For those who may be curious about Ron Foster & Ron Drummer's current lighthouse trip, the following is humbly submitted.
I met these two fine gentlemen & their wives, Mary Jane & Shirley, today and escorted them to the Mayport Naval Station to view the St. John's (not THAT St. John!!) River light and the Mayport Lightstation. Unlike a visit to Mayport a few years back by Sir John (yes, THAT St. John!!) where a persistent rain put a damper on John's photographic efforts, today was a Chamber of Commerce kind of day -- brilliant sunshine, a gentle seabreeze, and moderate temperature.
Once on the base we encountered an unexpected security roadblock less than a mile from SJR light (a naval weapons transfer was occuring just beyond the LH). After a little whining & wimpering (and a promise not to steal any Harpoon missiles), we got past the security checkpoint and up to the LH. With SH-60 helicopters landing & taking off just a hundred yards away, Ron & Ron spent a good bit of time photographing the light from every conceivable angle (hope they had enough memory chips for their digital cameras!). From there we moved from the warmth & charm of SJR's 19th century brick to the Mayport lightstation, a 1950's concrete monolith with as much charm & warmth as an interstate overpass (my opinion, not Ron & Ron's). With a salt-laden breeze blowing in off the Atlantic, many more pixels were captured and stored in the two cameras. After departing the naval base, these folks kindly treated yours truly to lunch (many thanks again, guys) before crossing the river on their way to Amelia Island light and, ultimately, St. Simon's Island & Tybee Island. Hope they were able to get to all three LH's today. They said they would commence their return to Connecticut by Friday -- two more LH Wacko's loose on the East Coast!!
The pre-Mayport portion of their LH journey took them to Tampa, the Big Bend, Pensacola, St. Augustine, and Ponce Inlet, but I'll let them tell you all about that

I well remember that trip, Stan! Your hospitality and 'pull' on the base made the day.

It was just a light rain - nothing to true Lighthousing WACKOs.

I was fortunate to be able to meet these two couples for lunch on Sunday after they left the FLA trip out to Egmont Key. We only spent a little over an hour together, but it was like "old home week". You know the chatter when 5 Wacko's get together. Then I went South and they headed to the FL panhandle. Surely hope they were able to get into the Amelia grounds.

While I was at my night job, they called to chat, sorry I missed them. So glad they are having a great trip.
Derith

Well, the four of us (Ron & Shirley and MJ & I) finally arrived home last night (April 28th) after over 2800 miles (one way) from FL to CT, 22 lighthouses, and over 1200 pictures just on my camera.

It was a real treat to be able to meet up with Connected Collectors Stan & Derith, I just wish we had more time to share together.

Our tour of the two lighthouses on Mayport Naval Base was nothing short of spectacular. A huge "thank you" to Stan for taking the time to get us on base and for sharing his knowledge of their histories. I thought for a minute that all would be for naught when the road block was spotted. But Stan is a very persuasive person and (with a little luck) we were able to get to the lights and photograph them.

As Stan mentioned, we ate lunch at a very good local restaurant where I had a chance to eat my first-ever fried soft-shell crab sandwich (recommended by Stan & very delicious) followed by a big slice of home-made Key Lime pie. The folks at the restaurant were so friendly and accomodated our request for the pie recipe (copies of which are available for only $1 plus a self-addressed stamped envelope.........ONLY kidding!!).

We shared a wonderful meal with Derith at the local Cracker Barrel before heading up the west coast of FL on our lighthousing journey.

It was a wonderful trip andf I will be posting some pictures and short notes, about our adventures, in the very near future.

Ron
(CT Keeper)

I am happy to hear that you all are back in CT and that you had such a great trip. What fun it is to get to see Forum HL friends in your own neighborhood.
Derith