As I walk out wearing a UF tee-shirt, a middle-aged guy walking in passes by and whispers "How about those Gators?" I give him a wink and sit down with my wife. A few moments later, the guy joins his family directly accross the aisle from us. Assuming he must know something about college sports, I resume the conversation by asking him if he is from the South. He replies "I'm from Gainesville."

"Really?" I say, "I'm from Gainesville, too. In what year did you graduate high school?" "1975," he responds. Hmmm, I think. That's my era. I graduated in 1977. Gainesvile was a small town then, so I ask him which high school he attended. "P. K. Yonge," he says. I am flabbergasted because I went to P.K.Yonge from kindergarten through 12th grade--a Blue Wave lifer" as we called ourselves.

As I look at the guy, he starts to appear familiar. "What is your name?" I ask. "Andy Elgard" he answers. Holy crap! I grew up with Andy. He was also a P.K. Yonge lifer and I have known him since I was five years old. Andy and his family were on a European vacation that culminated in a Stockholm visit with his older brother Eric, another P. K. Younge alumnus, who lives there.

As we got off the canal boat, Andy hollered "Go Gators!" I replied "Go Blue Wave!." The moral to this story? Not that the world is small, but rather, always wear UF attire when traveling. The Gator Nation is ubiquitous.