore we expect to encounter thousands of crab pots that we will need to navigate around. If we arrive too early, the sun will blind us to their presence, and the last thing we want to do is get entangled in crab pots after boating all night long.

The boaters who will be crossing at the same time as us will stay tuned to the same VHF radio channel as us so that we can stay in contact with each other as we cross. With these crossings, periodic radio check-ins / roll calls are recommended to make sure everyone is okay. Clark also plans to have a timer set to go off periodically as we take turns piloting and sleeping our way across the Gulf. Our destination is Tarpon Springs. Not all boats crossing have the same specific destination, so although we will cross together, we may or may not end up at the same towns / marinas.

I don't remember pulling an "all-nighter" since I was in college, so this experience should prove interesting. Expect my blogging to be delayed until after I get some sleep.

Note 1 on yesterday's post: I did post a photo of the finished flag project because we had not taken one before it got dark. I got a picture today.

New flagpole - doesn't it look grand!

Note 2 on yesterday's post: the microwave is growling again. Boo Hoo!

Florida: Carrabelle (Day 3)

Day 156
No Boat Travel

Clark and I planned to walk up to use the washroom then return to the boat so I could give him a haircut and then grab showers. That plan was changed almost as soon as we stepped off the boat. When we walked up to the "head", one of the men stopped Clark with a replacement flagpole in hand for the bow of our boat. That made an instant change to the course of our day.

When we moved the boat from Apalachicola to Carrabelle, Clark and I suddenly heard a "clink". Fortunately Clark immediately realized that the burgee flag was missing from the bow of the boat. I took the helm and he ran to see if he could find the flag. He came back with the AGLCA flag attached to the broken stem of the flagpole. The metal rod that was presented to us first thing this morning was the offering from one of the locals as a replacement for our broken flagpole.

The metal rod replacement was taller and thicker than the one that snapped off, and it required holes be drilled and hardware be added to connect the flag to the new pole. Thus our morning turned into a search for hardware to transform the rod into a flagpole. As we discussed the project with the guys at the marina, one of the "good ole boys" made a joke "How many rednecks does it take to engineer a flagpole?"

AGLCA flagpole project

After a real quick breakfast, we headed off on our bicycles to a hardware store down the street. The recommendation from the guys at the marina was that we visit Carrabelle Junction while we were there. Carrabelle Junction is a 1950's style malt shop and a step back in time. Even though it was only 11:00 a.m., I had a yummy vanilla milk shake and Clark had an ice cream cone.

Carrabelle Junction Malt Shop

Carrabelle Junction Malt Shop inside

Carrabelle Junction Malt Shop inside

Carrabelle Junction Malt Shop inside

Since we had our bikes out, we wanted to explore town but I thought we should return to the marina and conclude our flagpole project and then come out again afterwards to tour the area. Four holes drilled in our metal rod combined with the screws and hooks purchased at the hardware store resulted in a brand new flagpole at the bow of Sea Moss.

While waiting for the flagpole repair job to be completed, I sat in one of the many rocking chairs by the marina office and chatted with one of the other boaters staying there.  The marina has a lot of character and a lot of characters hang out there.

View of C-Quarters Marina from street

 I learned that the 1940 Ford Deluxe car was called the Business Coupe because of its extra large trunk space for product samples.

1940 Ford Deluxe Business Coupe
in parking lot of C-quarters marina

View of C-Quarters Marina from across the water
Sea Moss is in one of the slips near the marina office

We ate lunch on board and then set out to explore. When we were out earlier, we found the visitor's center and got some leads on places to go. We headed to the Carrabelle History Museum as our first stop. On the way to the museum we found the "World's Smallest Police Station" which has been noted in Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not.

World's Smallest Police Station
in Carrabelle, FL

Carrabelle History Museum entrance

The curator of the museum greeted us as we entered the museum and told us that the museum had three things that could not be found in any other museum in Franklin County. First, the museum had proof of Indians living in the Carrabelle, Florida area circa 150 to 900 A.D. in the form of Carrabelle Punctated pottery shards. Second, the museum had the remains of a huge metal kettle used during the Civil War to manufacture salt. Since salt was desperately needed during the war and a form of currency, Carrabelle played an important role for the Confederates. Third the original "World's Smallest Police Station" was on display; the one we had seen on the street earlier today was a modern replacement of the original that requires refurbishment.

Original "World's Smallest Police Station"

After leaving this museum the proprietor suggested we visit the town's World War II museum. I did not realize the role that Florida beaches and Carrabelle in particular played in the D-Day invasion. Carrabelle was used as a training site for the big event.

Display at the Museum
Showing Training for D-Day Invasion

 Later when Clark and I were biking around we found a plaque marking where the training actually took place.

D-Day Training Site

Next on our places to visit was 604 SE Ave F in town where a retired artist has built a house, a lighthouse, and a tower out of concrete and glass bottles. They are lit at night but we only saw them in daylight.

Glass Bottle Cabin

Glass Bottle House - inside view

Glass Bottle Lighthouse

After leaving the glass bottle house and glass bottle lighthouse, we passed by this guy on one street corner.

Pirate Statue

As we biked back towards the boat Clark suggested that we go out and see the Crooked River Lighthouse about two miles out of town, so we just kept going out of town and over the bridge. About half way to the lighthouse park at Carrabelle Beach, we found a bike trail.

View from the Bike Trail

Passing Carrabelle Beach on the way to the Lighthouse

We got to the lighthouse park sooner than I expected. A small museum is on premises set up in the reproduction of the lighthouse keeper's house. The original house was sold and moved years earlier.

Crooked River Lighthouse

Lighthouse Keeper's House

 The park closed at 5:00. We arrived there around 4:15 or so. As we toured the area, we learned that for $5 each we could climb up to the top of the lighthouse. However, the woman at the museum did not want to let us go up because it was close to 4:30 and park closing time. I cajoled her into letting Clark run up to the top of the lighthouse where he got a few good pictures.

Lighthouse Lens

View from Base of Lighthouse Looking Up

Apalachicola National Forest as seen from top of lighthouse

Looking out towards Dog Island from the top of the lighthouse

I knew I could not keep up with Clark and make it up and down the lighthouse before the 5:00 closing time, so I just let him run up there on his own.  He went up at 4:25 and was back down with a number of pictures within 15 minutes.

We headed back to our marina with a planned stop at The Moorings marina to see who was around.

Looper Boats at The Moorings Marina

The big question remains ... when should we take on the challenge of crossing the Gulf? We talked to One Bay at a Time and Plane 2 Sea before heading back to our marina. We seem to have some target dates coming up with potential for crossing. Which day should we choose? Will the windows actually materialize?

As the sun set we headed back to our marina to drop off our bikes.

Sunset at the Marina

When we were out exploring, we decided to head over to the IGA grocery store to buy a pizza to bring back to the boat for dinner. IGA offers cooked pizza from their deli department which was actually pretty decent as pizza goes.

After dinner I gave Clark that haircut that got postponed and we headed up for our showers that had been delayed as well.  Before heading into the shower, I threw two loads of wash in. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake since when I turned on the shower almost no water came out as it was all being consumed filling the washing machines. I had to wait for water until the washers were both full of water to get enough water for my shower.

With the laundry done and the water reprovisioned with food and water, we are ready to go when the weather window allows. We'll be reading the AGLCA forum "Eddy's Weather Wag" report carefully tomorrow to get Eddy's perspective on safe crossing target dates.

Note: regarding yesterday's post. . . the microwave appears to be fixed as it no longer growls when I use it. Clark did an excellent job of addressing the problem (as always)!

Florida: Carabelle (Day 2)

Day 155

No travel today

Happy Thanksgiving! 

We made sure to arrive in Carabelle yesterday so that we would not be traveling or showing up at a marina on the holiday. The marina hosted a pot luck dinner and invited us to join them.  Today was a somewhat lazy day as we hung out and waited for dinner at 2:00. Clark says today was a holiday so he and his camera were on vacation.  He took no pictures to share today.

We had zero eggs left in the refrigerator after breakfast this morning, and we knew IGA would be open until 1:00, so we decided to stroll over there to buy some. As we walked down the street we saw the sign for The Moorings Marina. Since we knew at least one boat there, Plane 2 Sea, we decided to walk there before going to the store as we did not want to carry eggs all around with us.

When we got to The Moorings marina, we could not find any looper boats and wondered where they might be hiding. We finally found them on the far side of the marina.  We stopped and had a chat with One Bay at a Time who are boaters from Petersborough, Canada that we first met at Du Sable in Chicago. Their boat was just a couple of slips down from Plane 2 Sea so we got to talk with them as well. We met Plane 2 Sea at Heritage Harbor in Ottawa, Illinois. Their history is interesting because they went from living in a converted airplane hangar to being full-time live-aboards on their boat thus the plane to sea name of their boat. They are from Fort Worth, Texas.

Kay from Plane 2 Sea invited us to join their pot luck gathering for Thanksgiving, but we had already signed up to bring vegetables to the pot luck at our marina so we declined the invite. I am not sure who planned to attend their pot luck. We did not ask if it was a looper-organized event or one planned by the marina.

While waiting for the pot luck dinner to begin, I stripped the bed and washed all the sheets and towels. Then, while the laundry was drying, I set to and cooked up my contribution to the pot luck dinner consisting of assorted vegetables. I decided to make a zucchini / broccoli vegetable medley as well as cooked carrots. I guess all my activity made Clark tired because when I looked over at him, he was passed out sleeping on the sofa and this was before he had turkey for dinner!

Nap Time on Holiday!

Just after 2:00 we walked up with our food to the gathering.  Although it was not a very large group of people, we had a very large amount of food to choose from.  Besides turkey and ham and the vegetables I brought, we had corn casserole made with Jalapenos (too spicy hot for me), two types of stuffing (one made with pecans baked in), deviled eggs, yams with marshmallows, cranberries and gravy, and lots of desserts including pecan pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, and eclairs.

I found our pot luck gathering to be interesting because locals attended. I like listening to their accents and I like their stories. I heard more details on the horror story regarding the Mainship 34 that tried within the last two weeks to make the Gulf crossing. They did not make it across. Apparently they lost power on the high seas and had to radio for help. 

As I understand it, from what I heard today, the boaters deployed their anchor since they had no power.  Their anchor line consisted of 200 feet of chain and no nylon line. (In comparison, we have 20 feet of chain and 200 feet of line.) The high waves caused a constant yanking on the anchor rode and, with no stretch in the all-chain rode, the anchor pulpit broke right off the bow of the boat and fell into the Gulf.  After which, they had no means to anchor the boat from the bow, so they dropped a stern anchor.

Tow Boat U.S. tried to make it out to them but failed and had to return with a damaged vessel of their own (we heard Russell’s tale yesterday). Tow Boat U.S. radioed the Coast Guard and told them they could not make it out there. Eventually the Coast Guard pulled the people off the disabled boat. Speculation during the discussion today is that the boat probably sank due to the stern anchor. Since we are also loopers with a similar-sized vessel of the same manufacturer (we have a Mainship 350), this was a very sobering discussion to say the least. I was relieved when the conversation turned to stories of childhood pranks and such.

I guess all that food energized Clark because when the party broke up around 4:00, he decided to take our microwave down and try to fix the growling noise it makes when I am using it. By the time I came back to the boat he already had pieces of the microwave spread all over the salon and was lubricating something or other. Although it did cross my mind briefly, I long ago gave up worrying about whether he could reassemble things he takes apart. He has not failed me yet. I did wonder a bit, however, when he held up a chunk of plastic and said he had no idea where it came from or where it went. The microwave is back installed in the wall again and, at last check, still growling. He confirmed it still works by heating up a cup of hot water for me to drink – one of my favorite beverages is steaming hot water. I know, weird right?

In addition to the microwave job, he worked on our TV reception. On the way back to the boat from the pot luck dinner, he spied another cable TV connector that he could try. He had connected to one last night that gave us zero channels, so then he tried using digital and came up with one PBS station and two unknowns – all of which had jitter. Apparently this alternate cable connection provides channels; however, they are very snowy. So it looks like we have jittery TV, snowy TV, or no TV for as long as we stay here in Carabelle. Ah well, who needs TV anyway!?

Florida: Apalachicola to Carabelle

Day 154
NM Today: 26
NM Total: 3295

To go or not to go - that was the question we asked each other this morning.  We reviewed the wind speed and direction numbers this morning and were dismayed to see that our hope for a window to cross the Gulf seems to be slipping away.  Since there are no car rental places for 50 miles from Carabelle and Apalachicola, we had a dilemma.  Go on to Carabelle and hope for that window or turn around and go back to Panama City the way we just came.

The slip arrangement at Panama City with concrete pilings strategically placed to scratch the boat and trip the boaters has definitely been my least pleasant experience at any marina thus far. The idea of going back there and then having to leave the boat while we returned to New Jersey was abhorrent to me.  While Clark was talking to the hotel clerk about options, I called our next marina in Carabelle to see what they had to offer.

I discovered that for a significant chunk of change there is a woman in Carabelle who offers a concierge service.  She will for a fee drive us to the car rental place in Tallahassee about 60 miles away and then come get us upon our return at the end of our NJ trip.  I convinced Clark it was worth going forward to Carabelle even if we have to pay the concierge fee to get a rental car. At least we are heading in the right direction, and a window may just open up for us before we need to travel to NJ. Clearly I am hoping optimism wins the day here!

With the decision made to move onward, we decided to take one last bike ride around Apalachicola to see what we might have missed during our twilight excursion last night. We decided to try to find the Victorian Homes that we read about.  Nothing we saw jumped out as Victorian other than the Inn I included in the post yesterday.  We did like one non-Victorian home that seemed to be situated in a typical Florida setting.

Palm Trees

We accidentally stumbled across Fort Coombs on a side street.  This fort was first built in 1884 and rebuilt in 1900 after a fire destroyed the fort and surrounding buildings.

Fort Coombs circa 1884 / 1900

 Some of the shops and restaurants have amusing names like one we passed that Clark did not capture with the camera called the "Old Stuff Shop". I can just hear the conversation with the owner on that one.
"What is it you sell?" He answers in a strong southern accent, "Old stuff."
"And what do you call your store?" He answers with a shrug, "The Old Stuff Store".
Without the Alabama / strong southern accent it loses something in the translation.

Hole in the Wall Seafood & Raw Bar

 Carabelle is a fishing village and the nautical theme prevails as in the fishnet-and-float Christmas tree shown below.

Apalachicola Nautical Christmas Tree

On our way back to the boat, we passed three very colorful buildings (orange, yellow, and green) that turned out to be houseboats. They looked like vacation homes which I guess they are but just floating ones.

Two of Three Houseboats on the River

Although I liked the town of Apalachicola, the marina left a lot to be desired.  We pay by the foot of boat normally at marinas.  The Water Street Hotel and Marina charged us $1.50 per foot which equated to $52.50 for the night.  For that price we got electric and water.  Only one restroom is provided for the marina patrons, and it is a combo toilet / sink / shower all in one room setup, so if someone is taking a shower, no one can use the toilet or wash their hands.

It seemed. however, that we were the only folks in the marina actually staying on our boat, so that last factor of only one restroom did not really come into play.  Still I would have expected more for my money.  Oh, wait, we did get the only slip with Water Hyacinth growing in it.  I guess that is the something more but not something we wanted!  Once again I was happy to be on my way.

Floating docks at Water Street Motel & Marina

Bouquet of growing and spreading Water Hyacinth.

On the way out of town we happened to see the houseboats again, but this time from the water side.

Green Houseboat and Yellow One Next to it

The trip of 26 nautical miles today from Apalachicola to Carabelle took only 3.5 hours compared to the longer days we have seen on the water recently. We had a bit of wind and waves but nothing to complain about.  Clark did not have any splash hit him in the face today, and no water came into the second state room through the hatch to soak my laptop or printer.  The sun was actually hot. All-in-all it was a good day on the water.

I assisted Clark throughout the day's travel lending my eyes to help spot those elusive red markers. While looking for markers / buoys, sometimes I saw dolphins playing near our boat and sometimes it was Clark who saw them, but the dolphins refused to come out when the camera was running.  Although he tried, Clark was unable to capture any dolphin pictures.

As we came into Carabelle it was pretty cool to see all the fishing vessels with their rigging and netting.

Carabelle, FL fishing vessels

We stopped at the fuel dock before heading out of our slip for the night. The wind wanted to push the bow out and the stern into the fuel dock, so we had a bit of work to get lines setup so that the bow was in and the stern out. Given the slips are a combination of poles to lasso with lines and 12 foot fixed finger docks, it looked like we had our work cut out for us after fueling to get the boat into our assigned slip.

After much deliberation where Clark tried to explain to me what he wanted me to do, we decided to go for it.  Under the pressure of multiple people watching the performance, I managed to get my line around the pole for the bow line on the first attempt.  Bravo me!  Even the manager of the marina applauded my work.

Since we are unfamiliar with the tides here and we are dealing with a fixed-dock situation, we spent a considerable amount of time tying and retying lines and fenders to position the boat in the best possible way such that it won't come up at high tide with the gunnel under the finger dock and cause damage to either one or the other or both.  We rigged up multiple fenders at various heights to protect the boat from damage while at the same time configuring the boat so that I could get off the boat relatively easily.

Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving "pot luck" dinner here at the marina.  Clark and I walked to the IGA store across the street and down a bit to buy some ingredients for our meal offering. The marina manager said the food expected thus far was seriously lacking in vegetables.  Since Clark and I like vegetables, we decided to buy fresh at the IGA and cook them for tomorrow.

When we got back from the grocery store, we stopped and talked with the marina manager and some locals hanging out at the marina. One, named Russell, is a Tow Boat driver for Tow Boat US.  He needs to get his boat pulled out, inspected for damage and repaired. During a recent rescue attempt in the Gulf for a Mainship 34' boat which was reportedly "dead in the water", Russell's rescue boat slid down a wave and did some damage to itself. His crew could not go on to get to the Mainship and had to get themselves to safety.

From the way he tells the story his crew should consider themselves very lucky indeed to have returned alive. Russell said he called the Coast Guard and told them he failed to recover the Mainship and they needed to take action themselves to assist the stranded people out there.  I hate to think what the folks on the Mainship had to deal with and what happened with their vessel.

Florida: GICW Shipwrecks

As we traveled the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway over the past couple of days, we noted that there is a significant number of ships wrecked and abandoned on the waterway.  Clark busily took pictures of many of those we saw along the way.

Toppled Sailboat

Sailboat on the Rocks

Sunken Cabin Cruiser Leaning on the Pilings

3 Entangled Sunken Boats

Submerged Vessel

Sunken Vessel Still Tied to Pilings

Immediately following Hurricane Sandy Clark and I saw sunken and beached vessels everywhere in waterways near our home in Rumson, NJ.  Today, however, none are seen as they were all cleaned up and carried away.  Perhaps there are just too many hurricanes that hit Florida for all the impacted boats to be removed?

Florida: Panama City to Apalachicola

Day 153

NM Today: 53

NM Total: 3269

Neither of us felt any desire to delay our departure from Panama City. On our morning walk to the washroom, we passed by a nicely done 911 memorial.

911 Memorial at Panama City Marina

We returned the borrowed chafe guards to the office and returned to the boat to get underway.  It took at least a half hour to work our way out of the slip.  Hitting one of the concrete pilings did not appeal to either of us.  We slowly worked the boat forward – Clark walked the boat up as I pulled in the bow line to keep us close to the finger dock and away from the concrete piling on the starboard side.  So much for our early start! It was 9:00 before we were truly underway though 8:30 had been our goal.

Today was another long day on the water as we work our way towards our escape from Florida’s panhandle to the west coast of Florida.  We are still seeking that magical day where the winds are not too strong and from the right direction while the waters are relatively calm.  It is a long crossing whether done during the day or at night. Hour after hour of being tossed around is not on Clark or my wish list so we will position ourselves on the ready and then wait.

As we made our way from Panama City to Apalachicola, I hemmed Clark's pants.  He is practically wasting away on this Great Loop trip.  Even his skinny jeans are too big for him and dragging on the ground.  Sadly I am not experiencing the same issues.

The views today were a remarkable change from those we saw on the river system.  We are definitely in Bayou country.

Entrance to Lake Wimico Through the passage

Typical View along the GICW

To get to Apalachicola we passed through a railroad swing bridge.  Fortunately the bridge is normally open and only closed when a train goes over it about one time per week.  It looks pretty derelict to me.

Railroad Swing Bridge

 As we pulled into Apalachicola we passed by Ivory Lady and Next Chapter docked at the municipal dock near a set of fishing vessels.  One of these had the name Miss Martha.  Martha was Clark's mother's name.

Fishing Vessel - Miss Martha

We docked at the Water Street Hotel and Marina.  We normally dock with the stern in first, but the assigned slip had vegetation growing in it such that we thought it best to "bow in" and keep the plant life away from our props.  We arrived at 4:45 (now Eastern Time as the time zone changed near Apalachicola) registered as quickly as possible which was not very quickly as the clerk was taking reservations over the phone that took forever.

Any way as soon as we could we grabbed our bikes for a look around town.  The town of Apalachicola is quite quaint and seems to have more than its fair share of raw oyster bars. Unfortinately I do not eat oysters - raw or otherwise, so none of those restaurant options appealed to me.

Streets of Apalachicola, FL

Reindeer and Palm Trees at Apalachicola Court House

Note the Nearly Full Moon in the Background
(great photo by Clark)

Local Inn Established in 1907
- note the widow's walk on top of the building

 When we came to the riverside park, we learned a bit about Apalachicola's industrial background.  It seems that the town was prosperous in the past due to first the cotton industry and later harvesting sponges.  Historical markers at the park gave a bit of the background for the town's success.

Fountain in Riverside Park
at Almost Full Moon

After our look around town, we finally managed to agree on an eating place. We found a nice place called the Owl Cafe where Clark had Black Grouper and I had fried Gulf Shrimp.

We returned to the boat after dinner in full dark.  Fortunately we had both head and tail lights for our bikes to keep us visible to any traffic.  After stowing our bikes, I jumped on my computer to do the blog while Clark got on his to catch up on emails and such.  One of the items in his email was a survey from West Marine for the shopping I did there while in Fort Walton Beach.  I ran into the store for less than 5 minutes and purchased marine toilet paper.  I needed only that item and so did not browse in the store or require much in the way of assistance with my product selection.  

The survey consisted of somewhere around 50 questions about my shopping experience. Clark walked me through question by agonizing question regarding my satisfaction with the store, the product and the salesperson's assistance.  Here are the more interesting questions and my answers:

Clark: "Did you research your purchase [of toilet paer] on line before coming to the store?"

Ev: "No.  I did not need to research toilet paper."

Clark: "Were you working on a specific project that brought you to the store for the [toilet paper] purchase?"

Ev: "Not at that time but planning for the future"

Clark: "Did the salesperson demonstrate the product or its features?"

Ev: "Thank goodness - no!"

By the third question both Clark and I were laughing so hard we were crying.   We completed the survey and hit the submit button.