Adventure

We’ve been discussing adventure and have concluded adventure comes when finding what you did not expect. That is sometimes because you didn’t have any expectations and sometimes because your expectations were incorrect.

We did not expect to find ourselves up Contraband Bayou in south Lake Charles, so we had little in the way of what we expected to find. Olmstead Shipyard was the only place  remotely nearby and that is what took us up the bayou that proved to be a natural wonderland.

Once there, we decided to look up an old friend.  I sailed and taught sailing with Michael Richard for several years and was on the crew that delivered a Morgan 38 he purchased in San Juan, Purto Rico to Seabrook, Texas.  He even provided our wedding bands.  Due to changes in our sailing and personal lives, neither of us had taught sailing much in years. One thing led to another and we had not spoken in years.

As it turns out, he lives about a mile and a half from MB Rich Jewelry, his store, and Olmstead Shipyard was in between.  He drove past twice a day and kept his boat on the dock there. For visiting an old friend, we couldn’t have planned it better if we tried.

We found an abundance of good food, relived old memories while creating new ones, we even saw an alligator, all due to an unexpected stop.

On our departure, Michael’s abundant generosity included a signed bottle of Bayou Rum Satsuma, the stuff I’m convinced he tried to poison us with two nights prior.  To be fair, we were willing participants and I think he wound up the worst for wear, but now we have a souvenier of our first port of call.  The first toast was to Michael.

As a result of our unplanned stop, we missed seeing Paul in Key West.  Imagine our surprise when we found he had something for us at Key West Bait and Tackle, a store that turned out to be at the foot of the dock where we were berthed.   We will thank him with each tasty morsel.  The adventure continues!

There’s a reason for the adage “cruising should not be done on a schedule.”  Timelines and deadlines can cause us to miss the adventures in our midsts.  That is not to suggest sailing is not enjoyable when everything goes as expected, but it is not very adventurous.  The second toast was to adventure.