President's Day Zaf (2008) - Part 1

"Are you feeling Presidential?” The Email came through from the Marathon Table in early January. My captive and wife, June, asked me that evening what I thought about making the trip in mid-February. We had traveled down to the event for three of the past four years. June has come to enjoy the mid-winter break; the warm tropical weather (although last year it only hit 62 degrees when we went to Key West!) And the clear turquoise waters where the Atlantic meets the Gulf of Mexico. But, I had just started a new job after a few years of unemployment and our cash reserves were running low. How could we scrape this together?

Then there was John (“Jongagé) & Susan Williams. John is the engagé for the Chesapeake Table and we were anxious to have him experience the Brotherhood outside the sphere of our local table. But Susan is in Real Estate and business has been bad. That is to say, their cash reserves were also running low.

June, determined to make this happen, started considering all the possibilities. Bernie & Margie had held one of their rooms for us but had given it up afer we had initially determined that we couldn’t make the trip this year. We called down to the Marathon brothers and found that El Chino still had no one staying in their guest apartment below their house. June booked the room and we formulated a plan for a kamikaze “land cruise” to the keys.

The week of the Zaf rolled around. John & Susan picked us up at our house and we left for lower Florida at 8:30 PM on Wednesday evening. We ran driving shifts through the night and into the next day while those off-shift got a limited amount of shut-eye in the back of the car. With about two hours of collective breaks, we made it to Marathon by 2:30 PM on Thursday. During the last part of our drive, we contacted the Cruz and Ann who were in Key West on Orza. (Capt.) Rocket Boy and Sherry were there with them. Excited to see them, we quickly showered and, refreshed, got back into the car for the hour ride south to Key West. It was still light when we got there but Sheila (Jongagé’s Australian speaking GPS) sent us to the wrong end of Front Street and we were having trouble navigating to the correct marina. With a number of calls, we found our way and reconnected with our other brothers.

As we were walking out to Orza we passed some trashy looking woman who, upon closer examination, turned out to be Ann & Sherry! They were in disguise having purchased wigs earlier in the day. Sherry was sporting a red, shoulder length wig which perfectly matched her skin color. She was HOT! Ann was a blond and, with her blue eyes, looked like Doris Day’s younger sister. They took us the rest of the way to Orza where we reconnected with Cruz and Rocket Boy.

Everyone was hungry so we quickly left for Pepe’s Restaurant, the oldest bar and restaurant in Key West. A faded exterior and sign that is the front of the establishment belayed it’s internal charm. Everyone was relaxed either from road fatigue or all-day drinking. The waitress, Amanda, was struggling to get us to focus on ordering with some consternation. We got through it, enjoyed the evening’s meal, and headed back to Marathon for some much needed rest.

Stay tuned for Part 2...