Me And Travis McGee

I have probably mentioned this before, and even used the same photograph seen above, too, but I am getting old, so give me a break.  When I first started working in the book business, at the Walden Books in North Riverside, Illinois in 1976, I discovered John D. McDonald's Travis McGee novels.  We could strip the covers off the paperbacks and take them home, and so I was able to read all of the McGee stories McDonald wrote, and then bought the new hardcovers as they came out.  When John D. McDonald passed away, Travis McGee died too, and the books of course stopped.  That's why I was so happy when my sister Susan took the above photograph of me at the site of Travis McGee's old houseboat, slip F-18, Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale Florida.  Susan, my mother Mary, and I were at Bahia Mar to take the Jungle Queen on a cruise up the New River, and I just had to see the site.  And there is actually a plaque (seen in the photograph above), marking the spot. How cool is that?  I believe Bahia Mar has now changed hands, and so I hope the plaque is still there.  And if not, I shall want to know the reason why, damn it.