TRAIL OF ASHES TOUR: The adventure continues as Gerry G returns to Negril

[gerryg123]

A few more things I left out:

-- Like I said, this trip was a good chance to re-connect with a lot of familiar Negril faces that I had not seen in a long time. One was Karl Ricketts, an exceptional artist who has been around a long time and is kind of an icon in the neighborhood. Many moons ago, back when my now ex-wife could still stand me (lol), we had met Mr. Ricketts and bought a painting from him.

For once, it was refreshing for a local to be sincere about actually remembering me -- he did not, ha ha -- but it was still nice to see him because the reunion was one of the things that reminded me about how much I have always loved Negril. I'm assuming Ricketts will be around forever, and next time I see him, I want to buy another painting.

-- I did have a few tense moments, including a little "misunderstanding" between me and a young higgler on a motorcycle at the Shell station near the Roundabout. I'm still not sure if he was kidding or not, but when he begged for some of my gasoline and I turned him down, he said to me right in front of the station attendant: "What if I put a gun to your head and pull the trigger?"

I kind of laughed it off at the time and did not take it seriously because the attendant was right there, too, but no one had ever said anything like that to me before, and I was a bit relieved when he simply sped off with his friend riding piggy-back. I did not consider it a big deal.

-- I had one near-spill on the scooter with Suzie Q in tow when I wasn't paying close enough attention while maneuvering the little speed bumps on Seastar Lane, but otherwise it was smooth, danger-free 11 days riding through the hills and seven-mile beach. For the most part, the traffic was light.

-- I brought along a total of four inflatable rafts, and it was nice to spread them around. One was at Blue Cave Castle, one was at Seastar Inn, one was at Seasplash and one somehow popped at Blue Hole -- either a little hole in it or too much jerk chicken and too many fruity drinks, lol.

-- At Keith's house, he has a big TV that nearly covers a whole wall, and he set up a high-tech video game in which you race a sports car through an obstacle course with a steering wheel, gas pedal and break pedal. It was fun watching Keith's live-in assistant, Rasta, really get into it. The local loved to play that game, even though I'm quite sure he has never drove a real car in his life.