The outer island of Yasawa, Fiji is truly a piece of heaven on earth. Dorothy and I spent a week at the Yasawa Island Resort. We arrived at the island by a small private plane with two other couples. The airport, if you can call it that was a grassy field with a small hill at one end. The hill served two purposes, one to slow the plane down when landing and lifting off. Quite unique. We were greeted at the airport by a welcome committee from the resort. We were given a drink, a necklace made of fresh flowers and a hat. We were then driven to the resort to check in. From there we were taken to our "bure" It was a quite roomy grass hut, with a bedroom looking out at the ocean, a living area, and a huge bathroom. The shower room was huge, with one wall appearing to be a window to the outside, so that you could see people walking by. Quite unnerving at first. When you were standing on the outside, the "window" appears to be a mirror, so people walking by could only see themselves, and not you in the shower. Kinda neat when you got used to it. When we got settled in and went to the restaurant, we were told we could have lobster for every meal. WOW! The novelty of this wore off by the second or third day. After that I was having a bowl of fruit for breakfast. Second day there they gave us a list of activities that were available to us. The one that appealed to us right away was to be taken to a private, uninhabited island for a day. We picked that and the next day, we were ferried out to a small island. We took our snorkel gear, and the resort supplied us with a cooler of food, specified by us, a cooler of drinks, and a radio if there was an accident and we needed to be picked up ASAP. The pilot of the boat asked us what time we wanted to be picked up in the afternoon, and instructed us in the operation of the radio. He left, and we had this small island to us, and us alone. It was absolutely fantastic! We snorkeled, played in the surf, ate a delicious meal of cold lobster and salads. We explored a little and it was an amazing day! The pilot returned for us at the designated time, and returned us to the resort. On the third or fourth day we were told that the bure would be sprayed for spiders. Both Dorothy and I have a problem with spiders. One day at the reception desk we overheard one of the other guests complaining that when she opened the closet in the room there was a spider the size of a small plate. The girl at the front desk told the girl not to worry about it. She told her the small spiders were the ones to be careful about, I can tell you if I opened a door and there was a spider that big, he would not have to bite me. I would have died instantly from a popped valve! We returned to our bure at the end of the day to find quite a few small dead spiders on the floor of our hut. Spooky! Lucky for us, the grounds on the resort are beautiful with orchids and other fauna. YASAWA ISLAND RESORT A truly beautiful place with great people! We were told not to tip the staff, so when we returned home, we made up a package of lots of Canadian items and mailed it back to the resort. If you are looking for a beautiful, romantic place to stay, we would highly recommend the Yasawa Island Resort.

At a young age, in my teens, during the '60s, which IMHO was the golden age of performance cars and sports cars. Like every guy my age, I wanted a Corvette. I eventually was able to buy a Corvette. It was a '66 Ragtop. I paid $3,600.00 or it. I kept the car for many years. Originally it had a 300 hp., 327 small block. I swapped that out for a stock Z/28 302, and eventually swapped that out for a balanced and blueprinted LT 1. It was the quickest car I had ever been in or driven up to that point. During my teen years I learned about the Shelby AC Cobra and the Shelby 427 Cobra. After learning about the 427 Cobra I dreamed of having one. Eventually I was able to buy a Classic Roadster Cobra 427 Replica, powered by a pretty hot 302. I still dreamed of owning a real 427 Cobra. Around that time I learned that Shelby had started to produce the ever famous Cobra. I was able to order a 4000 Series, 427 SC Cobra. I researched it and specd out the car exactly the same as the famous '65 Cobra. I had a 427 Side Oiler built by Keith Craft Performance Engines in the States. Eventually the car came together. It was frighteningly fast! Everything you have heard about these cars is true. Not a car to take for granted, as soon as you disrespect it, it will bite you in the ass. It is a very unforgiving car to drive, very uncomfortable, and hot. One of the greatest experiences in my life was to own and drive the world's fastest production car since 1965, and held that title till just about a decade ago. It will still keep up and polish off many of todays supercars, in acceleration.

I recently watched the new series, "Reacher" It was quite good, and I'm looking forward to the next season. The general consensus on Facebook, is that this "Reacher" series does a better job than the movies starring Tom Cruz. I disagree, Tom Cruz plays a more intelligent Reacher. Admittedly Tom is a much shorter Reacher, but I feel he played a more believable and more realistic Reacher. JMHO