Mainely Moose and More

                        Mainely Moose and More

    This photo adventure story's ending is more of a personal tragedy rather than the normal humorous events of my other adventure stories. But nonetheless, I felt compelled to write it as it was an adventure that I will remember all too well. The first part of this adventure went very well, giving me many hundreds of images to work on.

    The past fall photography trip of 2008 was to meet up with a good friend of mine from Colorado, Weldon Lee.  Weldon does photo workshops all over the world and has invited me to some of them. The original trip was to go to Haines, Alaska to photograph eagles, in perhaps in snowy conditions, which would be very hard to do here in South Florida. The airfare ended up being very expensive to Anchorage and so I looked over some of his other workshops and found fall Moose in Maine. That sounded equally as good of a trip to me.    

    I was born and raised in South Florida and have photographed the Southern Bald eagles here, but as much as I have stomped these backwoods in the last 45 years, I have never, ever come across the first moose. Now, perhaps they were here and I just never saw one... or maybe they just never liked our hot humid weather and migrated north. Whichever the case, I just don't believe there are many of these critters here in Florida. In fact, I have never seen a Florida Panther before either, but that doesn’t mean that they are not here.

    So where did all the Florida Moose go?? So I called Weldon to see if there was any space available on his Fall Moose trip in Maine. Gladly there was. I once again checked the airline flights to Bangor, Maine where everyone was to meet up with Weldon and found similar high airfares, and in fact, I would have needed to rent a car once up there. This added to the airfare was a lot more than what I bargained for just to be able to spend only 6 days in the quest for Bullwinkle ... surrounded hopefully in beautiful Fall colors.

    I checked the mileage from my place to Millinocket, where we would be staying, and added up the gas cost and I thought that I could drive to Maine, spend the week with Weldon and his group of people and then be able to visit other places, both on the way up and then back to Florida... sounded like a great plan to me. And so the trip was committed.

    Now I have a 26 ft travel trailer and truck that I could have taken, but the not-so-great gas mileage, probably less than 8 mpg was not going to make this trip work. So I removed the 4 bucket seats from the back of my van and said to myself...self, I could put my air mattress down the middle and still have lots of room down the sides and across the back for everything I really needed, as long as I didn't try to take the kitchen sink.

    I sat down and planned the routes north, with a few side trips here and there that I thought might provide images, and did the same for the return trip. These various points of interest were plotted up on my laptop as lat and long grid coordinates. I just plugged them into my new GPS unit and felt confident in being able to find and go just about anywhere. The only downfall in this thinking is that the maps aren't always accurate and new housing developments are not reflected on these maps. So there was a considerable amount of lost hours trying to chase down old grist mills and barns. I would say that I lost at least 2 days. When you are chasing old structures like grist mills and barns you will need to just drive as many backcountry roads as you can and stop at old country-type stores and ask questions. I found the latter to be quite effective.

    I belong to a website site for photographers called Flickr and have met a lot of very nice people there. Mike Jones was one of them. Mike's photostream of Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine had some really great images.  I wanted to go there and see the place for myself...which became stop number two on my long lists of places to visit. That side trip to Acadia was well worth it and I plan to go back, only next time I will spend the extra money in gas and take my travel trailer.....gotta love those creature comforts of indoor cooking and not having to crawl on my hands and knees to get into bed, not to mention being able to stand up and get dressed in the morning....with the lights on!!!!.

    So my first stop at the beginning of this photo adventure was actually in northern Georgia, where my cousin lives. I did some shooting in that area for a couple of days. I found some really nice stuff there on this trip before heading north. But once again, it was just driving the back roads and asking questions that provided the subjects that I was looking for.

    I might throw in something here that relates to all of this driving the backcountry roads. You will see lots of potential image possibilities without the main subject. Beautiful landscapes, but without that really old falling-down barn or grist mill. What I do with my photography is; "I make images". By this, I mean that if I see a beautiful landscape and think that if only there was a barn over there in the back corner, I would make the landscape image.

    Then when I found a barn that would be suitable I would make the barn image leaving plenty of space around the barn for blending. The chances of finding that perfect barn image without all of the traditional clutter around it is nearly impossible. However, the barn itself, giving the correct lighting would be perfect for an empty landscape. When I get back home I will take both of those images and make the image that I had in my mind. I have literally hundreds of old barns and grist mills and associated old farm equipment/old trucks and tractors from which to choose from to "Make" the final image.

    One of the many locations that Mike Jones suggested was Mt. Washington in New Hampshire as well as the very scenic highway called Kancamagus Hwy. Well, as my luck goes, I arrived at the town of North Woodstock, which was the entrance to Kancamagus Hwy. on a Saturday afternoon.

    Crowded driving conditions do not begin to describe what was before me, and that mountaintop that Mike said would be the greatest.....well, as I rounded a curve in the road, the full view of Mt. Washington covered in snow was what I saw. The cars were lined up for over a quarter of a mile trying to get in. I just knew that my spending $20.00 to go up that mountain was not going to get me to the top. I was very sure that the sudden snow caught the road cleaning crews a bit off guard. I just waved good ridings to Mt. Washington and proceeded to meet up with Weldon in Bangor. I finally got into Bangor around 7 pm and met up with Weldon and went to dinner and discussed the next day's plans. Since I had my own vehicle I gladly offered to take one or two of his photo tour people and all their gear with me to the hotel in Millinocket.

    So that week went by fairly quickly with hundreds of images captured for me to work on when I got back home. Since Weldon's photo tour was mainly targeted for Moose, which we did have more than enough photo opts, I began looking for other things for my photography. I found several roadside small creeks with lots of small waterfalls and multi-colored leaves on the rocks. These little creeks were perfect settings for Fall shooting. When I should some of Weldon's people the images that I made along the road, they wanted to do the same.

    I'm not so sure that Weldon had those types of images in mind for his group but he didn't mind, since we all had great Moose shooting for that week. We had a giant 6 foot wide racked male come into shooting range for 2 full days of shooting. In fact, that bull walked right up to the group to go ashore and up into the woods. I had to resort to a wide-angle lens as he was well within 4 feet away from me at one point.

    So after chasing Bullwinkle around in the north woods of Maine for a week, I spent another week at Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine. I arrived at the entrance gate behind many other vehicles, all trying to get into the campground.

    I didn't realize that this was Columbus Day weekend and the campground was full. I had my National Park Disabled card out when the woman walked back to me. She initially said that the campground was full, but when she saw my card shed said she would find me a site. Some days you just have all the luck and then other days the luck goes out the window. I got a great site next to the bathroom room with a concrete walkway. However, I had to carefully back up into the site between two very large boulders. I think that they were placed there so as to not drive between them, but I did which was more convenient for the site's table and fire pit. What I didn't know was that the sidewalls of the tires were rubbing against those boulders and by the end of that week I was having tire problems, eventually having to have both of them replaced on the right side. The front tire actually blew out at 60 mph and luckily I was able to pull onto a deserted side road and put on one of those stupid donut tires.

    That route led me to some very rough backcountry roads trying to get to a Walmart Supercenter by the shortest route on the GPS. I was hoping that the little donut tire would hold up. Actually, on that little side trip, I found a very old church and school with beautiful fall leaves on the trees. So all was not a total waste that day. After getting two new tires I spent the night at that Walmart Residence Inn, only to find that the night temperatures went down to 31 degrees. However, I was toasty warm with my heating pad on low inside my sleeping bag powered by a 400-watt power inverter.

    Acadia National Park was every bit as beautiful as Mike Jones had mentioned. I could have spent another week there easily had it not been for the campground was shutting down for the winter. I obtained some really great images there and probably still have some that I could work on some 12 years later. I'm always finding new images from this photo adventure and others that I never worked up for one reason or another. I probably only covered about one-fourth of the park and the surrounding areas outside of the park in the week that I was there. 

    So ... my return routes took me through the backwoods of upstate New York and south to the scenic drive through the Shenandoah National Park and the adjoining Blueridge Parkway National Park. I always stop in at the visitor’s centers to see what's available to photograph. I love waterfalls and the photos on the walls show them in the full water flow conditions of summer. The only problem was this was fall when the water flows are minimal. That generally does not stop me from hiking to at least one or two of them. So I checked a few out and found Dark Hollow falls to be a minimal hike for these tired old bones. Well, the hike was a lot more than I had planned on, and with a weak right knee, let's just say that was not the best decision I made that day.

    The knee held up very well, considering all of the hiking for Moose and hiking around the rocky shoreline of Acadia NP. But on this hike, it was swelling up like a tick on an old hound dog after I made it back to the truck. The lighting was terrible, just to add a little salt to the ole open wound, as they say...or someone said that once... I'm sure of it. However, I do manage to come away with some fairly good images nonetheless. I spent the night in another Walmart Residence Inn... and yes! I camp out in their parking lots along with many other campers...can't beat the nightly rates and 24-hour shopping. 

    After getting coffee bright and early the next morning, I headed south at the entrance to the Blueridge Parkway National Park scenic drive. The ole knee was almost back to near normal size as I headed south on the Blueridge Parkway to find a suitable location for a nice sunrise. 

    I then headed south and found a gem, for me that is. Next to the visitors center was a relocated farmstead from the very early 1900s. The complete farmstead was donated to the park service by the children of the original builders. Each and every structure was dismantled piece by piece and each part was numbered for reconstruction later by the park service in the mid-1900s. I arrived very early and there was no one around so I set out photographing without having to wait for people to get out of my photos. When I finally fished all of the structures, I heard chickens and saw that there was smoke coming out of the old log cabin's chimney. I went inside and found a very nice couple dressed in the period's clothing. After making several images inside that old cabin I asked the lady if she would pose for me by taking a fire poker and stir the fireplace

    That turned out great and reminded me of an earlier image I made of almost the exact same situation in Georgia back in the mid-80s. That B&W image turned out to be a Best in Show and was awarded 1st place and $300.00.

    This old log cabin held many beautiful images of a time long ago. Just to imagine taking this old cabin apart and relocating all of the pieces and rebuilding it back as it once was is mind-boggling. One of the very first images that I saw when I stepped into the cabin was this small window that is used to allow fresh air into the cabin when the fireplace is going. There was a shaft of bright sunlight streaming through it with the smoke in the room from the fireplace being illuminated by that window light. I made many images inside this old cabin that morning after the people left. Many people don't realize that wooden floors move when you walk on them. When you have your tripod down and camera set up on it you can really see that effect on the screen. So I had to wait quite a while for everyone to clear out so I could photograph. It was all worth the wait.

    After photographing all that morning and into the mid-afternoon at various stops along the parkway, I checked the map for my priority location number three of this trip, and that was Mabry Mill. This famous mill was on my list for years and now it was finally within reach, or so I thought. It was still a long way away, but I decided to just hunker down, make no more stops, and put the peddle to the metal and try to make it before the late afternoon sunlight was gone. Traveling at near light speed, and well over the posted speed limit of 25mph, I finally made it... just as the sun was heading over the mountains, but still in time to get off a few nice frames. Wanting to capture this mill in the morning light, I decided once again to seek the location of the nearest Wal-Mart Residence Inn from my GPS unit so that I could return bright and early the next morning. I wanted to shoot this thing... every-which-way from Sunday.... in fact, it was Sunday. After photographing the mill and surrounding old cabin and blacksmith shop, it was decision time once again. 

    Checking the maps against my proposed planned route back into northern Georgia, I found that I was still nearly 400 miles south of Cherokee and another 200 miles looping west to my cousin's place in northern Georgia. This would have been another 4 to 5 days, as the photographer flies, with all the planned stops along the way. I was tired, the knee was swelling up again... decision time once again.

    I knew that there was so much more that I wanted to photograph on this trip, the many roadside gems that you sometimes find when you least expect it, or when on a hike and you stop to smell the roses so to speak. I guess my hunting days of spot-stock have given me a better perspective of slowing down and just looking around me, many times looking for the smaller image within the big picture. I use my 100-400 telephoto zoom lens a lot for finding these smaller compositions. It seems to just pull the out of the big picture. I decided that I was going to have to make those other locations of waterfalls, log cabins, and grist’s mills and lord only knows what else, for another time. I headed directly by the quickest route south to Cleveland, Georgia at my cousin's place. He wasn’t expecting me for at least another week. I pulled in his driveway, called him on my cell phone as I went up to the door and was talking for a few minutes, and then knocked on his door. The dogs went berserk and he said I have to go see who is at the door. When he opened the door, I heard some muttered words that sounded like “Sombeech”. I just love doing that to people.

    

    After resting up a bit in Northern Georgia at my cousin's place, I spent a few days looking for old barns, some waterfalls, and whatever else I could find to fill in with more post-processing when I got back home.  I asked Billy where I could find a small waterfall that I didn't need to hike a long way to get to. He said, Helton Falls. I asked was it named after your family...he didn't really know for sure. There were a good number of Helton's in White County. Once again at this time of year, most waterfalls are a mere trickle of what they would be in the summer. This waterfall was no exception and the only real keeper was with using the 100-400 telephoto lens and a real slow shutter speed to capture water in slow motion. It sure didn't look like this in real-time. While driving as many backcountry roads as I could find, I came across this small stream. To enhance the scale of it I used my 10-22 mm lens to get down close to the foreground. This lens is pretty good at accentuating the scale of things with its tremendous depth of field of view. Finding the correct aperture for sharpness from just in front of the lens to near infinity is the key to very sharp images.

    I decided that I would top off this trip with a nice colorful sunset with the layers of the Blue Smoky Mountain tops. I chose the highest elevation point in Georgia, Brasstown Bald Mountain Overlook at 4783 FT. elevation. From that point, you can see at least 4 states and numerous mountains top all bathed in that soft blue haze known as the Smoky Mountains. Having never been there I dragged my cousin along with me. The huge parking lot was a bit overwhelming and I had hoped all of those people would clear out and they did. There was a tram that took people up to the top and back but the tram stopped running up at 5 PM. It was 6 and the lot was emptying quickly. We started out walking past this nice paved roadway that the tram took up to the observation point and I thought why not walk up this nice paved road instead of the hiking trail. Other hikers were going up that road, but I reluctantly chose the hiking trail...the one with the large sign indicating that this was a strenuous hiking trail. Well, that was all I needed to see, but the little kids with parents in tow kinda made me feel bad and so we took that damn hiking trail................not the best decision I made that day I might add. 

    That trail lived up to that stupid sign...it was strenuous all right. For someone with a weak knee, carrying a heavy tripod and two cameras, I began to wonder about this mind-driven sunset photo that I was after. Well, after several stops to rest the knee and body we continued on to the summit... Hell, I'm a flatlander and not used to climbing in high elevations. The hiking trail eventually ended at that same paved roadway the tram takes about 40 feet or so from the summit. I love that term, “Summit”. We don't have many of those in Florida. Straight ahead were some earthen stairs ... of which I had given a great deal of thought about going around them, as had others before me, from the way the ground was worn. But NO!!!… I decided to take the stairs... not the second-best decisions I made that day and the One I now regret with the utmost of passion. The first couple of steps was alright, but the next to the last step was a bit higher and so I mistakenly took it with the weak knee ahead of the good one and attempted to push up............ “Holy Sheep Sh__, Batman".  The heavenly gates opened up and angels spoke to me in a way I will remember for the rest of my natural-born days here on earth. The light then went dark; little birds were flying all around me... which were very hard to see through the tears streaming down my cheeks. Then it hit me....."PAIN"... none like I had ever felt before in my life. I swore someone drove a railroad spike through my knee... I couldn't figure out why in the hell they would do that. I spun around and sat down all in one swift motion, grabbing the handrail as if it were my last hope of not going over some cliff. I must have sat there for quite some time. My cousin came back and said, "We're almost there". He also indicated that time was running out... funny... I was thinking the same thing but in a much different way. I faintly remember saying "That's IT".........." I can't go any further ". I can only hope that was all that I may have blurted out. I guess my cousin didn't appreciate me dragging him to the top of this mountain only to hear me say that. Only when he noticed the tears streaming down my face did he realize something very wrong had happened.

    After what had seemed like an eternity, I finally managed to get up. I had to use my tripod and the handrail, but could not put any weight on that knee. People were trying to come down those steps and go around me. I muttered some words that didn't make sense to anyone other than me, I’m sure. I managed to get back down to the last step and hard pavement...not sure if I floated down or just how I did it. My cousin would never tell me. Normally I hate carrying tripods, but in this rare case, I loved that damn tripod. I gave my two cameras to my cousin and tried to hobble down that roadway using the tripod to hang onto. It probably looked like a tall crab going sideways with one claw hanging onto this metal contraption. After making some slow progress in my downhill adventure on that paved tram road, I came to a curve in the road, and there was my sunset shot. Not the one I had envisioned, but at least it resembled such. I got one of my cameras back and somehow managed to fire off one frame of the now-infamous “Sunset from Hell”.

    The hike back down that road would have probably only have taken about 20 minutes. My hobbling, crab crawling decent getting back down that damn mountain to the parking lot took over an hour and a half. I must have looked like Frankenstein, dragging one leg behind me moaning in pain. It was pitch dark by now...can't see your hand in front of your face. Every rock looked like a black bear. I could just see the newspaper headlines describing all of this. I told my cousin to take my cameras and go on down and move the car closer to the gate. I'm sure he would have never seen all of the bears I saw that long night.

    After a couple of days at my cousin's house of alternating between frozen bags of peas and whatever else was in his freezer, placing them on the knee trying to get the swelling down, I managed enough energy to endure the ten-hour drive south to Florida... good thing for cruise control. This was not the happy ending that I planned for, which was initially a pretty good 30-day photography trip.

    When I was finally able to drive back home and see my orthopedic surgeon, my worst fears were brought to light. The knee was a goner, kaput, nada, and never again going to be my right-hand man. A new knee replacement was the next major chapter in my life, but that was not going to happen until January, and here it was the last week of October. My surgeon assured me that 95% of these kinds of surgeries go without any complications. That was somewhat reassuring, but I was wondering about that other damn 2%. I didn't what to know at this point, but I was soon going to find out firsthand. 

    The surgery went very well; in fact, the epidural was working overtime. I felt great...no pain...up and walking. The first two days went uneventful.... everything went according to my plan. I was walking, with that stupid walker, but walking...when the physical therapist noticed swelling in the right calf. Of course, this was the day before I was to be released to go home right?"…Yeah Right". They brought in the ultrasound machine and... You guessed it... "Blood Clot"...right below the new knee.

    No, I don't have a black cloud over my head... it's a damn summer thunderstorm with enough lightning to light up a small city.

    So now it's coumadin for the next six months to help dissolve the blood clot and hopefully reduce the immense swelling of my knee. This should, hopefully, give me more mobility and the ability to bend the knee more than I can now.

    This is where this adventure story ends for now. It’s been a little over three months since the surgery and I am getting around OK, but not where I had planned to be. I am sitting in a campground writing this sort of adventure story, which is unlike the other adventure stories that I have written and posted to my blog site. I try to find some humor in all of this, I really do...but sometimes it’s hard to do given the outcome of this adventure. 

    This 30-day photographing trip to many points north has given me some very good images and another 30-minute digital slide program to present. So I have to be thankful for that.

This adventure story was updated on October 1, 2020

The Myakka Gator

    This was most probably the largest gator in the wild that I have ever seen in my life... it was huge!

    The morning started out very early, before dawn to possibly capture yet another beautiful sunrise in this State Park near my home in Southwest Florida. The Park ... Myakka River State Park, located approximately 10 miles east of I-75 and Sarasota Florida on highway 72.

    A little history about this Park. In a scene reminiscent of what early Native Americans and Spanish explorers witnessed, arching palm trees and live oaks reflect on a winding tea-colored stream. The cries of limpkins, Souther Bald Eagle, Owls, and Osprey pierce the air while alligators and turtles sun lazily on logs and riverbanks. The Florida Whitetail Deer, Osceola Turkey, Florida Panther, and the Black Bear are some of the more prominent animals that can be found in the park. The Majestic Myakka River flows through 58 square miles of one of Florida's oldest and largest State Parks.

 

    The Myakka River, Florida’s first state-designated wild and scenic river, flows through a vast expanse of unspoiled wetlands, prairies, hammocks, and pinelands that make up the Myakka River State Park. Boating, fishing, canoeing, and kayaking are popular activities on the water while hikers and bicyclists explore miles of trails and backroads. Prior to 1850, the Myakka River was known as the Asternal River on English maps. A Seminole Indian reportedly told a surveyor in the 1850s that the name of the river was Myakka. The translation of the word Myakka is unknown.

    Between the 1850s and the 1930s, cattle grazed on the dry prairie, a vast land of grasses, forbs, palmetto, and other low shrubs with thousands of scattered wetlands. In 1910, Bertha Palmer, a progressive businesswoman from Chicago, came to Sarasota and bought a vast amount of land. A few years later, she purchased acreage farther inland than her initial real estate purchases and tried her hand at cattle and swine ranching. Meadow Sweet Pastures, as it was known, was located very near the Myakka River, where she introduced fencing and dip vats to Florida ranching. You can still visit the old foundations of the original house on Ranch House Road, located inside the park. Mrs. Palmer passed away in 1918.

    

    Shortly after, the Great Depression struck America, President Roosevelt signed into law the New Deal, a government program intended to boost the economy and spirit of the American population during those dark years. One program funded was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Over 17,000 acres of the Palmer estate were purchased by Florida to develop the Myakka River, State Park. Myakka is one of eight Florida State Parks developed by the CCC during the 1930s, and was formally dedicated in 1941, and was officially opened to the public. Many of the CCC structures built in Myakka are still used today, such as the visitor center, two picnic pavilions, five rental log cabins, roads, and trails.

    

    So it was the middle of March 06 while driving back to my camping trailer about mid-morning when I spotted something on the shore of the lake. March is low water time here, so the water line is quite a distance from the perimeter road that meanders around the southeastern part of the lake. I pulled over and got my binoculars to see what it was and to my amazement... it was a huge gator with a softshell turtle in its mouth. Not wanting to pass up this photo opportunity I quickly grabbed my wildlife camera setup and tripod and headed out the 300 yards to get closer to my subject. When I was about 100 yards away I set the tripod down just to observe the 10-12 foot gator with its prey. She was a big one for sure...the largest I have ever seen in the wild, and she was very busy tossing that turtle in the air and catching it to reposition it in her huge gaping mouth.

    I began moving forward very slowly, only a couple of feet at a time, as to not alarm this big girl, although she was very busy with her turtle. She would flip it up in the air and catch it and crunch her jaws trying to disassemble the turtle so she could eat it. It was much too big to take down in one gulp, even though her mouth was cavernous.

I eased up a couple of feet several times to where I was as close as needed to be with a 400 mm lens to capture very close-up images. I was about 20 yards, which was probably much too close. Gators can outrun a human in the first 30 feet or so and I didn't want to test that theory this day. I knew that her morning meal was more important to her at this moment than also testing that same theory. I was happily capturing image after image shooting burst mode when she would toss that turtle in the air when out of the corner of my eye I saw a red blur.

I looked over to see this woman dressed in a full-length red dress and dress shoes out in this mucky shoreline walking past me with her tiny digital camera stuck out as far as her arms would go. She was so intent at looking at the back of that little camera that I knew for sure she had no idea how close she was getting to this gator. I stepped forward a couple of steps in time to grab her arm and pull her back. I said to her to move very slowly and get behind me. When I asked her what in the hell were you thinking? she said in a very heavy British accent, I was only trying to get a close up of that gator. I have never seen one before. Well, I gave her a very quick one minute lesson about gators in general and about this one in particular. I told her that if that gator had wanted to run you down and eat you, that there would be no way in hell that you would be able to escape those jaws.

The look I received from her was about priceless but I knew she obviously did not know that she was in that much danger that morning and her husband should have thanked me for saving her British life. The woman turned around and quickly left and I'm sure that she told her husband about the very rude American gentleman down there with his camera just didn't want me to get my photo of that gator. I hope she did get a least a couple of photos just to tell the tale of this horrible photographer in the USA to all of her British friends back home.

    I continued to capture more images for a bit and decided to leave that big girl to her turtle and left. I have had many memorable moments in the 15 years or so in photographing and camping in this State Park. Camping offered me the ability of early morning shooting before the front gates opened up at 8 AM. I have conducted many photo tours here and hopefully gave sufficient enough instructions in photography to enable many other photographers the possibility of obtaining wonderful images of landscapes and wildlife that I have been blessed with over my time there.

Photographs...Aquariums...and Planes

    It was around 9 am on a beautiful spring cool morning. I was flying relatively low, only at about 1000 feet AGL towards my destination of Destin Airport in the Panhandle of Northwest Florida for a meeting at 12 pm. I wasn’t over any populated area and just wanted to see the open land below at a lower altitude so I dropped down to about 500 feet AGL. I was about 10 minutes from my destination when I spotted a grass airfield way off to my left that looked abandoned at first glance but as I got closer I could see that it had been mowed and looked to be in good condition. I circled around for a very low pass at about 50 feet and then this time I noticed a very large recently built sprawling home at the end of the field. I pulled up and circled back around again for another look only this time I noticed a person standing out by the pool waving his arm at me. So on the next pass, I did the plane wing wag to say hi back. As I passed over him he was indicating by his arm movements that he wanted me to land. OK, what the hell why not as I am early for my noon meeting. So I circled back around and slowed down, for the third time and I landed in my Super STOL airplane backcountry style of dragging the tailwheel for a little bit then set my plane down on its big 35 inch Alaskan Bush Tires. I taxied up to where the man had walked down to the airfield. I shut the engine down, raised the window up and the gentleman came over and said “Hi !… my name is Hymie..what’s yours?... Wow! what a welcome.

    Today started out at around 8 am as I took off from my private airfield at my home for a trip to Destin, Florida. I had a meeting with the owner…Ruben Gallagher of the Blue Marlin restaurant, on the following day. My first stop was at my friend's cattle ranch just outside Cross City, Florida for an overnighter. John and I haven’t seen each other in about nine months since the dedication ceremony of the Grizzly bear display at the Idaho US Fish and Wildlife Service's office. I landed my Super STOL airplane on his driveway around 10 am. Later that evening we had a cookout with John’s brother Robert. We had one of the best porterhouse steaks I have ever eaten, and no wonder since they have a cattle ranch. I also never had a baked potato that was cooked 3 times, once in the microwave then olive oil was brushed over it with rock salt, back in the oven, and finally on the grill alongside the steaks. I told John just let me know when you’re doing this again and I’ll fly up anytime. Later that evening we sat around talking about that Grizzly bear incident at our fly-in camp at Horseshoe Valley in Northwestern Idaho. I’m sure Robert had heard the story many times from John but never from my perspective. In fact, John had an 8x10 photo of the two of us standing next to the display. We should have had the same guns pointing at the bear but there were too many people to reenact that moment. The next morning I took off around 8 am for my flight over to Destin.

    Well, I said my name is J. Michael. Hymie asked what’s the J stand for. I said John but I don’t use my first name and I don't use my last name of Williams either. It was about to get confusing... it always does...I just go by J. Michael. Hymie said that will work for me, J. Michael. Come on get out of that thing and let's sit down by the pool and talk. After a few minutes of conversation, I asked what kind of plane do you have? Hymie said I don’t own a plane and I don't like flying. That old hanger was kept in place when the demo of the old house was done. He said you never know who might drop in someday. He asked me about my plane and those huge tires. I gave him a complete run down and said I would take him up for a ride…he said I’ll pass for now. I got the idea that Hymie really didn’t like to fly. We talked for about 2 hours and I then said that I need to go fly into the Destin airport to meet with the owner of the Blue Marlin restaurant for lunch. Hymie said, Ruben !! …he is one of my best friends … I’ll join you and we can take my car and you just put your plane in the hanger if you want. That old hanger was in perfect condition and newly repainted and I could see repair work also had been done but it looked almost new.

    So we left for the Blue Marlin restaurant to meet up with Ole Ruben. Lunch went well and Ruben wanted more information about very large aquariums. I sometimes represent the home and commercial aquarium builder in the Kendall area of South Miami called “The Living Reef”, owned by Ken Rollins. Ken and I met at a trade show a few years back and I told him my background in not only aquariums and filtrations systems but also photography. I mentioned that maybe we could work together on acquiring clients … I offered to go to his business and photograph his showroom with various sizes and styles of aquariums and then go to a few homes and commercial locations where The Living Reef had installed one of their very large custom design aquariums. I would then put together a digital album on my laptop computer to be able to showcase a range of aquarium designs. Then I would go to a potential client and find out what they wanted and about where an aquarium could possibly be placed. I knew about filtration systems and the space requirements and could easily direct the client to something that we both felt would make a significant statement to their home or business. I would photograph the proposed location and then when back at home at my computer, I would superimpose various aquarium designs that I had previously photographed and do a pictorial mockup of what the final design could look like. I then would send a digital copy to the client for further discussions. When nearly finalized, I would then give Ken a call and send him the digital proof so that his team could come up with an approximated costs. Once we had an approximate plan and proposed associated costs we would then get together at the client's home or business to finalize the design. At this point, the client would have decided on a freshwater or saltwater aquarium, which would affect the final costs. Maintenance and service contracts would be discussed. These systems are so complex that most clients would not attempt such an endeavor on their own. 

    The system that Ruben and I discussed would be huge, about 2000 gallons, and would be elevated above the center of a four-sided bar so that the people could view all 4 sides when sitting at the bar. The size would be about 5 foot wide by 5 foot tall by 10 feet long and made of 2-inch thick acrylic. All of the support systems would be under the aquarium and bottle racks where all of the liquor is placed on both sides of the main bar. I just had photographed a similar aquarium system so that assembling that photograph would be an easy task. We all talked for over 2 hours at the Blue Marlin, mostly about my plane as strange as that sounds. It seems that Ruben enjoys flying in small planes, and of course Hymie invited him over the next day to have me take him up. So that means another night on the road which I don’t mind at all, as I always take along extra clothes for just such times. And of course, I love to take people flying. Ruben showed up right at 9 am for his ride. I asked him if he ever rode in a Ferrari airplane before? Both Hymie and Ruben asked what do you mean? I said that my plane does things that not many airplanes can do. I said once off the ground it climbs really fast and at a very steep rate of climb…it fly's very slow and low, takes off in about 35 feet, and lands in about the same distance. You could compare it to an "E-Ticket Ride" at Disney World. Ole Ruben said I think that I’m going to like this plane ride. 

    My plane sits quite high off the ground because of the very large tires and the landing gear design, so getting into it is not all that easy. But I got Ruben in and strapped down. He made a comment about 5 safety harness straps... I just said standard-issue…this is not a commercial airliner, besides it keeps you at the scene of the crash. I got two very strange looks. I started the engine and warmed it up and taxied down to the end of the 1000 foot long runway, even though I only needed about 35 feet of it. I think that I took it a bit easy on Ole Rubin as I used about 200 feet on this take-off. However, once off the ground and a little bit of air-speed built up I pulled back on the stick and we went nearly straight up to 3000 feet before I leveled off. I think Ruben held his breath all the way up. I did a few easy maneuvers and some wing stalls to show him just what this plane can do and brought us down to the field at about 35 mph and held it about 10 feet off the deck for about half the length of the field and then pulled the throttle back and the nose up and plopped it in and then stood on the brakes for about a 50-foot landing. Ole Ruben was a little green around the gills but he said that he enjoyed the hell out of that and would do it again anytime. I said anytime? we could go back up if you want. Ole Ruben said I think I have had enough for one day.

    Now a little event that I did not know anything about was that on late Saturday afternoons that Hymie, Ruben, and a few of their close friends get together at each other houses on a rotation. These parties are mainly very social events with drinks and finger food catered in. This Saturday, it was Hymie’s turn… and that meant that I had to spend another night just to meet all of those potential clients. Hymie introduced me as a representative for not only very large aquariums but for some of my photography, especially my very large panoramic Florida Landscapes. I didn’t have anything much to show other than what was on my laptop, but apparently, that was just enough to stir up a whole bunch of interest. Ole Rubin was very helpful in mentioning our meeting and what he was contemplating for his restaurant. Most of these people have interior decorators that they work with to make their very expensive homes a one of a kind. It seems that once one of those wealthy people has something new and different in their homes, then at the next monthly meeting that homeowner has to try and out-do the other. So I’m thinking that I may have stumbled on to something here. I think Ken, at “The Living Reef” and I am going to be busy here in Destin.

    So on my next flight to Destin, I now fly into Hymie’s airstrip, I brought along a couple of the smaller landscape photographs that would fit into my plane. I had three of my 28 inches by 74 inches stretched canvas prints, two in color and one in B&W, and some smaller wildlife canvas prints to show. Hymie absolutely loved what I brought and said let's hang these now and then we have to come up with how I am going to decorate his place for the next meeting. We had about 6 months to come up with something that would be the envy of the crowd. By that time the Blue Marlin would have the new 2000 gallon aquarium installed and I'm sure that Rubin showcased it to all of his friends. Hymie really wanted to showcase my photography and also wanted his bare walls covered, but they would require different wall colors. So Hymie and I and a couple of friends went to work on painting the walls to better show the photographs. In a couple of hours, we had the walls done and we hung the prints that I brought on this trip. Hymie chose a few more landscapes that he had seen on my computer and I would order them. I mentioned that if I had some work tables and saws and a commercial power staple gun, that I could just bring the wood for the frames and assemble any size print that you wanted. I said that most of my panoramic landscape image files are such that they could be printed up to ten feet in length, which is exactly the length that the wood framing material comes in and which I could get it into my plane as raw materials and not the finished product. Hymie said whatever you need, make me a list and I will go to Home Depot and get it and have it delivered and put into the hanger for you.

    So while I was at Hymie’s place and looking around, one of the first things I noticed was a perfect location for an aquarium. When you walk in through the front doors you look thru the house to the wall of glass out to the massive concrete patio overlooking the pool and patio some 8 feet below. To the left of the wall of glass is a study with a wrap-around stairway that follows the side and back walls of the study up to the second floor. That study room is about 15 feet or so in length with tall ceilings. What a perfect setting for a 10-foot long aquarium. So I made some measurements and took a few photographs without Hymie there. Some photos from the entrance doors when you first walk into the house and also in front of where the proposed aquarium that I had in mind would be placed. I didn’t say anything to Hymie about an aquarium other than did he like the one at the Blue Marlin. I had asked Hymie if he liked aquariums and he said yes but thought they were too much trouble. So when I got back home I loaded Hymie’s house photos into my computer with the location of the aquarium that I had in mind along with all of the walls that he wanted to hang some more landscape photographs. I used some of the photos from the display room at “The Living Reef” for some ideas for a 10-foot long aquarium. I also found what I thought would be a perfect location for a ten-foot-long panoramic Florida landscape print on canvas. By making photos of the walls and then superimposing a proposed wall photograph, you get a very good idea of what things will work and what will not because you are looking at the entire room with the furniture, lighting, and flooring all working together.

    It has now has been about two weeks and I have sent Ruben the photographs of what his bar area would look like with the large aquarium. It only took him less than a day to say yes to the project. I then contacted Ken at “The Living Reef” and said it's a go and then we scheduled a time for his people to meet me at the Tamiami Airport and the four of us would fly to Destin to meet up with Ruben. I borrowed a Cessna 310 twin-engine airplane from a friend in Punta Gorda to pick them up for the flight to Destin. I flew into the airport in Destin and had arranged for a courtesy car for us to go to the Blue Marlin restaurant to meet up with Ruben. I wasn’t surprised at all to see Ole Hymie there as well. I let the guys from the aquarium shop do their thing with how they were going to design this project to hold 8 tons of water 6 feet above the floor and still have all of the liquor shelves surround the bar. They still needed an access point to get in under the aquarium to install and service all of the filtering equipment, but that is what these guys do…the near impossible. So the final plans were made, deposits accepted and tentative construction dates were set…now on to Hymie’s house. Hemie had no idea what was about to be discussed. Hymie just thought we were going to his place for afternoon drinks, which I can’t have as I am the pilot.

    After we arrived at Hymie’s place and sat down for a bit. We got Hymie busy in the kitchen so I broke out my booklet of the photographs that I took the last time I was there in which I arranged a layout for an approximate 1800 gallon freshwater aquarium with a very unusual background…a tree trunk inside the aquarium with rocks and stumps that appeared like the side of a riverbank. The tree rose out of the aquarium with branches that went up the back wall to the staircase and spread horizontally on either side. I had already discussed this with Ken and they had a similar insert that could be added on to make up the tree. All of the aquarium inserts, whether it be saltwater or freshwater are hand made from molds taken from a real host. It could be various types of corals/rocks, sponges, etc for saltwater and river rocks, roots, trees trunks, and branches right down to the leaves. All are made of a high-density expandable foam that is mixed up as a liquid and poured into hand made molds. Once cured the item is removed and edges cleaned up and are spray painted to match what it looks like in the wild. When a little algae builds-up on them over time they are extremely very lifelike.

    Hymie came in from the kitchen after making some finger food snacks and I showed Hymie the new photographs on my computer that I thought would look good on his walls. They appeared as if they were already hanging on the walls. Hymie was stunned as to my methods of presentation and accepted every one of my suggestions. Now it came time to reveal my aquarium concept for his house that he had no idea that I made up. When I turned the page you could hear Hymie gasp for breath. I thought I saw tears well up in his eyes….he was once again stunned at what he was looking at. There was a trembling sound that came from his mouth that muttered…J. Michael, I love it. When can I have it made? With Ken and his people there, it was perfect timing as to what all would be needed…measurements would be taken and quick concept designs for the filtering system would be drawn up. I had a previous idea that the back wall of the study/house was open to a concrete patio that was curved and about 30 feet wide. I mentioned that maybe a shed type structure could be built to the back of the house with a slanted roof and access door to all of the aquarium filtering equipment. The last time I was there I photographed that back wall and then added my magic. l envisioned that this add aquarium room could be incorporated into a patio bar with a simulated thatched roof and barstools complete with a chiller for wines and a keg of beer on tap. Hymie mentioned that he had always wanted just that very thing. Hymie said, J. Michael…you need to come up here more often with your ideas. I laughed and said my pleasure Hymie.

    We drove back to the airport and boarded the plane and took off for the Tamiami airport and arrived around 7:30 late that afternoon. Ken said he would get back in touch with me about the associated costs and how to split up the construction work. I said don’t worry so much about the costs, as that was not a factor with Hymie. I said that I would hire a local contractor to build the outside filter room and have your electrical requirement installed and ready to go. Once the room was dried in and watertight the construction crew would then cut the concrete block wall for the aquarium to sit in. Just let me know the final overall size opening of the aquarium itself and all locations of the aquarium piping and electrical. I will also need the electrical requirements for a sub-panel. I will need to find a way to bring in a water line and a drain line back out from the new filter room. I mentioned to Ken that maybe we should consider an on-site well to be able to initially fill the aquarium along with 25% water changes instead of using the city water system. Ken said a good idea. Now I will need to find a well driller. The footprint of this aquarium just got larger. Hymie told me once that his place is on a well since it was so far away from a city water line so that problem was eliminated.

    I departed back to the Punta Gorda airport and exchange planes and then on to my home base and a stout drink…I think that I had earned it today.

    Now we can fast forward about 4 months. I found a general contractor, another friend of Hymie's, to do the total construction work at Hymie’s place, including modifications to the on-site water well system for the aquarium. He said he would work with Ken on whatever he needed at the Blue Marlin as well. This contractor even did all of the final finished woodwork for the bar…total completed job and it turned out fantastic. I knew that Hymie's bar would also look as good as the Blue Marlin's... a very authentic Tiki Bar with a thatched roof, all of the LED lighting, stereo sound system, and a wet and dry bar. Ken not only had the Blue Marlin's aquarium built and installed in record time but also had Hymie's aquarium built and delivered on-site as well. Ken said that I saved money on the truck rental by getting both delivered at the same time. There was still a lot more to do on Hymie's system to get it finished in time for his next Saturday's party, which was about 6 weeks away. Both systems are still being worked on at this time but are scheduled for water and fish in another 3 weeks. Ken also had a maintenance man that worked in that geographical area that was well versed in aquarium systems and that he would handle the total maintenance for both aquarium systems. I had flown up to see the aquariums installed and also had Hymie’s photograph materials with me ready for assembly. I set up shop in the hanger and had all of the photographs assembled in about a day or two, except for the ten-foot panoramic landscape…I needed more table length. We hung all of the photographs that I assembled the next day. Hymie was about 6 weeks away from another friendly neighbor dinner at his place and was anxious to get everything up and running. I had Ken under the gun as he also knew that once all of those people saw Hymie’s aquarium, that I would probably have an easy sell for more of the same…both in aquariums for Ken and the photographs for J.Michael.

    So I needed another sheet of plywood, some 2x4’s, and sawhorse brackets to make up another eight-foot table to assemble that ten-foot photograph. Hymie called his friend that rents vehicles and had a cargo van delivered in no time. I went to Lowes in town and picked up the materials I needed and stopped in at a local gas station to refill the van before returning. I'm sure that I really didn't have to do that since Hymie personally knew the rental company. Come to think of it...who doesn't this guy know in the town? As I was filling the rented van a pickup truck pulled up at a diagonal right across in front of me, which at the time I thought was a bit odd. The passenger door opened and I saw the long barrel of a gun come out first and then the guy. I knew right away I was in deep trouble but had no clue as to why. I ducked down behind my opened door as the shot went through the window. I pulled out my 40 cal auto handgun from my waist stood up and quickly fired off 3 shots at the guy’s body before he could regroup and fire off a second shot at me. The guy went down immediately and his gun fell to the ground. I was still wondering “What the Hell”. Then the driver opened his door and I saw a pistol come up in his hand. I ducked down again as a single shot rang out. This time I had to move and quickly made it to the back of the van as he fired a couple of more rounds where he thought I was at. I came around the opposite side of the back of the van and saw the guy come out from behind his door to see if he hit me. I had a clear shot of him and fired 3 quick rounds at his body and he went down hard. His gun was about four feet away. I carefully went over and kicked his gun under my van and then did the same with the gun that the first shooter had. 

    Just when I thought that this mess was over, a second vehicle pulled in at a diagonal behind me. Now I am at the front of my vehicle and looking around the driver’s side to see a big guy get out with what looked like a shotgun. I’m thinking “Damn” where are these guys coming from? I had no place to go so I got down to ground level and when I could see the guys legs, I fired 2 rounds at them apparently hitting him both times just above the ankles. I could see him and the shotgun fall to the ground... the shotgun was out in front of him.  I quickly got up and ran around the back of my van. When I got to the back corner of the van I could see that this guy now has a handgun in his right hand. I didn’t wait a fraction of a second and fired at least two or three times. Thankfully he was the only gunman in that vehicle. To say that my heart was racing hard would have been an understatement. I kicked that handgun back under my van as well as the shotgun. I’m now spinning around in circles looking for more threats and seeing none for the moment. 

    I was about to get my cell phone out to call 911 when I saw out of the corner of my eye a black BMW with very dark windows slowly pull in along the opposite side fuel pumps and stop. Then I saw the back window roll down. I said this is not good and I got behind the concrete column next to the fuel pump that I was using. I heard two rifle shots ring out, one hitting the pump and the other hitting the side of my van right behind the door. I didn’t know at this point just how many rounds that I had previously fired, so I dropped the magazine and got the other mag out of my pocket, and slammed it into the handgrip. I heard another rifle round go off and hit the van right between the pump and the concrete column I was standing behind. At this point, I had nowhere to go but I needed to stay behind this concrete column or get shot. I decided that if he shot again that I would come around the opposite side of the column and the next gas pump to get a shooting line of sight. When I heard the next shot, I got into firing position and put two rounds through the back window and then fired at least two or three more times through the hole in the window. The BMW then slowly moved away and rolled across the gas station’s parking area and across the side road and rolled into the building across the street. I heard the car’s horn blowing steadily and I quickly figured out that I must have hit that guy and hopefully he was out of this ridiculous gunfight. I didn’t go over to check on him as I would be too exposed and have no cover. As long as that horn kept blaring I figured he was done for but I kept watching to see if anyone got out of that car. The other three shooters I assumed were dead as they have not moved at all. 

    There was another gentleman on the far side of the gas station filling his car when all of this began. I walked over and said are you alright…he said yes. I asked him if he would stay until the police showed up and tell them what he saw. I could tell that he was a nervous wreck and asked where are your car keys? He said in his pocket and got them out and I grabbed them quickly just to make sure that he wouldn’t drive off. The owner of the gas station had locked his doors and was on his cell phone, calling the police no doubt. I motioned for the owner to open the doors and then told my witness to get inside and lock the doors again. I then went over and got my cell phone and dialed 911 and said there was a shooting at the Speedway gas station south of town and send the police and hung up. I needed to document that I made a 911 call on my phone. I then called my Firearms Legal Protection company and said that I had just been involved in a quad shooting and gave them the name of the town in Florida. They already had my name and card number as a redirect. I said that I was the one returning fire and I was going to need help. I also said that when the police arrived, I would not be able to talk to my council, as my phone would surely be taken away. The woman said she had all she needed and someone would show up in person in a few hours and to say nothing to the police until my lawyer arrived. I said Ok, just as I heard the sirens of several police cars arriving. 

I took out my driver's license, my concealed weapons permit, and my FLP card and put them in my shirt pocket. I then unloaded my weapon and put the magazine in my pocket and my weapon back into my holster just the first police car pulled up. I immediately put up my hands high into the air and said I was the one that returned fire after I was shot at by multiple attackers. I said that there was another shooter in that black BMW across the street but was not sure if he was still alive or not. I then gave the officer my identification cards and said my weapon was unloaded and back into the holster on my left hip. He took the weapon, magazine, IDs, and my cell phone and said go sit down in the back seat of his patrol car and try to relax. I said that there was a witness inside along with the owner standing over by the door and that I had his car keys to make sure he would stay around to be my witness. The office began to ask me questions as to what had happened and I said that I would fully comply and answer all questions just as soon as my lawyer and I had talked in private. That officer knew the procedure and was very kind. It is the same procedure that a police officer would do if he was the shooter. They are told to say nothing until their representative gets on site. I said to talk to my witness and I’m sure that the station had surveillance cameras, as well as the attendant inside, had a front-row seat. I felt that there would be sufficient information available for the police to get a good accurate accounting of what had happened. Once my lawyer arrived and we talked in private, we would then sit down with the investigating detective and give my account of what had happened. 

    To this day I am still unsure why this happened, as I did not even live in that town. I told the detective that I was staying with Hymie Rosenthal and needed to get in touch with him as I’m sure he was getting a bit worried that I have been gone for so long. The detective said that he knew Hymie very well and said that he would call him immediately. It's nice to know that Hymie knew so many prominent people in this town. It was about an hour later and after my legal representative and I had the private conversation that we were escorted into the police Captain Brown's office where the prosecuting attorney, Hymie, the investigating detective Wilson, my attorney, and myself were all seated. I thought that maybe I was in deep trouble until Captain Brown set the tone of this meeting by saying, Mr. Williams, I would like to say what a commendable act of self-discipline you expressed today in your actions of taking out a gang we couldn't. We have reviewed the surveillance tapes and talked to the 2 witnesses as to what had happened earlier today and have concluded that your actions were completely justified as self-defense and that you may have possibly saved the life of one of those witnesses.

    I was then released but had agreed to stay in town until the official hearing. I’m very sure that Hymie had a little something to do with all of this. The attorneys said they would try to see if this formal hearing could be fast-tracked as this was a justifiable shooting. Once Hymie knew the name of the judge, which he also knew personally, that would preside over this case he called him to ask for a special favor to fast track the process. That only took about a week and I used that time to finish building the assembly table in the hanger and assembling the ten-foot canvas landscape photograph and hung it on the wall. 

    Sitting down with Hymie that evening with a very stiff drink in my hand, I began to recall those terrible events that happened that afternoon. Hymie tried to humor me by saying that he would have been dead on the very first shot and asked me how in the hell were you able to not get shot in the process? I replied that I guess my training at shooting my firearm led to the accurate shooting. Hymie leaned over and said, did you have a gun on you all this time…I said yes…he said my word, I would have never guessed that in a million years. I said that I don’t flaunt the fact that I carry a lethal weapon for self-defense… it's just there if I need it, and I guess this day I really needed it. Little did I know at this time the true story behind Hymie.

    The investigation during this week determined that this was a drug-dealing that was being handled in their own way and that I was an innocent person driving a similar vehicle in what the drug dealers were looking for. The police office said that they had been tracking this group of drug dealers for over 6 months but had not been able to catch them doing anything illegal and arrest them. So I had done this department a great favor in taking them out. The only highlight of this entire event was that the responding police officers and the detective were very impressed with my shooting skills and how I was able to maneuver around and not get hit. In fact, they said that all of my rounds were accounted for and on target and there were no off-site stray bullets from my weapon. I just answered I practice at the range and that I studied situational awareness videos and have learned a lot as to what to look for in certain situations. When that situation presented itself that day, my memory of many of those videos kicked in. Those videos saved my life that day for sure. I really felt horrible that I had taken four lives that day but was relieved that no one else was injured with all of those bullets flying.

    Hymie and I again sat down to discuss those events of last week and came to the conclusion that even though I may have taken out 4 of the players in that group, there might have been others watching, and that they might still be looking to get revenge and that I need to be more vigilant than ever. So I decided to cover up the identification numbers on my plane so that I could not be tracked down back home. We were not sure if they may have followed Hymie and me back to his house. These people have all of the time they need to seek revenge if they choose to do so. Hymie said to not worry to much about that as he would take care of it. I thought that sounded a bit strange coming from him. I asked what do you mean, and Hymie said I have friends.

    I was able to fly back home at the end of the week after I had covered up my plane's identification numbers but still needed to be available to answer further questions if and when they came up.

    Several weeks went by and now the time was at hand…the dinner party at Hymie’s was in 2 days and I had planned on flying up the day before to be on hand. I asked Ken if he wanted to attend and he said sure. So I flew to Tamiami and picked him up early the next morning. I told him to bring extra clothes, as we were not flying back until the day after if that. I knew that some of those people at that dinner party would definitely have questions about large aquariums that he could answer…it was his business as unusual. I was correct... we didn’t leave for another 2 days and possibly three more aquarium jobs in hand. Ken said that was a good trip for him. I also knew that I would be selling many of my photographs as well.

    There were a couple of people that Hymie knew that also had businesses and after seeing the aquarium display at the Blue Marlin, and that there might be some interest in that avenue as well. I’m still negotiating a large Florida panoramic landscape for the Blue Marlin restaurant. 

I had asked Hymie if he ever had any more problems with those drug dealers. His comment to me was that they are no longer in business. Another odd statement by him that had me wondering. Maybe one day Hymie may come clean with me about his friends.

    Over the course of several years of Hymie’s friendship and meeting some very prominent people in the town of Destin, and attending dozens of monthly dinners, there were about 10 additional custom aquariums that Ken and “The Living Reef” had built for those people. I accounted for over 30 canvas framed photographs and 6 additional panoramic Florida landscape photos in both Color and in B&W sepia-toned. Destin, Florida turned out to be a very good town for me, as I had literally dropped in out of the blue so to speak that day when I saw a small grass airfield. I continue to visit Hymie with occasional fly-in’s. He is indeed a very good friend.

    I have been able to get two of my planes to land on his private airfield. I have never tried to land the twin-engine plane there. The airfield is long enough but just haven't tried it as yet...maybe one day I'll fly it up there and land it. It is a scaled-down replica of a WW2 P-38 Lightning attack fighter. This plane at one time held the world air speed record of 548 mph. The second plane that I built, also a WW2 fighter, is a scaled-down version of the P-51 Mustang attack fighter, which now holds the world air speed record of over 600 mph. Both of these planes use the same French all-aluminum supercharged V8 engines that puts out incredible horsepower. Both of these WW2 fighter aircraft utilize military-grade aluminum lightweight framing members with lightweight/stronger than steel carbon fiber panels covering the entire fuselage, wings, and tail feathers. Without Hymie’s incessant help on these two aircraft projects, they would have never been constructed and flying today. Life is all about developing and maintaining good friendships.

Note: This is a fictional story.