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wrote:
Bought new charts yesterday.

Drove down to St. Marks yesterday to take "Ragtime" from the dock
behind the restaurant to a real slip. St. Marks is an odd little place
mostly built around the river being the only deep water port for many
miles. The Spanish realized this and built a fort here in the early
1500s. The first railraod in FL went from Tallahassee to St. Marks and
this was the scene of some skirmishes in the civil war. Today, it has
a few bars, a couple of marinas an oil terminal and little else. Three
bars cluster around the main intersection where the road runs into the
river and most of the roads are dirt. It looks like Fl used to look.
The woman who runs Shields Marina wasn't there but would be back in an
hour so I decided to go work on my boat and get a lunch of smoked
mullet and beer at Posey's. Posey's is an old fashioned oyster bar
with sagging floor with numerous spaces 'tween the boards going down to
the water below and it also has an outside area and a dock on the river
where most ppl eat. When you eat an oyster, you simply throw the shell
over the side and this has formed a substantial area of dry land where
bands play at night.
Before going into Posey's, I stopped at the bar/store across the street
to get a paper and inside was an attractive thin woman who seemed to
look me up and down and after I bought my paper asked with a smile
"Anything else you want". It might've been an invitation but I am a
married man who has forgotten how to handle such situations so I just
told her I was in a hurry.
"Ragtime" was simply tied to the dock behind Posey's where a waitress
could hand oysters to anybody on board. The waitress name was Ivy and
she was a sorta cute brunette who told me "We done took good care of
your boat, kept all the birds offa it", and she had. I got a beer and
went aboard "Ragtime" to repair my starboard nav light when suddenly I
hear "Hey, Bruce". Nobody calls me Bruce except my immediate family so
I was shocked but on looking up was really surprised to see one of my
sisters (I have seven) on a new 16' runabout with her family. Just by
coincidence they had just bought it and came to St. Marks to cruise the
river looking for gators and Manatees. I rarely see my family in
Tallahassee so this was a weird coincidence.
After my food came, I sat down to eat and listen to Waylon Jennings
from the jukebox when a large cat jumped up on the bench next to me
like he was asking "Where's mine" so I fed him while another rubbed
against my leg. These cats were too picky to eat mullet and instead
wanted the shrimp the redheaded redneck woman at the next table was
eating. She was with her 6 yr old daughter and ancient mom and was
very flirty while I ate but I just tried to be polite. I dont spend
time in bars, even on business trips and am not around any women at
work so all of this was weird to a guy who has been married for 25 yrs.
Got aboard "Ragtime" and started her engine and was slowly motoring
upriver considering taking a short trip upriver looking for 'gators
(the river looks like something out of "The African Queen"
upriver")when suddenly the engine died again, crap. Almost no river
traffic so I just got out my extendable boathook and relaxed on the bow
waiting for the slight breeze to eventually push me toward the dock
where I would just push myself to my designated slip space. A couple of
fishermen come by and take my bow line and pull me to the dock and a
friendly guy grabs the line I throw.
Its not a real slip but just a vacant dock space behind a "Research
Vessel" and judging by its looks, the only thing it researches might be
the location of square grouper. The woman at Shields is friendly and
tells me the charge is "50 cent a foot a day" (I have no power or water
hookups). I tie up and look at my engine again noticing a possible
cracked fuel line going to the electric fuel pump but dont really feel
like fixing it right now.
I wander back down the dirt road to my truck passing one bar with
several motorcycle types hanging out outside looking so mellow they
could might be sculptures. There's a Rottweiller dog laying asleep in
the middle of the intersection in front of Posey's and I consider if I
ought to avoid him but he raises one sleepy eye, thumps his stub of a
tail, rolls over and goes back to sleep. A van with Ontario plates
comes up and stops blocked by the dog. How these people got this far
off the beaten track i have no idea but the man clearly was at loss as
how to get around the dog. If he beeped his horn, he'd get the
attention of the biker dudes and the other locals so he just waited. I
walked up to his window saying "It'd be shame to interrupt his nap so
you could go through that parking lot there", which he did without a
word.
Driving back to Tallahassee, I considered; "Why would I really want to
take my boat anywhere, this is redneck paradise". However, I know I'll
keep going. Steinhatchee is the next stop and it has an atmosphere
similar to St. Marks so I am sure I will enjoy it.