Nosara January 2020

I finished up another Nosara 3 weeks surf trip without any major injuries.  This was due to cutting back on the surf session time length and only getting in a second session if the waves were that good.  Two days were blanks; one day due to bad winds and the second miss was due to double overhead closeouts (good decision!).

One of the few pics of me hitting the wave lip.

Me, Tom, Mary, Gary, Lisa, Maggie, and Brian

Sunset after rain (in January!)

Nosara December 2019

Another Nosara 3-week trip for December.

Excellent surf for 2.5 weeks and then I tweaked my back.  Ouch.

The Holden board is ALWAYS dialed in.

I did spend some time walking daybreak and caught a few of the full moon over low tide pictures.

More beautiful than can be captured in a pic.

I met a number of people I previously have met on the beach, Joao from Brazil and Steve from Barcelona.  Good times.

Steve to my left and Joao is far left.

I stayed at an Airbnb near 10 Pies since Lagodima was unavailable and really liked it.  Good because I have already planned 2 more trips this season there.

But what's up with all the Blue People????

Matt Anderson @ California Center For the Arts

I already booked into 2020’s Europe trip with Alan Doyle, with Matt Anderson also on the boat tour as an opening act.  So a quick search and I discovered Matt was playing locally.

The opening acts were entertaining but when Matt took the stage with his guitar – WOW!  I thought the guitar would catch fire.  Matt’s voice ranged from a soft whisper, howling, sneering, to abundant soul.

Matt does not need a backing band.  He fills the room.

Chris Trapper @ Lestat's

Every time I see Chris Trapper at Lestat’s West I wonder, is this the last time I see Chris here?  So few people show up, this evening about 25 people.

This guy brings game.  See him.

Chris is incredible.  His songs have stories within as well as the spoken stories beforehand.  You leave Chris Trapper concerts feeling as though you know him.

I’ll speak with Niche Travel and see if Chris can open for Alan Doyle on the unannounced 2021 Europe tour.  Chris is already opening for Alan on a few 2020 dates.

Hobie Worlds @ Captiva Island, FL

Wendy invited me to join in the onshore (non-racing) crowd.  As it worked out, I would already be halfway to FL, seeing concerts in TX!

This gave me the chance to visit my sister Tracy.

It was good seeing Tracy

Then I rented the swaggy wagon and drove to Captiva.  Lynn and Tim met me a Costco and we did some initial provisioning.  Then I met Wendy, Ben, Nicole, and Jack at the Fort Myers airport where we loaded up and continued on.

Me and the Swaggy Wagon.

Bill stopped over to mooch on food and beers.

Around the table:  Wendy, Bill, Tim, Nicole, and Lynn

I saw a number of people from when I was active with the Hobie crowd, 25 years ago.

From left:  Wendy, Theresa, Bill and myself

Ben, Jack, and Wendy

Nicole and Wendy 'supervising' at the Youth's pizza party.

Bill was a stud, placing 8^th in the world in the Grand Masters division!

At the awards banquet, Herb, Sharon (not seen), Wendy, Nicole, and the Women’s 2^nd place team from Mexico seated at my table.  I felt like I was with sailing royalty.

See Ben hamming it up at the next table??

Good times.

Leonid & Friends in Texas

The Leonard and Friends tour had Texas concerts in Dallas, Corpus Christi, and Houston.  I needed to visit my aunt Bev near Corpus Christi and so I booked in for Dallas and Corpus Christi and then later in Houston.  Besides that reason, I first saw the band Chicago in Corpus Christi in 1974 so I felt a connection to see L&F in the same town.

I flew into Love field, rented a car, and traveled around Dallas reminiscing of my two work experiences in the area.  The concert venue, Canton Hall, was in Deep Ellum which was seedy when I was previously here, and while not perfect it was much more pleasant this time.  I was seated in the fifth row and the concert was great.

Killing time at my old pub, The GingerMan

The meet and greet was after the concert and I got a chance to speak to some other members of the band and clearly discovered that language was an issue but good nevertheless.

I had a flight to Corpus Christi the next morning.  This leg was much more in the way of reminiscing.

The old Reynold Metals plant, worked there in 1978-79(?).

I got out of the airport with enough time to get over to Portland and drive through, seeing various places and realized it's a small small world when you're in high school.

The grandparent's home.  Gone is the tree I fell out of and broke my arm.

118 Daniel Moore.  First place we lived in Portland

215 Ghent Place.  Last place we lived in Portland.

The Selena Tribute at the CC Bayfront

Lunch was at a Luby's cafeteria as a nod to mom's favorite dining spot.  I also stopped by mom’s final resting place to leave flowers.

This became a brick in my stomach

The Corpus Christi concert venue was somewhat unusual.  It was a converted open warehouse with open sides any small stage for the band.  Being that I was from the area I half expected to have somebody recognize me from high school.  Especially when Roman, the band manager, called me out from the stage as a person following the band.  Great concert.

The front row has a great view.

The next morning I did a final drive around Corpus Christi and Portland then traveled inland to meet my aunt, cousin, and family.  It was a good experience to see them and catch up for a short amount of time we had.

Cousin Reed, Aunt Bev, and me

Then I drove to Houston for the next concert.  I got to the venue, Dosey Doe, too late to have the required dinner so I asked that it be packaged for takeaway.  I said down, ordered a drink and the band came on.  This was my least favorite venue due to the tightly-packed seating, and I was seated behind a large tall person.  By the last third of the concert, I left my seat to find and say goodbye to Kristina.  I met Kristina at the Dallas concert where she manned the merchandise table.

I was up early for a flight on to Tampa to visit Tracy and the Hobie crowd.

Amelia and Me @ Pizza Port

I don’t see Chris, Sara, and Amelia often enough but appreciate our time together after the usual Thursday evening surf sessions at Pizza Port.  Amelia is such a cutie.