Nancy
Howell is a former television producer and ballroom dance instructor.The Innkeepers
Here is a 30-second bio about us:
Nancy
Howell is a former television producer and ballroom dance instructor.
Gary McKechnie is a former stand up comedian and advertising copywriter.
In 2005, Florida
Trend magazine profiled us as one of Florida's seven Power Couples.
Yeah, that's what
we thought, too.
Our quest for a bed and breakfast began in 1990 when we interned at the Waverly Inn in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Our innkeeping efforts continued in 1997, when we arrived at the Summer White House in Lenox, Massachusetts. As we searched for an inn, we expanded our feature writing to include travel articles for the Miami Herald, Atlanta Constitution, Columbus Post Dispatch, Denver Post, Chicago Tribune and other magazines and newspapers here and abroad.
In
1998, we embarked on an epic two-wheeled journey; traveling across
the country so Gary could write the first national motorcycle
touring guide, Great American
Motorcycle Tours, winner of the 2001 Lowell Thomas Travel
Journalism Award silver medal, and the 2001 Benjamin Franklin
Award gold medal.
After traveling 20,000 miles across 31 states and searching for a bed and breakfast along the way, we returned to Florida and found what would become the Coconut Cottage Inn -- located just two doors from our original Mount Dora home!