Hi RP Friends;

We had an eventful day of travel today making our way toward the Bank. The day was full of movies, poker, surprises and laughter. The big event was celebrating John Yamate’s 60th Birthday. At 11:15, we arranged to have John go to the back of the boat and choose one of four fates for his birthday surprise. The first note he pulled was to take a birthday whipped cream pie to the face, followed by a deck hose down and finally a volley of chilled water balloons. It was a meticulously well planned event and Johnny came out prepared to celebrate. As he prepared for the first phase, Big D and Jonathon grabbed me, picked me up and threw me in the water, that didn’t go quite as I had planned! However, John did eventually received his birthday bath followed by a barrage of 30 chilled water balloons. Happy Birthday!

However, it shows you what fun can be had with this group on an otherwise tedious third day of travel. The credit for that is truly the friendships that exist in this particular charter. We are all most excited to have our friend, Sue Beck returning on this trip. Last year, Sue’s trip was cut short (literally) and in only a couple days of fishing, she outfished all the boys. Sue is a great fisherman who brings laughter and matronly oversight to our group of 40-70yr old 5th graders. We are so glad to have her back, but we do miss Sue’s mom Lucille (who I heard was out hitting clubs in Vegas and couldn’t make it). Lucille, we all say hello!

We have another “quiet” day of travel tomorrow, which I really hope doesn’t include me flying over the rail in all my clothes, again.