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Margaritaville Biloxi is finish line on Florida man's trail

He said the new Margaritaville Casino is even better than he anticipated. On Sunday he sat at the outside bar overlooking the Back Bay with the band playing. Monday he returned with his wife, Fabiana, and about a dozen family and friends to celebrate the completion of his goal.

"I'd do it again. It was fun," said Minor, 43, of St. Augustine, Fla.

It all started with a challenge from a co-worker, Tom Mollere. They work on an offshore deepwater drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico and normally are on 28 days and off the next 28. After a stretch of working nearly 40 days straight, Minor told his co-workers, "I need a margarita," and he imagined sipping one in Orlando and another at the Margaritaville in Panama City. Since Minor's wife is a flight attendant and he can get low-cost flights, he took the challenge to visit every Margaritaville in a year.

"I flew more last year than my wife did," he said. He started in Orlando and visited all of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville cafes, hotels, casinos and airport stopovers in the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico and Panama. "I drank a margarita in every one," he said.

He had only six hours at the Hawaii cafe and had to carefully time his visit to Turks because the Margaritaville there is open only when a cruise ship is in port.

His favorite Margaritaville was in Negril, Jamaica.

"It's an unbelievable place," he said. "Every care slips off your shoulders at Negril."

His wife, who visited about half of the properties with him, agrees.

"Jamaica was magic," she said.

She flew in from Portugal in time to be at Margaritaville Biloxi for the finale.

"I'm glad we got to be part of it," said Margaritaville Biloxi spokesperson Georgina Barvié, who added a hat, shirt and other mementos to Minor's collection of Margaritaville souvenirs.

By:  Mary Perez, Sun Herald. 

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/07/23/4078811/margaritaville-biloxi-is-finish.html#storylink=cpy