Wayne Reed

I went back to working as a mechanic through several dealerships. I still didn’t find what I was looking for. My father had a long time running Ashland Service Station. He was ready to retire so we worked a deal and I bought him out. After a few years, service stations were quickly turning into self service food stores.  When it seemed like I would have a good location for a couple of years, big corp would turn it into a food mart, which put me looking for another location. After a couple of times moving I realized I needed to buy a property and settle down.

I purchased an old closed down service station and remodeled it into a ten bay shop with dyno and 3 computerised 1215 scopes and a lot of high tech equipment.

I had a great automotive business in Lexington called Computer Tune which I started from scratch and built to a winner. I won a National award, winning the first CarQuest Excellence award in 1992. With the award was among other things a 1993 Dodge Dakota Pickup which I kept for 350,000 miles. I was involved with the National Automotive Service Association, National Car Care Council, as well as some local organizations called Bluegrass Garage Owners and Professional Master Technicians Association. I still have a lot of great friends from these groups.

In 1976 I went through a divorce and moved to the Kentucky River near Boonesboro on Amster Grove Road. I bought a house on the hillside and fixed it up. Lived there about 10 years and lots of rumors came from that time. Don’t believe them 😊 River people became family and I still go down on Thursday evenings to stay in touch. At that time I had lots of boats and Jeeps and Motorcycles. Oh and a few room mates, but that is another story. It was a time of weekends with my children, toys, and yes even a girlfriend or two. 😊 My children learned about work before they played and played until we dropped. They learned to drive boats, jeeps, trailbikes and how to respect guns and water. How to swim, ski, and just plain float. How to build things and how to respect others. I think those times were what made them the successful people they are today. I am very proud of their accomplishments.

I am a PADI Certified Master Scuba Diver. I dived in many places in Kentucky and Florida Keys, San Pedro and Cayman Islands. I swam with Sharks, Manta Ray, Eels, and tons of beautiful fish. I have seen a lot of wrecks, coral and met a lot of great people. A couple of them are photographers for National Geographic and have their own travel groups they entertain. If you like that, I can put you in contact. https://gregorysweeney.com/

I have been White Water Rafting on the Gauley? Kayaking Cumberland below the falls, Elkhorn Creek, Ocoee, Nantahala and Canoed many Rivers?

I have been to Thailand where I rode an Elephant and visited a lot of Buddha Temples. I have also been to Tokyo, Okinawa, Vietnam, Africa, Mozambique, Belize, Cayman, San Pedro, Hawaii, and soon will be going to Roatan and maybe Europe.

I had a calling to deep blue water and white sandy beaches, so I turned this business over to my employees and pursued my calling. I purchased a house with a mother-in-law side in Cape Coral, where I transitioned from my business spending a week in Cape Coral and three weeks in KY at first, then 2 and 2, then 3 in Florida and one in Lexington and finally turned the business over to my employees. I remodeled the house in Cape Coral and rented the 2-bedroom side out while I lived in the Mother-in-law side at first then switched.

I enjoyed it so much I upgraded to a larger house and sold the first one. I remodeled this one and added a big pool with a Jacuzzi that spilled over into the pool. Both these houses were on sailboat access canals. I had a couple of boats at the time I used to explore the islands, Silverton Convertible 34, Boston Whaler. I later sold the Boston Whaler and bought a Scarab Sport Center Console Cuddy 26, which I used for a while. Then a friend took me out in a Warlock and I sold the Scarab and bought his Warlock 28. It had a 454 with a 471 B&M Blower making about 650HP. A real 100+ MPH boat by GPS. Loved that boat but couldn’t keep an engine in it. After my second engine blew I told my son Butch to come get it and put an engine in it and we’ll be partners. Not sure what happened to my side of the partnership. 😊

That is when I took an interest in flying ultralights. I bought a weight shift ultralight called Aquilla made in South Africa. It was a fine little airplane but I needed a place to keep it so I bought a little airport on Pine Island. 😊 It had 20 Hangers and was on 18 acres. I remodeled the hangars, cleaned up the property and put a doublewide trailer to live in. With the 20 hangars it would provide enough income to pay for itself. About then I met a young man, Jamie Mathewson, from South Africa who had worked for the factory that built my plane.  Jamie lived with me a while and taught me to fly. I had a few planes from an Aquilla weight shift trike to a C150. I sure miss flying around the islands of Lee County, Florida

Jamie and I later started a flight school and was doing great with 10 students and three planes. All was well until the hurricane hit. Yes, in 2004 Hurricane Charley hit the island and destroyed my little airport. With some help from friends we cleaned up the mess and restored 9 of the hangars, but it was not enough to survive on.

My plans were to divide the property into lots and build a fly-in community. I had a few people interested in buying some lots and building hangar houses on an acre each. I had 8 acres I could sell acre lots and the airport was surrounded by small farms I could buy and add to the community. That is about the time the Hurricane hit. After the hurricane the island changed it building restrictions which stopped my development as well as some other development potentials on the island. We formed a landowners group and fought it but after 10 years I was whipped and couldn’t hold out any longer.

A couple of people I met and flew with did Photo Tours https://gregorysweeney.com/ Greg and Karen have been great friends here and in South Africa where they built their own little kingdom in the wild. I watched them build from day one in Africa. They also do tours from Bahamas, Dominica, Canada Polar Bear tours, and Africa Safaris.

I left the airport looking for my future and living in a Pace Arrow RV. Rode my motorcycle a lot then.

Then I was offered a job as Tow Boat Captain for Tow Boat US Charlotte Co. I got my Coast Guard Captains License with Tow endorsement and took the job. I had purchased a Live aboard boat Heritage East 44 and was able to park it at the Towboat marina which had a spectacular view of Charlot Harbor . I had the best of a boaters paradise. Again, I was learning while I worked and now and again got some real experiences. 😊

I was offered an opportunity to buy an ongoing Airboat business at a friend’s Navigator Grill and Marina. So here I go again. I moved to the peace River Where I purchased a fifth wheel RV to live in at a nearby trailer park. I purchased the airboat and business It took me a few days of practicing to learn to park the airboat as it has no reverse or brakes. It was good experience. I  ran the airboat business taking people on Alligator and Bird sanctuary tours. I really enjoyed meeting the people and learning while I talked about alligators and birds. I ran that business for a while until a young man wanted it more than I did and made the right offer right after I stepped in the boat carrying a 5 gal g can and twisted my ankle. 😊

I needed a break and Jamie had met a young lady and got married. He was taking her to South Africa to meet his family and asked me to come along. Heck I had never been to Africa so I went. That was the best trip of my life. I not only got to live in the bush but met all Jamies family and they kind of adopted me. Jamie’s Parents owned a Safari Camp called Pezulu Tree House Lodge http://www.pezulu.co.za/ and we went on different safaris with other tourists about everyday. I experienced the roar of a lion, the feel of a zebra, happiness of monkeys, the curiosity of Giraffes, Bravery of a Badger, went on Elephant walk, Horse Safari, Walked with White Lions and even got to hug tame Wart Hogs. I enjoyed it so much I went back two more times and the third time I spent a month staying with Jamie, his parents, and his brother in Mozambique. I have great memories and stories I could tell many times. Again, I met a lot of good friends I still stay in touch with. Heck could have married a couple of them. 😊

After 20 plus years living in the Florida Islands I had done all I wanted and my heart was calling me back to my Family and friends here in Lexington  Kentucky. I packed up everything I wanted to take and sold or gave away the rest. I had been down sizing for a few years and still am.

I fixed up one of my sons houses that had been in the need of  renovation and made it what I needed. I got my Real Estate license and am doing what I want, helping my family and enjoying Kentucky. I had forgotten how beautiful it is and how friendly the people are. I am still playing with buying and selling toys, like motorcycles and vehicles when I find a deal. I have had many motorcycles. The last was a 2007 Harley Davidson Classic. I just purchased a 2009 Kawasaki Vulcan.

My grandson Casey lives right across the street and his children Colby 9 and Caden 4 come over. I always have a banana, cookie or chocolate to help spoil them. Especially when my other grandson, Cody’s 2 girls come over too.

I am only about half mile from my other very talented and beautiful granddaughters live. One is a Dancer (not the pole type) and the other is a Volleyball and Cheerleader pro. Of course their mother, Kristen is a queen. I told her if I got reincarnated, I want to have a mother just like her. She is special. How my son Scott and Kristen has time to take these girls everywhere they go and still handle their work is puzzling to me. They are always on the go. Harper just turned 14 and Presley turns 16 Sept. She has already picked her car, a new baby blue Bronco Sport. 😊 Scott is in commercial real-estate and Kristen is in some kind of technology sales for big companies.

My daughter Angie lives about 20 minutes away, when she is in town. Her husband and her travel all the time. Scooty (as we already have a Scott in the family) is a scuba diver and Angie is a Sun worshipper. Scooty is retired from Kentucky Utilities, and Angie is retired from school Teaching. They are also Realtors and doing very well.

Angie and Scooty purchased a lot in Roatan and are building a house on the edge of the world. Guess I will have to winter there. 😊

Can you tell I am very proud of my family? 😊