2025 April: Vero Beach Too

 13 April 2025

We had some time on our hands and decided to go for a bike ride tour of the area. The weather was cool (almost cold) with full sun - perfect to go exploring! I suggested we bike into town and grab a bite to eat followed by a visit to Kilwins for ice cream. Clark said we should take a picnic lunch, so that's what we did. We took some pictures for the blog as we explored.

Our bike ride took us past the beach.

We biked into town and found the park we visited with Franklin in the evening. 

We put our bikes in "kick stand" mode next to a picnic table to enjoy the view and eat our lunch.

Clark by the picnic table

The park borders the beach, so we took a look around. The lifeguard had a yellow flag out today. 

We passed by "Citrus" - the restaurant we ate here on a past trip with Anna and Don.

My main objective for going out was to grab ice cream at Kilwins. Thinking we would be leaving here soon, I wanted to get a taste another time before leaving. 

After finishing our treats, we headed back towards the boat. Along the way we passed a sign that said a boat show was being held at Riverside Park. We quickly detoured to go check out the park and see what boats they had available there.

As soon as we arrived at the boat show (free of charge), we were stopped by a man selling a boat from the roof of his car. He did not want to sell us his boat necessarily. He wanted to rave about the fact we were riding Brompton bikes. He used to own a bike shop and said he had sold over 1000 Bromptons and loved them. 

He did talk to us about his boat, which was set upon the roof of his Mini Cooper car. The boat was as long as or longer than the car! It was a type of flat skiff designed specifically for fishing. It had extremely low freeboard. He told us his wife refused to consider going out in it. One day when he was out in the boat alone, a manatee decided to scratch her back on the side of the boat. He thought, "I'm going over!" and over he went. After that his wife said, "NO WAY!" He had to buy her a kayak. 

I thought he would keep us there talking all afternoon, but when "real" customers came by to ask about the boat for sale, he dropped us like a hot rock! By then I was happy to escape. I am still looking for the "off" button on Clark to get him to stop talking. 45 years and I haven't found it yet.

I guess Clark was hoping to see dinghies in the mix at the show. We saw none of them, and mostly saw small outboards.

We did find an air boat for sale.

Clark's next boat?

We did see one very interesting "Viking" boat on display. Being many seats long, it was quite impressive in design.

We just had ice cream at Kilwins or we could have gotten an ice cream bar here. There is no comparison!

Sea Tow and USCG Auxiliary had booths. The US Power Squadron folks invited us to come to there meeting place on any Friday night we happen to be in town. When I told them Clark was an "N" level (Navigation - highest level of study), they wanted him to come teach boating courses and were disappointed when we said we were just passing through the area.

As we rode around on our bikes, they got the attention of a young man and woman manning a booth for Edwards Jones financial planning. Clark demonstrated how the Brompton bikes fold and then asked the young woman there if she wanted to ride it. She jumped at the chance. As she rode away on Clark's bike, we learned from the man sitting there that she was six months pregnant. After that, I prayed she wouldn't take a spill as the bike can be tricky with its skinny wheels with small diameter! She said she had not ridden a bike in quite some time, but she was fine. 

Both he and she took pictures of the bikes to remember the name Brompton. He said he has trouble finding a parking space at work. He lives not too far from where he works, so he was seriously considering getting himself a Brompton for trips to the office. Clark explained how the bike was invented in England for commuters to take on the tube. We should get a commission given the number of sales pitches we have given  (or really I should say how many Clark has given)!

By the time we left the boat show, we had been out enjoying the area for about 3 hours. We headed back to the boat, so I could get busy on a Blog update. 

14 April 2025

Clark pulled out his guitar this morning. He has hardly touched it since we left Marathon. What a difference from when we were there, and he played multiple times a week in preparation for church services or just for fun! 

While he did that, I entertained myself with some reading. I finished my latest nautical / historical war novel written by Christopher Tubbs. The last two I read were about a woman agent working for the British secret service. Finishing the second of the two books about her left me bereft and wondering where I can find similar books. I think I have read everything Tubbs has ever written, so I have to find a new author!

My friend Cathy is back from her trip to Charleston for the Garden Tour there. She invited me to go out on errands with her this afternoon. We started with a stop at the library. She was dropping off books. On the way out she pointed out the library gift shop. We wandered in for a look around. I did not expect to find anything of interest, but I was surprised. As I paid for a couple of small items I picked up there, I commented to the cashier that I had never seen such a wide variety of unusual items in such a small space. She beamed and said, "That's what we are striving to provide!"

From there we went to Home Depot where Cathy picked up something for the house. Then on to the Dollar Tree - just to snoop around. I bought some black-ink pens to use when making the cards I send to the grandkids. Then on to Fresh Market where I claimed I did not need anything and spent over $50!

After our outing, Cathy dropped me back at the boat where I found Clark having an in-depth discussion with Don on (guess what) batteries!

Later, I heated up the quiche I bought at Fresh Market, added a salad on the side, and voila - an easy dinner. Clark had his "big" meal at lunch. While I went out shopping with Cathy, Clark got an invite to dine with Anna and Don up at their house. She served salmon, potatoes, and broccoli.

After dinner we did the normal Netflix search for a movie to watch.