A few yrs ago, we spent a week on Dog Island near Carabelle and met
every loon on the island. Basically everybody there is a little
nuts. The island has no bridge and no place to spend any money on the
island and until a few yrs ago cell phones didnt work either (no
nearby towers) so all comm was via VHF. You could charter the old WW2
landing craft they use to haul the garbage truck over every two weeks
to bring over vehicles but there are no paved roads, all very deep
white sand. You also have to bring your own gas. The vehicles on the
island all resemble something out of Mad MAx having decayed in the
salt air so they are now held together with pieces of wire with
plywood replacing sheet metal. Several vehicles simply have an old
outboard gas tank with squeeze bulb instead of a real fuel pump. The
houses on the island are all in a permanent state of repair due to
the storms that regularly wash over the island and the difficulty of
transporting materials.
We met a family with small kids who were the caretakers of the
"Pelican Inn" a rustic place for birdwatchers boasting mildewed early
60s furniture. There was little for them to do and their kids were
bored to death so they begged us to stay with them. We were repairing
screens on their house when an ancient vehicle of indeterminant origin
came rattling down the road and rolled to a stop, no brakes, who needs
em in sand? The driver jumps out wearing dirty white robes with a
white beard to his navel, throws a piece off plywood of where the hood
should be, walks over to me and with a bizarre look in his eye asks
"Do you know whats wrong with my car". He looked and acted like some
kind of Old testament prophet so I was curious so looked into the
engine compartment which was mostly empty space where stuff used to
be. Sure enough, the belts looked as if they were 20 yrs old flapping
on the pulleys. I tightened them and without a word he gets in and
rattles off. My friend asks "Do you know who that is" and I answer
"Probably Moses but I didnt see any stone tablets". My friend tels me
that it was George L@#$% "The single richest family in Tallahassee,
and if you think he's weird, you oughta see his wife, she doesnt even
bother with the robes, wanders round naked"
A lot of other people were just as crazy including the 82 yr old
stooped over lady who had her 25 yr old grandaughter take her back to
the mainland in a 20' open sailboat in reaslly nasty weather to go to
a doctor appt. When they came back and passed me on the dock, the old
lady kept mumbling "I told her to quarter them waves"