I met Dave Rutkowski when our daughters were about 3 years old.
I was down at South Lake Beach with Maggie (our daughter) and Roxy (our dog) and noticed a yellow Hobie 18 in front of a small cottage where some men were working. I wandered down with daughter and dog and realized that one of the men working on the house was the same fellow I had seen working at John’s Drive-in, a local burger and ice cream joint. David had recently purchased the property, and were at the very start of transforming that modest summer cottage into a full-time home for David’s family.
Through the years my and David’s friendship has revolved around our children and our houses; various school and activity related children things, and various home improvement projects. (My favorite trick used to be to cut a hole in the side of my house with a saws-all, and then call up David and say “So I’ve got the hole for the patio door/window/whatever cut. Now what do I do?” (Dave has since sold the Drive-in, but his family still runs The Movie, and Dave’s also an accomplished home builder.)
Dave was the first person I asked to join the Mon Tiki build, and I boy was very lucky he said yes. And I must have done something right, because he says he’d do it again. We’ve run running the numbers on a very exciting 63 footer. We’ll just have to see how this summer goes!
Meanwhile, what fun it was to get Dave and his wife Maureen and their children Alex and John out for a sale today. The conditions were perfect, and so was the company! 🙂
