Three degrees of separation

Yesterday we toured the George H.W. Bush presidential library on the Texas A & M campus.  I’m not sure it was worth the $14 it cost us but it was informative nonetheless.  George the first certainly had a busy time of it on the federal scene.  I thought going in that he had served two terms as president but learned that he did all his stuff in just 4 years. 

On the way out of the library I happened to read some of the names on the donor list.  They were arranged as they always are with the most generous donors in the most prominent location, their names displayed in larger font, with a fancy name – I believe “President’s Cabinet” in this case.  And midway down the most important list, there was Jimmy Pattison’s name.  That’s pretty high class company for a car salesman from western Canada, alongside the likes of the government of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.  Now I don’t know Jimmy but as I read the list I was struck by the fact that if I ever needed an introduction to George H.W. then Jimmy would be the connection.  You see the father-in-law of one of Marilyn’s nieces is fond of dropping Jimmy’s name in conversation so I figure that, should I ever need an introduction to the 41st President, then Peter would be the starting point and Jimmy the intermediary.  I’m not sure whether that’s 2 or 3 degrees of separation but its pretty damn close as far as I’m concerned.

Today we’re watching the wet weather outside the window in the Navasota campground.  At 10 bux a night for 50 amp full hookups it will be hard to leave this place but that’s what we plan to do tomorrow.  I’ll make one last checkup on the two installations here and then, assuming they check out OK, we’ll start heading north.  The prairies are having an unbelievably warm winter so it won’t be any big hardship to go back.  I’ve seen winters where it never got above minus 30 the whole week ahead of Christmas which makes the thawing weather this past week pretty amazing.

 

This time last year we were still waiting for the doofus “Captain” we had contracted to teach us to run Gray Hawk to show up for even one of the many appointments he made with us.  Our first ever venture away from the dock came on 1/1/11 when we very bravely cast off and headed up the coast to Shilshole Marina.  We went that way because that was the way we had gone on our haulout so it seemed like familiar water.  Looking back now it seems silly that we thought it was such a big achievement but it was a major accomplishment getting out and back without damaging the boat or the dock.  Like I told R.J. afterward, the secret to docking a boat is to get the dock and the boat travelling at the same speed.  And somedays that’s easier said than done.