Greetings fellow HE Travelers,
This last month has been a whirlwind of adventure. Trisha was in Botswana hosting one of our groups, so I was stuck home by myself for 20 days. To prevent loneliness, I invited my construction buddy Ethan Higbee to Cedar Key, to help me work on fixing our dock while she was away.
He thought about it for a day. Neither of us have ever done construction or repairs over the water before, but Ethan is a sucker for joining me on hair-brained, unique projects. Coupled with the fact that he was dying for a trip to Florida, he agreed to fly down, and we set the date. I bought Ethan a plane ticket and started buying the needed materials in anticipation.
We’re brave fellas, Ethan and I,
and we totally agreed we could resurrect the fallen structure within the timeframe allotted, while simultaneously not dying in the process.
On the travel day,
I dropped Trisha at the Gainesville airport, but had to kill 12 hours till Ethan arrived. I learned a lot about the Gainesville Asian Market. I learned I really LOVE jack fruit. Furthermore, I have to admit, It was really great seeing my buddy and showing him the new place. I’ve made new friends here, but you can never make old friends.
We got right to slopping through the muck at low tide,
which is the best time to work (except for the biting midges).
My paddle boards sure took a beating, as we discovered that they worked amazingly as water scaffolds. We were even able to use them to lift the fallen sections of the dock during high tide. Very cool, I guess this is how they would fix a dock in a Third World country. I feel like an American company would use a giant sea crane at much expense.
It took many days, and often working with the tides we experienced many late nights, to get the walkway stabilized.
The best/most anxiety ridden part, was finally jacking up the dock house at the end. I was terrified the building would suddenly come down on me. It was Worth it!
Now I can’t seem to tear myself away from the dock.
LOL, I just keep sitting and staring at the water, hypnotized for hours.
Anyway, it has been fun, but we’re finally wrapping up our time in Cedar Key for the season. We have absolutely fallen in love with the place, but alas…snowbirds must fly north for the summer.
For our one final treat,
we took a trip out to Atsena Otie Key; the ghost town island of the original cedar key, to lazy about on the beach with our neighbor. It was absolutely heaven. I can’t wait to come back here this fall.
We’re off to Utah starting tomorrow morning. We’ll be towing the tool trailer again on our way back to HE Travel Headquarters in Salt Lake City to continue our latest project there. I’ve got a meeting with the city mid-month to discuss the plans! Woot! Something is going to happen for sure.
I’ll be finishing up this month with a trip to Switzerland to join our SOLD OUT Alpenglow hiking tour. It’s my first time in Switzerland! I’ll send pictures from the top!
Tour Updates:
On our Vikings and Volcanoes Iceland adventure, there is only 1 spot left in a male room share.
There are only 2 spots left on our Lake Como Adventure in Italy
United Kingdom Town and Country also only has 2 spots left.
I hope to see you on Tour!
Warmly,
Zachary Moses
HE Travel Storyteller
