Jerry Lafferty of Cincinnati and Puerto Vallarta went sailing with his brother Ed Lafferty and Ed’s wife Chris on a magnificent day on the York River. Jerry spends six months on the coast of the Mexican beach resort, whose population has skyrocketed from 5,000 to 250,000. Homes sell for millions. But because of the steep cliffs, “sometimes it costs more to build the foundation than the house, to protect against rains that fall as much as six inches a day.”
Then we talked about selling our houses when we get old. Jerry said in jest, “Our retirement plan is for all our friends to agree to move into the largest house with the least steps. Then each of us will bring our favorite servant.” One place has 28,000 square feet and 36 bedrooms. “We could always rent out the extra rooms.”
They Met at Sea
People ask, “Do military people meet their spouse there?” Navy Ensign Marie Gallant and Navy Lt. Addison Carr met at sea on the USS Antietam guided missile cruiser and just got engaged to marry. They are stationed in Norfolk on different ships. “I was enlisted at first and went to OCS,” she said as they cruised along the York River quietly. “No one in my family was ever in the military. Not a lot of people can say they’ve been out in the ocean and looked up at the stars.”
She’s from San Diego and was commissioned there on the aircraft carrier Midway, now a museum. “They didn’t close the museum, so civilians were coming by in flip flops as we stood in our whites. It was awesome.” Out at sea, “I’ve been on ships chasing typhoons back to port, rolling 20 degrees to one side and then 20 degrees to the other.”
Sailing High
For years, the Philip Morris plant on Route 143 near Williamsburg has been vacant. The place used to repair machines that make cigarettes, and then it was expanded for smokeless tobacco. But an acquisition by Altria (new company name) of Skoal rendered the plant redundant. A fellow I took sailing has noticed several dormant Altria plants in and around Richmond, just going to waste. “I wonder if the company is keeping them for future use to make marijuana cigarettes,” he postulated. Virginia isn’t about to legalize pot, but could it manufacture it for other states that already have done so?
Let’s Go with a Mexico Sailor
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