SANTA ROSA BEACH, Fla. (WTHR) — In 1995, a man tossed a message in a bottle into Lake Michigan. Fast forward 24 years, and another man — on the Florida gulf coast — has found it.
Gary Henrickson said he found the bottle while he was relaxing in the water on Memorial Day Weekend, and it came bobbing by. He went home to uncork it and pulled the note out, realizing it smelled like bourbon.
"The note says: Hello, June 16, 1995, Frankfurt, Michigan. I've tossed this bottle into the water to bring joy to anyone who finds it. This whiskey bottle was full a few short hours earlier. If you find this call me, and I'll buy you a drink."
Henrickson sent a text message to the number in the note, and surprisingly, it worked and belonged to the note's original author. The two have been in touch since Henrickson found the bottle.
"He's 49 year's old now," Henrickson said. "It was a whole different time in his life, he said. He threw it in Lake Michigan, and we kind of talked about how it could've gotten down here. It's just an amazing, long, long way it had to go."
Their best guess: the Mississippi River.