In 1976 my wife and I decided to celebrate the American Bicentennial by taking a tour of the United States. We cashed out of our conventional lives and hit the road ... Hobo-ing America. We landed in Franklin County on Seafood Festival Day in the early 80's. We've been here ever since. We were told that once the sand from the beautiful beaches of Franklin County got between a visitor's toes, he became a prisoner of the area for the remainder of his days. That has certainly been the case with Carol and me. We had no intention of ever settling down. We hungered for the life of the vagabond. We held aspirations of becoming professional wanderers - gypsies even. But somehow here we sat on the edge of paradise enjoying the perilous life of an endanger species ... the Coastal Seafood Worker. We bought a boat and a motor and began our apprenticeship exploring the depths and the shallows of Cat Point and East Bay in beautiful Apalachicola Bay on the Florida Panhandle. We joined the ranks of them dang oyster people in the tiny town of Eastpoint. Whether they be homeez, mill hogs, townies, local-yokels or them dang oyster people the current indigenous population of a community always seem to rally under a banner of ridicule and snobbery from the la-di-da class of wherever it is they live. It has been no different here in Eastpoint, the oyster catching capital of Florida. Them dang oyster people have always been the maligned underdogs of Franklin Country which made Eastpoint the perfect fit for me and Carol. This book contains a variety of the stories that I wrote and published in a local Eastpoint newspaper. The stories were good enough to garner me a first place award for humor from the Florida Press Association. This book of stories makes a nice companion to my first book written about this area entitled The Eastpointer. Both books are written in a spirit of fun and entertainment. They make quite a contrast to my series of books written about my early years growing up in the 40's, 50's and 60's in a crowded, tenement filled, northeastern, industrial mill town. My wife and I feel quite blessed to have stumbled upon Eastpoint, Franklin County and Apalachicola Bay. We've enjoyed our stay here ... so far. We hope for many more years of fun, sun, sand, seafood, fishing, eating oysters from Cat Point, good times and laughter. I hope in the pages of this book my readers will find a taste of all of the above and get a little Franklin County sand between their toes. It's hard to beat.
About the Author: About the Author I was born in Baltimore, MD, raised in Lawrence, MA, and lived the last thirty plus years of my life in Eastpoint, Fl. I consider the tiny, coastal, fishing village of Eastpoint on the Florida Panhandle as my second home. My wife and I chose Eastpoint because we wanted to become a part of the seafood industry and make our living on the water as so many of America's original settlers. We had a unique opportunity to become a part of a tradition. We joined the fishing community and harvested oysters from Apalachicola Bay as has been done in the area for over a century. We fished, caught oysters, layed crab traps, tossed handmade cast nets, smoked mullet, learned to work on outboard motors, repaired wooden boats and joined in the native customs and traditions. Compared to the rugged, hardscrabble mill town where I was raised, Eastpoint is a paradise. As tough and difficult as Eastpoint is my hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts was tougher and considerably more difficult. Eastpoint has been a picnic. Our time working on Apalachicola Bay has been a pleasure and a joy. Carol and I are both happy that we stumbled upon the Eastpoint community while on our "Hobo-ing America" adventure. It was our good fortune. And like the damn Yankees we both are, we're staying.