Existing In BFE

Flashback Friday This weekend is the 29th annual Nostalgic Indoor Invitational Auto Show in Peoria.  It's a big deal.  Back when I had old cars (I hope to have another someday) I went to many car shows and have the show plates to prove it.  Every one who registers a car gets a metal show plate that has a logo and art work and date of the show. I went around to places like Laura,  Oquawka, Aledo, Keithsburg, Joy, Wataga, and even remote places like Paw Paw.  I usually took my true show car, a 1961 Imperial Custom Coupe.  It was a rare car and usually drew stares mainly for the unorthodox styling:  floating headlights, high rear fins, stainless on the roof, and a square steering wheel.  And it was huge.  One of the biggest of the era and heavy with 5 gauge steel which lent them to good use on the derby circuit.  In fact many demolition derbys banned them because they were like tanks compared to other cars. She came from Calif...

When you lug a camera around you tend to frame things where you are as if it would make a good shot.  With the advent of digital you can literally take hundreds of shots free.  Erase them all and you are out nothing.  This wasn't possible back in the 35mm film days.  Film wash wasn't cheap and neither was the processing.  Today picture taking, once the camera and card are paid for, is free.  One takes pictures of things that are usually disregarded, and the number can get into the  teens on a single subject.  After viewing the Lynx as the sun was setting, there is a rather long walk to get out of the marina.  Below are some pictures I took and a surprise that awaited me when I got home.   This is the opening to Harborage Marina where the Lynx was docked.  To the right is a Coast Guard ship, the Joshua Appleby, that is a buoy and sea lane maintainer.  This is an actual, unphotoshopped picture, which I though was...

I went home that afternoon having toured the Lynx and was so excited and hyped about it I just had to return.  These are my pics the second time around.  By now the sun is going down and the crowd has dwindled.  And that flu carrier has left.   You can tell you are in the right place because the slanted masts are so unique amongst the perpendicular ones.  That and the bowsprit or spar.    Simply beautiful. It was close to 6:00 pm, when it closed for tours so not as many people.  And the setting of the sun (the Golden Hour) on the masts was pretty spectacular. I'd like to have one of thee babies then I could sail her to Keithsburg and get a couple $1 Bloody Mary's at Tweety's. When I've been at Demen's landing I have seen sailing classes for kids.  All of these tiny boats with a sail all tied together getting towed out into the Bay by a bigger boat.  There  the teacher sits and giv...

-Is that the Lynx? -No, sir. That's the flagship of the fleet. Over there's your little pint-pot.  -That's the Lynx! She isn't very big, is she?  - It ain't the size that counts, youngster. It's the salt in the lads that man it. I happened to have had the day off one Thursday in February and checked the Tampa Bay Times to see what was going on in hour little Burg.  I then noticed a pretty cool entry that said something like, "Lynx Enters Bay With Canons Ablaze".  That certainly caught my eye, and reading on I saw that a Tall Ship, the Privateer Lynx had entered our waters and was at a marina not far from my beloved Demen's Landing, second best place to revive one's batteries and reflect on life. The article went on to state that this Baltimore Clipper schooner was going to participate in the Gasparilla Festival the following Saturday and while here she could be toured and, if lucky, you could be on what they call a "sail away...