SEQUIM – If you see 10 guys having a good time together on a Tuesday morning, know that they may well be the Romeos.
They roam this town, eating eggs, drinking coffee – but despite the name, they’re not looking for chicks.
The Romeos, according to ringleader Bud Carpenter, are just guys who like to get together once a week for breakfast and conversation.
Their name is an acronym for retired old men eating out – and out they go, to any old or new place in Sequim: The Mariner, Tarcisio’s, Gwennie’s, the Fifth Avenue Deli.
A couple of years ago, Carpenter noticed a group of men breakfasting and clearly having a good time at Jean’s Deli.
“I said, ‘That’s my cup of tea,'” he recalled.
Carpenter went over and joined the group.
He learned that it had grown from one guy who knew another guy who knew another guy who had some other friends.
Such group breakfasts could turn into the latest health craze, judging from the vitality of the Romeos.
Each restaurant’s staffers “remove the calories and cholesterol from the food before they give it to us,” said Bob McNicholas, 82.
“I come join them to see what it’s like to get old,” joked Gene Batdorf, 63.
He’s learned that “it takes care of itself.”
This is a wide-ranging, well-traveled bunch who can pack a lot of juicy stories into an hour, added Carpenter.
Jim Langhoff, 66, Ken Olin, 72, Jim Reker, 64, Lem Finley, 79, Bob Garthwaite, 77, and Bill Patterson, 74, rounded out the Romeos on a recent Tuesday morning at Tarcisio’s on West Washington Street.
Also on Tuesday, Batdorf enjoyed an up-close view of the remarkably youthful Carpenter, who celebrated his 87th birthday over breakfast with the guys.
