DEBARY, Fla. – A day of picking up trashed turned into one of discovering hidden treasure when a couple found messages stuffed inside a bottle.
"A lot of times we pick up a lot of garbage," said Richard Balkham.
But on Sunday afternoon, Balkham and his wife stumbled upon one champagne bottle in particular along the St. Johns River.
"I took it to the boat and I said, 'It looks like we got some messages in the bottle,'" he said.
Balkham read Christmas and birthday wishes from children.
"He wrote all he wanted was his family to be safe, but then he said, 'If you want to get me something, a (flat) screen TV,'" said Balkham.
Balkham also found notes in Spanish from adults that he translated.
"It was just good things, religious things people were saying. It made me happy," Balkham said.
He said seven messages had been stuffed in the bottle since 2010, and that it had originated from Lake Monroe. He then decided to write his own message. Balkham shared how he found the bottle, how to track its history through the DeBary Proud Facebook page and then a tagline.
"Have a cold one for me and please keep this bottle moving up river," he said.
Balkham rolled up the messages and placed them back inside the bottle, cleaned it and threw it in the water Monday afternoon. Balkham said he hopes it doesn't get found for a long time.
"I think it would be really neat if it made its way to Jacksonville and out to the ocean," he said in his note.