Cindy Bonish

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"When I get to a place for the first time and know it like home, this is when I know my journey will be over"
– Unknown

'True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness'
~ Albert Einstein

Cindy's May 2010 Blog  
Every Miles A Memory

Feel Free to browse past blogs for plenty of travel ideas and many of the places we've been in our first few years on the road - Past Blog's

Photo Gear We Use

Solar Tips, Fact's and Trick's we've learned while on the road

Well-behaved women seldom make history

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If you haven't read any of the earlier blogs, you might want to start there to catch up on how we got here.

Thursday May 13th 2010 - What a crazy past few days

I'm sure by now you've read Pat's Blog and heard about my little incident on the bike. As per usual, how about we go back through it so you can hear it from my side of the coin.

Things were going great around the Low-Key Hideaway with the crazy season slowing up a bit which was giving us some free time to finally enjoy this area.

We had some visitors come up from South Florida that Pat had met while he was on his little vacation out to Arizona.  Jim and Pamela took a few days off from their busy schedules and came to visit us and just relax in Cedar Key.

Pat and I took the day off from work and went out paddling with them.  This was awesome and it had been way too long since I had been in a kayak exercising my arms and core.  Paddling is one of my favorite things to do and I cant believe I had spent that much time out of the boat.

We had a perfect day on the water with calm seas, a nice warm breeze and great company.  Pam and I wandered the white sand beaches of a neighboring deserted island we had paddled over to while the boys talked about their big trucks and silly boy things.

While paddling back around the island, we came up on a pod of dolphins that spent about an hour just swimming around us interacting with us almost as if they were just as curious about us as we were about them.

It was an amazing experience and only drove home the fact that I need to get out more.  It seems almost every time we go out and do something, we have such awesome experiences with the wildlife or locals, some being humans, some being animals, that it makes me really miss our nomadic lifestyle.

I'll be totally honest, that up until last week, I've been so busy around the motel, that I haven't missed our traveling in the least.  I keep myself busy with cleaning, updating the rooms and keeping Pat busy with updates to the motel's website and the bazillion things to do around here.

With the first breath I took, once the season ended, I was sitting on the couch one night watching a special on Discovery Channel that was showing the top places to visit in the United States.

As I sat watching the program, it was almost like I was reliving our past few years on the road.  It brought tears to my eyes when I realized how lucky Pat and I are to have experienced everything we've seen at this young age in our lives.

For the first time since I had got to Cedar Key, I was overwhelmed with that Wanderlust to hook up the camper and just go.  The next morning I told Pat from now on, I want to do something new each week.

There is a ton of stuff to do within an hours drive of where we are in the state of Florida, it would be silly to just sit still when we have so much available to see.  There are fresh water springs to snorkel in.  Beautiful river systems to paddle and camp along and tons of historic towns to go explore.

So while we're sitting still for the next how-ever-long it takes to save up some money, I'll do my best to keep Pat and I busy exploring our surroundings to their fullest.

Then the incident that changed everything happened a few nights ago.

Pat and I had rode our bikes over to my friend Luz's house for a big dinner and party she had planned for a bunch of our new friends.  Luz is amazing and one of those people that gives off so much energy, she's a joy to be around.

We've spent so much time together in the past few weeks, that even though I've only known her for a month or two, we feel like life long friends because of how close we are already.

I think that traveling for so long, it made me realize that the silly little things most people take years to share with each other are just that.  They're silly and basically just small talk.

Pat and I realized that we would meet so many new and different people in our travels, that the people we chose to really hang out with, don't waste time with the general small talk.

This usually meant that the bond grew very fast and seemed much stronger than a normal friendship would take to build up.  It's sort of like throwing caution to the wind, let our true selves come thru in the beginning of a friendship and if it works, great, if not we will be moving soon anyway.

So Luz and I have been hanging out a bunch since we have been here.  Luz and her husband Walter have also traveled for many years and we seem to be on the same page with this openness.  She's helped Pat and I out so much around here, I cant think of enough ways to thank her.

Luz and Cindy at Luz's Birthday party - Photo by Walter Kraujalis

Then the real Luz and Cindy, acting as Goofy as Ever - Photo by Walter Kraujalis

Back to riding our bikes over to the party.  As one would expect, it was a riot and everyone there was having a blast.  Jay and Connie who own the Black Dog Wine Bar brought over a ton of wine from their personal stash, and Luz was blending up margarita's non-stop to beat the Florida heat that was sweating out the drinks as fast as we could put them in.

We wandered around the neighborhoods checking out the historic homes and meeting new people along the way.  It's impossible to go anywhere with Luz and not have her introduce you to a dozen people and tell you crazy stories from her childhood of growing up here in Cedar Key.

As the night grew to a close, I told Pat that I didn't feel comfortable with riding my bike home.  We all know how much of a klutz I am, and after a few glasses of wine on top of a few margarita's, that klutziness is only amplified.

Of course my stupid husband said something like "You've got to be kidding me, these are beach cruisers, you'll be fine!"

Luz was offering to drive us home, but we were trying to not have to make anyone get behind the wheel of a vehicle after they had been drinking.

So reluctantly I climbed aboard my bike and we started to ride home.  It was all downhill for the first few blocks so I was just coasting along while Pat was like a little gnat buzzing around me acting like some sort of circus clown.

After the first few blocks, there was a slight incline in the road and that meant I would have to start pedaling to keep the bike going.

Well once my tree trunks for legs had to start swinging those pedals, it was all over.  Oh, did I forget to mention that Luz and I started the P90X work out program a few days ago and it's all I can do to walk right now because of how sore my legs feel.

So as soon as I start pedaling, Pat's behind me laughing at how bad the bike is wobbling and I'm yelling at him to "Shut Up" because he's making me laugh which is making the whole situation even worse when I fall over.

Let me add that I didn't just fall over like a kid would while trying to learn to ride a bike.  No I went down face first with my chin bouncing off the pavement, my mouth following my chin which was followed by my nose and ended with my forehead skidding across the hot asphalt.

I knew right away that my tooth had busted out because I could feel bits and pieces of it in my mouth.  That taste of blood was hitting my throat as I swallowed and I'm one of those people that freak out when blood is involved.

I should have been wearing my Cedar Key Mouth Guard

I think my world stopped for a few minutes as I laid in the middle of the road...did I mention that this all happened in the middle of the road...and sat there with visions flashing through my head of what I was going to look like in the morning.

I'm the accountant in the family, and I know this sounds crazy, but one of the first thoughts to hit my head, right after the pavement, was the fact that "OH MY GOD, there is no way we can afford this right now!"

Not that you ever save up for something like this...LOL  But Pat and I had just finished a huge argument over one of his Motorcycle and Sidecar ploys he was trying to talk me into letting him buy.

My whole argument was "Pat, are you and idiot!?  (That answer is yes) But how do you think we can afford that right now?  We're spending every penny we make to reinvest into the motel and you want to buy a motorcycle with a sidecar!"  I think it ended with me scolding him saying we didn't have a dime to our names, so he needed to get that stupid idea out of his head.

So how was this to go over when I know how expensive a new tooth costs.  This will be the second time this has happened to me.  The first time I lost my tooth it wasn't my fault, but the amount of time we had to spend going from dentist to dentist was enough to let me know our next few weeks was going to be hell.

What seemed like an eternity with me lying with my face buried in the road was probably only a few seconds, but the next thing I hear is Pat yelling at me thru his laughter "Stop yelling" and he's rolling me over to help me get up.

He was asking if I was just joking or if I was really injured when I rolled over and that was all it took.  I could see the look on his face like a ghost had just barked at him.

His jawed dropped and I think he turned a few shades of white.  He grabbed me and picked me up saying "OH MY GOD Cindy, what have you done.  Look at your poor face."

I think at that time we both started laughing.  That lasted for about two seconds before I started punching Pat telling him that this was all his stupid fault.  I never wanted to ride the bikes home to begin with but he had insisted.

Now take a step back and look at this from someone who is sitting on their front porch just enjoying the quiet, Cedar Key evening.

They're sitting there minding their own business when two people come riding beach cruisers around the corner.

One of them, me, is doing her best to just ride the bike, while the other one is riding circles around her like some Shriner in a Parade all the while taunting me to speed up and laughing at how bad of a job I'm doing.

The girl falls over, takes a digger into the concrete with her face and as the man scoops her up, she starts punching him yelling at him that it's his fault.  I'm sure if someone witnessed this, they were rubbing their eyes wondering if they were dreaming or just hallucinating.

Once we calmed one another down.  We walked the bikes the rest of the way home with me bitching and moaning about how stupid this was and how bad my lip hurt.

It felt like I had a hamburger hanging off the front of my face and you know it's bad when you can look down your nose and see your lip sitting there because of how swollen it is.

We got home, I put some ice on my face and took some ibuprofen to help reduce the swelling.  Pat and I took turns washing the asphalt out of the scrapes and we went to bed.  It was an amazing night that ended awfully.

The next morning I woke up with the swelling even worse.  I now looked like I had been beaten very badly and it just looked horrible all the way around.  I found a few more scrapes on my shoulders and knees that the pain in my face had masked and to hear me talk I sounded like a little kid who didn't know how to pronounce his 'F's or his 'S's.

Did my loving husband give me any sympathy?  Not a bit.  Every time I looked at him he'd let out a little chuckle and joke about how funny I sounded when I talked.

When I said something about the fact that he needed to give me a break it was pitch black and he was totally messing with me, he'd just laugh and say "You were on a beach cruiser!  People dont fall off those kind of bikes!"

So looking to him for sympathy was the wrong thing to do.  I just needed to take my wounds with a grain of salt and buck up.

Tuesday I made an appointment at D&P Dentistry in Gainesville so I could have a temporary cap put on.  Remember when Pat & Barry stayed with us this past winter?  One night while biting into something, Pat lost a cap she had on one of her teeth.  She said after calling numerous dentists in the Gainesville area, D&P was the only one that would fit her in immediately and they couldn't say enough about how much they liked the place.

Hopefully by next week, I'll be able to run down to West Palm Beach for a few days to get a real porcelain veneer put on by Jeff, our best friend who owns a dental lab and does this for a living.

Wednesday morning Pat and I were up first thing so we could spend the rest of the day in Gainesville at the dentist office.  The girls at the dentist office were great.  Very nice and they all knew Cedar Key well.  So hopefully we made some future guests who might come out for a visit.  Great way to make a first impression.

Funny how small the world is.  The dentist who was working on my tooth was originally from Okeechobee Florida and when I asked if she knew Reed and Shannon Durrance, the awesome couple who showed us such an amazing time while we stayed with them a few years ago, she said she knew them well and Reed had gone to school with one of her sisters.

Once the acrylic tooth was made and installed, I could at least talk normally.  Amazing how one missing tooth messes with your mouths ability to form a word correctly.

I know this is just a temporary one, but my teeth are very white, and the acrylic doesn't match the rest at all, so we've now begun referring to this one as the Chic-Let in my mouth.  Hopefully it'll last until Jeff can make me a real one that will stay on there for good, or at least until my next bike ride...Just Kidding.

Well that brings me up to speed.  Things are chugging along here in Cedar Key and with another room being tiled as I speak, the motel is really starting to come together.  I'm trying my hardest to get Pat to work out in the yard and finish what we've started, but the forecast for the next few days is calling for temps in the 90's, so he has a good excuse as to why he's working inside.

I'll be sure to post some photos once this latest room is done.  We each had a room that we hated the most.  Mine was Room #2, but while Pat was gone to Arizona, Lindsey, Bruce, Luz and I completely redid the room with fresh paint from top to bottom and a complete redecorating of the furniture.

That helped alot, but the carpet is still pretty bad.  Pat's worst room was #5, so he got to win this argument and have them tile that one next.  Hopefully next week we'll have time to put the tile down in Room #2, and then all we have is one last room and all of them will be complete.  Well at least with the tile that is.

Every Miles A Memory