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The past director of that WWII museum in New Orleans is a high school friend of mine. He's a retired Marine colonel. Played football in school together and were good friends.

He and I drove together to Arizona from Slidell, LA last October, to go to our fiftieth high school reunion. We had a blast the whole trip there and back reminiscing about the good old days.

But the highlight of the trip for me was the day we left for the trip to Arizona. We stopped at the building in New Orleans where the renovation of PT-305 was almost complete. It was photo day for all the volunteers before the job was completed.

My friend had hired the photographer for the shoot and he and I helped carry all the camera equipment, lighting screens, etc. into the building and hauled it all up on deck for the official photo at the front of the boat. The boat was two weeks away from completion and it was a beauty.

I told my friend when it was finally seaworthy and ready to take-on paying customers, I would return to visit and take a ride on PT-305. He emailed me a copy of this article yesterday. I will probably wait until this fall, but I for sure am traveling back to New Orleans to catch a ride on this beautiful restoration.