After Tuesday’s game in Clearwater, Pete and I took a ride down to Treasure Island, one of the beachfront communities in the St. Pete/Clearwater area and a place near and dear to my heart.

Back in 1986, I along with my bestest Cheektowaga political friends Don Wegner, Patricia Jaworowicz and Ray Pugh, along with Pat’s son and my good bud Tim Jaworowicz, did a trip down to this region with one goal in mind - we were going to all chip in and buy ourselves a condo together, a place we could call our own and have for future vacations.

We ended up disagreeing on everything - price we would pay, location, shared rules etc., but we did see some nice places on our quest, and two months later I came back and bought a place on Treasure Island on my own.

Eventually, they all bought down here as well, as did others from the Cheektowaga political family, and this set off a number of memorable shared vacations and travel adventures, with awesome stories and bizarre happenings which endure to this day.

My dear dear friend Don Wegner passed away last summer after a lengthy battle with cancer. He loved so much to come down to Florida and was such a joy to have as a travel partner. As I sat at the Phillies game I saw ads on the outfield wall of places we had been to in Clearwater many a time - Shepherds Pub, Hooters (the original one on Gulf to Bay Blvd), Post Corner Pizza. And Don was such a huge baseball fan, a die hard fan of his beloved Yankees. In 2004 I finagled a media credential for him to a Yankees game at Legends Field in Tampa, and he proudly showed off a picture I took of him before the game on the field at home plate, the Yankees logo at his feet.

So I came to take a ride through the old neighborhood, to reminisce, and to pay tribute to Don, sad at his passing and good days we will never ever have together again, but also happy at the warm memories I embrace of the wonderful times we shared together, along with his wife Pat and the other people who came down to enjoy all that Treasure Island had to offer.

We also dropped into the offices of Resort Realty, the company that managed my property when I owned at Lands End. Owner Rudy Consoni, Office Manager Janet Shields, and the owners of their cleaning/maintenance division, Scott Drown and Rudy Feagley, gave us a very warm welcome and we had a chance to get caught up and renew what has always been a very good friendship. Man I miss those guys! They are all such big sports fans and supporters of the USRT as well.

So Don, you started all this Florida stuff… you and your crazy General Development homesite schemes! Wherever you are, I want you to know that the Florida adventures continue, and you are always in my thoughts and my heart!

Captain Kosmakos restaurant on Gulf Blvd… oh the trouble we got into in this place… the headquarters for the Cheektowaga pols

The main entrance to Lands End Condominium on the beaches, my Florida home for 15 years

The Treasure Island Causeway ends here in the center of town

And for good measure, Progress Energy Park in downtown St. Pete, which will see its final Rays spring game this Friday. The team moves to Port Charlotte next spring

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