Sunday, December 13, 2009

Upon my arrival in Florida, the week was nonstop! staying at the Hard Rock Hotel Casino we were booked in a spacious suite. the Hard Rock would be considered base camp, and the location of several events. Thursday, being the first day, was spent meeting all kinds of new friends. Including but not limited to.. Charlie and Hazel Daniels, Mike Alstott, a former fullback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jerry Wunsch an offensive lineman, who also played for the Buccaneers but finished his career as a Sea hawk, Guy Gilchrist an internationally known artist, who would most commonly be known for his comic strips "Nancy" the "Muppet's" and even drew the "Peanuts" for a period of time. All were present at the golf paring party that night and there were some slow moving people come Friday morning including myself.


The weather was not what we had expected and Friday, the day of the golf tournament, was the worst yet, pouring rain by 2:00 p.m. The round was unfortunately cut short but we made up for it in the clubhouse. My team, with Joe, Craig, and Jason didn't play well, but had a great time none the less as these three are quite comical and were just flat fun to be with.

Saturday morning started with a CBS morning show in Tampa, rising at 5 a.m. was a drag but well worth it as the broadcasters were very pleasant and made me feel relaxed and welcome, the interview was only about 5 minutes long, but it seemed to go well. They claimed it would air nationally. Upon returning to the hotel, it was clearly going to be a busy day, with several events scheduled. with me and my brother signing autographs from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The concert had a long list of bands which played from noon till 6 p.m. with The Charlie Daniels Band preforming last, and with another dinner party this turned into one heck of a long day!


With yet another early start, Sunday it appeared, was primed to be a whirlwind. first it was off to The Angelus for Sunday service with Charlie and Hazel, Guy Gilchrist, Tammy the event organizer my brother,Florance and of course Catherine. The trip to the Angelus was the main reason for the entire trip, and I was honored to be invited, the residents are all wheelchair bound and seemed thrilled to meet me. With Charlie playing Christmas carols,it was no doubt one of those days you just don't forget..

All good things must come to an end and we were off. I caught a hour nap ridin' shotgun back to Tampa (we weren't in the Limo and yes my bro was out to..) Our next destination was the Sarasota yacht club, the 50 foot Budweiser yacht was running and ready. The trip across the bay to the Old Salty Dog was brief, Phil the owner of the Dog was along for the ride as was Tom and Karen. Having met these people in the past it was good to see them again.

There was no shortage of fans at the dog and after a couple hours of signing and taking pictures everyone seemed happy. This was the final event of the trip and bout' now we were all pretty much spent. I made to many new friends to count and it was good to see old ones again including a familiar group of the Wizette's, Heather,Velvet, Kim and Debbie. We flew out the next day and were greeted by a foot of snow in Reno, this is uncommon and there was twice that much in Tahoe but it sure was nice to be home.. Capt. Monte "mouse"


5 comments:

  1. We loved seeing you in Florida and tell Katherine woof, woof and Merry Christmas. Hope to C U soon Love Heather......

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  2. I know it was a crazy week for you guys and I want to thank you for finding time in all of that to hang with us. As always it was totally awesome to see you again and meeting Catherine was the best. She is an awesome Lady and I hope to have the chance to visit with her again soon. I accidently lost my voice mail so I gotta see ya again soon so you can hook me up with another message. lol.
    Thanks again Capt. Monte for taking time out to just hang with us. I know the 28th is quickly approaching so be safe out there. I look forward to seeing you soon.

    Tell Catherine i said......"ruff, ruff" (ROFLMFAO)she will never look at german shephards the same again. And please tell Lenny I sent hugs and kisses

    big hugs
    Velvet

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  3. I know you were busy, but I too appreciate you taking time to spend with us there. I was glad to get to meet Catherine, she is a great lady and fun to be with, and I hope she comes to more events with you. Hope to see you BOTH again soon!

    ((((BIG HUGS))))
    Kim

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  4. Stay safe out there ((((((HUGS))))))

    Debbie♥in♥Florida

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  5. Guess I have 2 names on your blog :) It was great seeing you all and hope you come back and hang with us Florida girls again.

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