LaBelle? I LOVE this place!!!

We came in to LaBelle just after sunset last evening.  We had no idea
what a gem we fell into here.

These are the city docks...brand spanking new.  Only 10 slips, right next to
a bascule bridge.  It's on a first come first serve basis, and it is totally FREE!
Free slip, free water, free electricity, free wifi (if you walk to the library
at the top of the hill- which I did, gladly).  What town does this?! 

Here's Marquesa, the only sailboat on the dock, nestled between two trawlers.

Since we are newbies to the Waterway, Cap'n was getting
the scoop from the locals.  It turns out we are NOT 25 miles
away, but only 10 miles away from The Glades.  We have one
lock yet to go through, that will raise us 8 feet, but even
at that, we are only a couple of hours from our destination.
Rather that sitting in a field of no-see-ums and flies,
what not stay in a lovely little town where everything is FREE?!

Melinda was a colorful character (on a motor sailor) who
told some incredible stories....like trying to come to shore
except there was a momma alligator next to the tree with
her fresh kill, and the babies came rushing from the bushes
 to join in the feeding frenzy.  It wasn't the best timing for
her to attempt to get her dink untied from the tree, where
the gator breakfast was taking place.  To confound the problem,
she also needed to get her dog, Girlfriend, to shore to do her
morning business. This naturally lead to, "Why is your dog
 named Girlfriend?"  To which she replied that she told her husband
that he was allowed to have one girlfriend, but she got to pick her
 out and she was going to be as ugly as a dog. And she is.
Ms. Melinda was a trip, y'all.

By late in the morning, we decided to wander into LaBelle to see what all
the town has to offer.  Well the offering was right across the street at
the town park.  We heard music playing, so we had to naturally check it out!

The town sheriff and "The Posse" were giving a benefit,
as a thank you for his re-election.  This sleepy little town,
with its beautiful parks with tall standing oaks covered
in spanish moss had a gazebo with a tin roof that
reminded me of the round barns you see back home.

This is Bubba, daddy to the sheriff, and a helluva an interesting man.
He is a young seventy-five, and plays a mean lead guitar :)



 

Any band that plays Skynard, this girl is going to get

up and dance her flip flops off :)



Even if it means flying solo!

So we're in this park, listening to music, dancing and
having fun.  There's the singing sheriff, kids taking
pony rides, kids with balloons and bouncy things,
and did I mention the FREE hamburgers, FREE hotdogs,
FREE soft drinks, FREE trees (yes, they were giving
away trees and plants, and as if this wasn't already
too much to absorb...

FREE SNOWCONES!!!
I love this place :)
But wait....

So my Cap'n has worked for the Sheriff's department
in Henry County, IN, and then he gets invited up
to sing with the Sheriff in Henry County- Florida.
I can't make this stuff up, people :)


See?! Henry County Courthouse- just like THE Henry County Courthouse back
home, only different.  (and the fact that Butch does not have a singing Posse, lol)

We took a stroll through the LaBelle Veteran's Memorial
Park and read all of the memorials...

...which is always a sobering moment for me.  To this
day I cannot sing or play the National Anthem without
tearing up. Nor can I walk through a military
cemetery without doing the same, and I have been
in many of them across the US and in Europe.  Donnie
 and I like to bring a bottle of wine and toast the soldiers
 laid to rest in military cemeteries. It's just a thing we do.

And if the day could not be any more fortuitous, we walked through town in search of a few last minute boat items and guitar strings.  Donnie walked into a pawn shop, and.....

This is where you imagine the heavenly hosts singing, a beam of golden light from above, illuminating an Epiphone guitar, WITH DONNIE'S NAME ON IT!!!  It was a God moment, y'all!

I am only sorry that I did not snap a picture of him tonight playing his new guitar on the docks to the other boaters.  Why did I not do that?!  Too caught up in the moment, seeing my Cap'n happy with his new toy, I guess.  And the best news of all to this incredible FREE day?  He sold his piece of crap guitar to the pawn shop, and got the Epiphone for only $20 bucks!  I made out like a bandit too, I got a gold ship's wheel charm to add to my 'Keys' necklace that I never take off of me.  I've never shopped in a pawn shop before, but today wasn't half bad! In the end, we shopped a bit for the price of a boat slip :)

While I was busy preparing dinner in the galley (the
last of our yellowtail snapper), Cap'n went exploring
in the dink...and finally found an alligator. 
He came back with the evidence, so I owe him five bucks :/
Dang it.  I hate losing.
G'nite, y'all!