Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A Florida couple who found a message in a bottle on the shore of a river were able to track down the Texas man who authored the message 39 years earlier. Sheila and Teben Pyles said they were participating in a neighborhood cleanup in South Jacksonville in February 2022 when they found an old bottle on the shore of the St. Johns River. Advertisement The bottle bore writing that said "look inside," and the couple opened it to find a message. "If you are the person that found this bottle, please send a note to Ron Clark," the message said. The note bore an address in Texas, but the couple said the bottle appeared to be decades old and they doubted the address would be current. Months of research and contacting Ron Clarks who turned out to not be the message's author led to their discovering a man bearing that name lived in Mebane, N.C., and used to reside in Texas. Sheila Pyles posted photos of the bottle and the message to a Mebane community group on Facebook in December in the hopes of getting Clark's attention. Advertisement The post was successful, and the Ron Clark who lives in Mebane turned out to be Ron Clark Sr., whose son, Ron Clark Jr., 49, wrote the message while staying with his grandparents in Florida 39 years earlier. The Pyles said they are now planning to send the message in a bottle back to the younger Clark, who still lives in Texas. Read More 89-year-old woman receives her master's degree Lottery ticket in Christmas stocking reveals $100,000 prize British hotel chain's lost and found items include puppies, wedding cake