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Searle's Sack of St. Augustine, FL, March 2010
(Photo: DB Couper)
Epilogue - Giving the details of the trip from St. Augustine back to
the Jacksonville Airport with Patrick Hand and Conrad and some of what was
overheard by your author in the discussions that took place there. Of Conrad
and his history as well as giving some curious details about the Jacksonville
airport, not the least of which were giant women. From there on to the standard
stuff you find on these epilogue pages: credit to the wondrous photographers who
allowed me to use their material and various photographs of things of interest
that didn't quite make it into the main text. This includes (but is not limited
to): still life photos, live life photos, fun family photos, goofy pics, another
Calvin and Hobbes picture that I found and, naturally, Toshiro Mifune.
Right: "And that will be quite enough talk about underpants, thank you. I have surgical tools, you know..."
 (Photo: Mission) |
Conrad arrived at the hotel with Patrick in the passenger seat around 6:45 am and I climbed in once Conrad had hastily assembled a seat for me in the otherwise open back of the van. For most of the trip to the airport, I sat quietly in the back and listened to Conrad and Patrick trade military stories. Patrick had been in the Army. I'm not certain which branch Conrad had served in. The acoustics were terrible, so I only caught snatches of the conversation…
(Photo: DB Couper)
Patrick: " …joined in 1976 and was stationed in Georgia for two years. I had
just found out about Lynard Skynard and they were playing in Jacksonville …we decided
to drive down, but that was the weekend of the plane crash.."
Conrad: " They're all from here."
Patrick: " Really?"
Conrad: " Yeah."
Patrick: "…was stationed in Korea for two years. They used to have a friendly zone
where you could co-mingle, but that was gone before I got there. There was a line and
on one side was North Korea and the other was South Korea…"
Conrad: " …guy came in and announced, 'Iraq just invaded Kuwait!' and we're all,
'Phhhhth! No way!' But then they cancelled everyone's leaves and…"
Patrick: "…weren't supposed to have your mustache below a certain level and mine was a
little bit too long, but the CO liked mine so…"
Conrad: "Did you ever hear that story about the guy who wanted out, so he had "F*** you
sir!" tattooed on the pinky side of his hand?"
Patrick: " No, but we had a guy who grew his mustache UP like a Kaiser mustache,
which didn't violate regulation, you know?
So the CO finally called him in, and this guy
had his arguments all ready, but the CO was really nice to him and said, 'Look, this is
an interesting form of protest, but…'
So the guy trimmed his mustache."
(Photo: DB Couper)
(Photo:Jess Bagley)
It turned out Conrad knew four languages and can get by in Spanish. Sometime
after getting out of the military he went back to Iraq to serve as a liaison for
a company there. Eventually he got into software and told me that he had traveled
all over the country working on software for all sorts of companies running
different types of software. He was particularly impressed with a blow-molding
machine that could take a little dot of plastic, heat it up and shoot hot air into
it and cause it to explode out into the shape of a 2 liter bottle. Eventually he
decided to get out of that and bought the
Pirate Haus Inn in St.
Augustine. "It was a lifestyle choice," he explained to me.
(Photo: Mission)
When we pulled up to the airport, I hopped out of
the cavern. Patrick still had arrangements to make with Conrad to get his gun
shipped back to him in California. So he and Conrad started fiddling
around with the gun while I was standing there trying to decide what to
do (right). My flight left first. Poor Patrick -
he arrived several hours earlier than I did and had to hang around
waiting for my flight to come in so Diosa could pick me up from the
airport. Then he had to go back to the airport several hours early so that I could catch
my flight back. He said he didn't mind, but I
still felt kind of bad. He's a prince of pirates, our Patrick Hand.) I
finally came to the conclusion that the gun shipping discussion was
going to continue for a while, so I said thanks to Conrad, goodbye to
Patrick and I toddled
off.
If you're flying out of Jacksonville airport, I must note that Monday morning around 8 am is the time to do it. There wasn't much of a line to check in, security was light and the people were really friendly. Plus they had helpful underwear ads inside the plastic trays where you place your belongings for the X-Ray machine (below right). The only downside was the giant buinesswomen roaming the grounds outside the terminal windows (below left). I have nothing against giant women roaming about. In fact I'm all for it, as long as they don't decide to treat the plane heading for Charlotte as some kind of cool toy.
 (Photo: Mission) If the Searle's 2010 Surgeon's Journal has a theme to it, I guess this is it. |
 (Photo: Mission) "Jacksonville Airport plagued by giant business women! Film at 11!" |
Thus endeth the formal part of the Journal. Thanks for reading it. If you enjoyed it, please feel free to share the link. :)
DB Couper
(Photo: DB Couper)
As always, the first order of post-journal epilogue business is to thank the
photographers, without whom this would all just be a lot of tiresome
reading. The way I figure it, it's far better to have tiresome reading separated by
pictures.
So thanks to the folks you will find at left and there below. I have only sampled their photos, taking the ones that amused me or moved the story along. This means there are actually a lot more photos out there for those of you who can't get enough of this event. However, all of them have long since gone the way of all things, so you can't see them.
Diosa (Photo: Kate Bagley)
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Ivan Henry
(Photo: Kate Bagley)
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Kate Bagley
(Photo: DB Couper)
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Callenish Gunner
(Photo: DB Couper)
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Mission
(Photo: Mission)
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And now for the traditional remnant photos. These are some photos I really liked but couldn't quite fit into the standard text. A few of them are funny, a few are interesting and others I just like. Let's start with some interesting still life photos. (Well, I found them interesting.)
 DB Couper)
The kitchen workers. I just liked this composition. |
(Photo: DB Couper)
The camp wash station and water barrel. |
(Photo: DB Couper)
Armor in the campsite. |
 DB Couper)
Did they bring this wagon or was it here? Hmm. |
 (Photo: Mission) A period boucan for barbeque. |
Now for some family photos. Searle's Raid was a very family-friendly event, which reminded me more than a little of the event at Paynetown as I've noted before. Why shouldn't be family friendly? As the old saying goes, "The family that pirates together.." Huh. Come to think of it, there is no old saying that goes that way. This is probably because the second part would be something like, "... dies a horrible death, hung from the neck until they are dead." It's just not one of those great old sayings that gets passed from generation to generation (for apparent reasons.) Still, there were several families at the event, some of whom I don't know the names of. (Why should this page be any different than the others?)
 DB Couper)
Michael, Wendy and Youngblood |
 DB Couper)
Alicia and her PC offspring. |
(Photo: DB Couper)
Sam, Gretchen and...uh.. |
Under the category of "boys will be boys" we have the grouping below. I first became interested in pirates at about this age, so I can appreciate how cool this might be for these lads.
 (Photo: Mission) Two young lads being patient. |
 (Photo: Mission) William and Youngblood doing dishes. |
 DB Couper)
The boys crossing pikes. |
As I noted in Chapter 4th, there were all sorts of crafts and activities going on around the camp on Saturday. If pirates were on land waiting for a battle, I suspect these are the sorts of activities they might have engaged in...when they weren't engaged in other activities, of course.
 (Photo: Mission) Patrick making a cheap hammock PC |
 (Photo: Mission) Sewing away the hours... |
 (Photo: Mission) Willie Wobble knitting a flag |
(Photo: Mission)
I guess wasn't the only one who had a good time on Friday night.
Yes the site was a buzzing hive of activity as we can see in the
continuation of this photo essay below.
 (Photo: Mission) The tourists try to imitate the pirate - it's not something you can do without a previous night of debauchery. |
 (Photo: Mission) Many were the opportunities to engage the tourists and discuss the pirate way of life. |
(Photo: I couldn't say )
In case you thought all AC Macks were ugly, here's a restored truck. (What do you mean 'They're still ugly'?) |
(Graphic: Calvin & Hobbes, p. 34)
A picture I found while searching for the one used in the text. (It's so evocative.) |
And now for a series of pictures of Shay of the Keys in drag. I wanted to find a pic of her not in disguise, but most of the ones I have from this event are of her with the mustache. So you get what you get and you should be happy with that. (Either way, Shay is cool.)
 DB Couper)
Shay in her make-up. She makes it work |
 (Photo: Mission) "What the heck kind of outfit is that?" (Said simultaneously.) |
DB Couper)
"Where did you get that? It looks so real!" |
DB Couper)
Shay and her ginnormous gun! |
I like going to events, because you meet so many interesting people, who do such bizarre things. Since I am no stranger to bizarre things, I feel quite at home. Take the photo below far left of me with a dog collar and a bloody rag. It turns out that the collar (or 'gorget") cannot be removed without assistance. God forbid you should live alone and have to wear a gorget every day for work! Below left center, a chap who was on the Spanish side during the battle whose name I do not know. (However, he reminded me a lot of Chief Chirpa.) Center right is an action! shot of Red Jessi. I believe she is vacating the Plaza during the Saturday afternoon battle. Either that, or she's practicing a new period dance step for the upcoming Paynetown Saturday Dance Class. It must be the first one, as none of the Dance moves I recall from last year were that interesting. Below far right, William with former President Teddy Roosevelt who appears to be trying to hail a cab. Actually, this was a local re-enactor who coordinated the Spanish battle forces and whose name, naturally, I do not know.
 (Photo: ) |
 DB Couper)
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DB Couper)
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 (Photo: Mission) |
Of course, no epilogue to my Searle's description would be complete without a nice shot of the Taberna del Gallo (which is Spanish for "Tavern of the Rooster.") Below... (Well, what did you think it meant?) Um, below are photos of the entrance and the al fresco dining area. The tavern is run as if it were established in 1734 and is staffed by folks in period clothing. They are happy to show you how to play period drinking games. (I seem to recall one of the barmaids explaining that all games eventually wound up being drinking games.) While searching for info on the tavern to report here, I found this fascinating quote from Chuck Dale who was the manager of St. Augustine's museums and visitor services when the article was written in 2002, "There used to be 40 taverns in St. Augustine and 2,000 people... It was a part of their life." Huh. I can add that if you're going to St. Augi with Shay of the Keys, expect to spend some time here. (And why shouldn't you? People in garb get a discount on drinks.)
 (Photo: Mission) |
 (Photo: Mission) |
And now, the shocking revelation of Lob's Passive/Aggressive Plan to Conquer the Re-enacting Community, One Person at a Time! (Apparently starting with Sergeant Jeff's family...)
(Photo: Jess Bagley)
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(Photo: Jess Bagley)
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(Photo: Jess Bagley)
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(Photo: Jess Bagley)
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Next, we begin with the first pictures in what will no doubt be an on-going series in the Surgeon's Journal: Inanimate Objects Wearing Odd Inanimate Objects.
 (Photo: Mission) |
 (Photo: Mission) |
| ...then again, maybe it's for the
best if we didn't make that an on-going feature. |
(Photo: Michelle Murillo)
Jill-Handed Red wants to give you a hug. Isn't she sweet? |
 (Photo: Mission) Boyz in the Hood. Well, one boyz and a plain drunk. |
(Photo: From the archives)
Test time! To what is this photo referring? (Hint...) |
 (Photo: Mission) The End(s) |
November 2011: In my efforts to update this website and make the look-and-feel more uniform, I made the hard decision to eliminate all the old title graphics I used to have for each Journal. Since I didn't want to lose them entirely, I decided to place them at the end of each updated Journal's Epilogue. Below you will find the original title graphic for the Searles 2010 Journal. In an unusual move, I changed from my usual font to one I thought reflected the event better.
(Photo: Mission)
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