Message in a bottle washes up on Florida beach

The cremated remains of travel-lover Gordon Scott Smith of Tennesee were recently found off the Florida Keys coast, then sent back to sea

Gordon Scott Smith loved to travel in life. So it's only fitting that he continues to do so in death.

Starting in the early '80s, he and his wife Beverly would head south from their Louisville, Tenn., home to spend each February in the Florida Keys. His penchant to share moonshine with others at their regular Big Pine Key campsite earned him the nickname "Tennessee Tornado."

"We'd blow in and everybody would have a good time," Beverly says.

But to those back in Tennessee, this big-framed construction worker would come to be known as "Skinny" after he playfully refused to accept a co-worker calling him "Fatty." When the taunt was reversed, it stuck. His paychecks were even made out to Skinny Smith.

Judi Glunz Sidney found the bottle with Skinny's remains and two dollar bills on July 21, just minutes before a sandplow would have buried it in obscurity.

"I don't think his bosses knew his real name," says Beverly, 56, laughing softly.

Skinny and Beverly Smith relished their trips near and far, finding that the warmer climes suited them best.

In March 2012, this couple, who just a year before had celebrated their silver anniversary, would make their last trip together to Costa Rica. Two hours after they returned, Skinny, a diabetic, died suddenly at the age of 57.

But death would not stop this charismatic traveler from voyaging on. Three weeks later, his grief-stricken wife would distribute some of his cremated remains in places close to his heart: a lake in Tennessee, Costa Rica, and inside a bottle, which she tossed into the waters off the Florida Keys.

"He loved the ocean," says Beverly. "I wanted to let him travel a little and let him sail away."

Fast-forward to last week. Judi Glunz Sidney, co-owner of Glunz Ocean Beach Hotel & Resort in Key Colony Beach, Fla., was cleaning up washed-up litter during the last few hours of her Florida vacation when she came upon a plastic water bottle with what appeared to be dollar bills and sand inside.

When she couldn't get the top open, she ran back into the hotel, where the receptionist cut the top off. Inside was a note penciled on torn yellow paper.

"Oh. My. God. It's a man!" Sidney, 54, exclaimed.

The note read: "My husband Gordon Scott 'Skinny' Smith loved to travel. Call and tell me where he is … and let him travel on."

Beverly Smith included this note with her husband's remains

So Sidney called Beverly Smith.

Tucked inside the water bottle was a second note from a man named Ross, explaining that he had found Skinny earlier this month at Mile Marker 79 at Islamorada, Fla. "Please if you find him call Gordon's loving wife and please call me and let us know where Gordon ended up … put a new note in with him and let him travel on," Ross' note reads. He clarified that the $2 tucked in the bottle was from Beverly to cover the cost of a phone call.

Sidney and her husband transferred Skinny's ashes into an empty rum bottle, added a note of their own and another dollar. Everyone on the beach when the bottle was found signed the dollar, too. They threw a beach party for Skinny, passing around the letter and new bottle. High tide prevented the family from putting him back to sea near the resort so Sidney and her husband drove to Seven Mile Bridge, where they took a picture as they sent Skinny into the ocean "on the next leg of his journey."

Sidney and her sister, Janet Bischoff, feel a connection to Skinny that goes beyond having found him on their beach. They lost their mother to pancreatic cancer a few years ago but have a feeling she and Skinny are "in cahoots in heaven." They are both from Tennessee; both loved the Keys and would spend each February there. Their favorite drink: bourbon.

"We think Gordon and our mom are up in heaven drinking bourbon and pushed the bottle onto the beach," says Bischoff, who sponsored a Facebook post on the story for $15 in hopes of reaching 3,000 people. The post has been "liked" more than 259,000 times and shared by more than 116,000 people.

What Beverly misses the most these days is the laughter she and her husband shared.

"You don't ever get over a person like him," she says. "He brought out the best in people and he gave his best."

These past few weeks have given Beverly a strength that has eluded her since Skinny's death.

"I've had a rough time losing my best friend," she says. "You can't change it but you can lift your head up and be thankful … that people can still appreciate love stories — real love stories."