USVI Wig Experience ‘24

I didn’t manage to launch this rocket from the islands, but I made some notes on the plane.

First off, many thanks to Wigs one and all for the invite and the bonhomie. I’ve referred to Wig’s brother in a couple posts as The Running Beast so that, or RB, is now his official blog name.

RB and his wife made the trip to St. John to participate in the 8 Tuff Miles run, which consists of a lot of hills, just like the island itself.  The Wigs and my wife and I lounged around the manor while they were toughing it out, sending good vibes to the competitors.

We stayed in a spacious villa in a gated community.  Some might say it was gated to keep me in, but that’s just idle talk. The only problem we had was the master suite inhabited by the RBs had a faulty shower, providing them lukewarm water at best.  They solved that problem by not showering after the first day. Oh, I kid.

The whole crew had some good meals. Our first night was at 1864, which served up some pretty tasty fare in an open-air setting. Reservations were a little tight due to the event, so we ended up at the Westin one night. It was pretty good, but the waiter had approximately 35 tables, so service was a little slow. Wig became grill master on our last evening, churning out burgers and seared tuna.

The Wigs and RBs were busy on the home front as well.  Both of them had kids that were negotiating job offers, so they had to huddle for some advisory sessions. And for the Wig, a day would not be complete without a real estate transaction, so they sold their current home and will be moving down the street about 100 yards. They close on June 14th, which I pointed out will be the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation.

We had several beach excursions.  We went to Hawk’s Nest and Trunk Bay on St. John. The water was warm and inviting, and the views were gorgeous. Parking was a little precarious, but our Jeep was able to navigate the tougher spots. It was a five-seater that we turned into a six-seater with a beach chair in the back.

One of the trip highlights was our trek to Jost Van Dyke in BVI.  We got a new stamp on our passport then headed to the Soggy Dollar, which is run by the family of Mrs. RB. Earlier in the trip we were graciously welcomed to their home for dinner. We had a few cocktails and a tasty lunch at Soggy Dollar and I got a t-shirt. Towards the end of our stay there we got hit with heavy rain, but since we were in bathing suits and it was 80 degrees, we got through it OK.

My wife and I headed out on Monday.  We took a ferry ride over to St. Thomas.  The gruff captain told my wife to get moving as she tried to have our second ticket scanned. She’s a little sensitive, so I consoled her on the boat. The taxi to the airport took the non-scenic route but got us there in plenty of time. Going through security, I had to wait a bit for the 80-year-old TSA agent to notice me and wave me through the scanner. We spent the night in Ft. Lauderdale and treated ourselves to some extremely dicey Chinese food, since it was the only place within walking distance. I nibbled a bit of it, but the mystery meat in the dumplings put me off. We arrived back in the Bay mid-afternoon Tuesday, dealing with mild jet lag that evening.  I still may be dealing with it, as I got up at 4:30am today.

So, the President and I both had our annual physicals yesterday and the report was the same, in that we are both a “healthy, robust 81-year-old”.  You may remember Trump boasting about coasting through his dementia test, memorizing “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.”. For the first time I got a version of that, with “Garden. Picture. Captain”. I didn’t do as well as the Orange Duce, but I passed.  They also had me fill in the numbers on a clock and put the hands at 11:20, the time of my appointment. I aced it. 

My apologies but I have not kept up with celebrity news during my travels, so I have no nuggets to share with you on that front. I hope my next post will be chock full of that type of info.

I’d like to wish my pal Katie a happy 17th birthday.