Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Thanks to everyone for your support...
Where to begin........
Randy and I would like to thank everyone for your well wishes, prayers and help along our journey. With that said, I hate to inform everyone that our journey has come to an abrupt end. We had at some point in our trip, completely expected bad to severe weather. However, we did not anticipate such severe weather so often and early into the trip. Torrential rains and terrible winds have caused many problems including loss of equipment and equipment failure. We spent most afternoons between the hours of 1pm and 4pm held up under bridges because of weather. We had 60mph winds one day, for which we were under a bridge, but it was still necessary to crawl down behind huge rocks to keep from being blown away. The bridge helped to some degree but also caused a wind tunnel effect, which obviously intensified the winds. Another day, under another bridge, we had what I call the "Tsunami effect". We crawled up under a bridge with the kayaks tied off in the water, as usual, during heavy rains. Suddenly, all of the water under the bridge, for some reason got sucked out. The kayaks where literally on the river floor when all of a sudden the water came rushing back in. We managed to get my kayak out of the water and up onto the rocks, but with the second rush of water, Randy's kayak broke loose. We managed to grab hold of another line but the kayak still went under and we spent the better part of the afternoon getting all of the water out and back under way after the rain subsided. Our last day, Sunday, May 31st, which was in Miami, I wasn't feeling well so we decided to stay on an island an extra day when we got the usual afternoon storms and we again had around 50mph winds. We were under the tarp hanging on for dear life when we looked over at the tent and it had collapsed. I thought the poles had gotten flipped around in the opposite hanging direction, but when we made a run for it to get in we discovered one of the poles had snapped and tore through the top of the tent. That was pretty much, as the saying goes, "the straw that broke the camels back". With no tent, equipment destroyed and everything soaked through with little chance of drying out, I made the decision to call for a pick up. It was something I hated to do, but we definitely need to rethink our equipment and needs for this type of weather. We did expect bad weather at some point, but we don't usually start getting the Florida afternnoon storms until later in the season. And we had hope that any tropical or hurricane type weather would hold out until later in the year or we would wait the weather out. In any case we are safe which is most important. We hope to make another attempt later in the year or next year. For now we will focus on helping Sierra and her family raise money for her treatments from our home base (again, anyone wishing to donate or help can find out more at www.myspace.com/sendsierra2china4stemcell).
I would like to thank several people that helped us along our journey. First and foremost, Sierra, Shay and Clinton for letting us stay with them in Titusville with everything they have going on. I'm sure the last thing they needed where more things to do! Thank you Rick for your support and help at any point, any time, anywhere no matter what you were doing and what we needed. We might have otherwise already given up. Jan for the accomodations and kindness early on in the trip. I still want to do the Suwannee with the group in October and I'll be in touch. Jan if you could also say thank you to Kathy and her husband for us. Jody at Amelia Island Outfitters, even though we didn't take you up on your generous offer to stay at the outfitters, the offer was none the less greatly appreciated. The folks at at Davis House in Sebastian (if anyone has a chance and needs a place to stay while you're up at Captain Hirams, it's walking distance and the owners are super nice and the accomodations are excellent!). Don Smitz (Trail Angel) in Ft. Pierce who offered us a ride to the grocery store and to get items to replace Randy's rudder cable. He also offered us accomodations at his condo when he saw the incoming storms (which we declined). John and Lynn (Trail Angels) in Delray Beach, who crept up behind us out of curiosity and offered a place to stay very late one afternoon when we weren't sure where to stay that night. We did stay with John and Lynn and the accomodations and kindness where phenomenal! John, I'll keep in touch and let you know when we're out there kayaking again!!! Doug Alderson for all of our pre-trip planning and guides. Making it this far would have been impossible without your guidance. And a huge thank you to everyone in Cocoa who supported us and helped when we were in town. And thank you Randy for being a trouper when you got bit by something and got a staph infection and putting up with me.
Randy and I would like to thank everyone for your well wishes, prayers and help along our journey. With that said, I hate to inform everyone that our journey has come to an abrupt end. We had at some point in our trip, completely expected bad to severe weather. However, we did not anticipate such severe weather so often and early into the trip. Torrential rains and terrible winds have caused many problems including loss of equipment and equipment failure. We spent most afternoons between the hours of 1pm and 4pm held up under bridges because of weather. We had 60mph winds one day, for which we were under a bridge, but it was still necessary to crawl down behind huge rocks to keep from being blown away. The bridge helped to some degree but also caused a wind tunnel effect, which obviously intensified the winds. Another day, under another bridge, we had what I call the "Tsunami effect". We crawled up under a bridge with the kayaks tied off in the water, as usual, during heavy rains. Suddenly, all of the water under the bridge, for some reason got sucked out. The kayaks where literally on the river floor when all of a sudden the water came rushing back in. We managed to get my kayak out of the water and up onto the rocks, but with the second rush of water, Randy's kayak broke loose. We managed to grab hold of another line but the kayak still went under and we spent the better part of the afternoon getting all of the water out and back under way after the rain subsided. Our last day, Sunday, May 31st, which was in Miami, I wasn't feeling well so we decided to stay on an island an extra day when we got the usual afternoon storms and we again had around 50mph winds. We were under the tarp hanging on for dear life when we looked over at the tent and it had collapsed. I thought the poles had gotten flipped around in the opposite hanging direction, but when we made a run for it to get in we discovered one of the poles had snapped and tore through the top of the tent. That was pretty much, as the saying goes, "the straw that broke the camels back". With no tent, equipment destroyed and everything soaked through with little chance of drying out, I made the decision to call for a pick up. It was something I hated to do, but we definitely need to rethink our equipment and needs for this type of weather. We did expect bad weather at some point, but we don't usually start getting the Florida afternnoon storms until later in the season. And we had hope that any tropical or hurricane type weather would hold out until later in the year or we would wait the weather out. In any case we are safe which is most important. We hope to make another attempt later in the year or next year. For now we will focus on helping Sierra and her family raise money for her treatments from our home base (again, anyone wishing to donate or help can find out more at www.myspace.com/sendsierra2china4stemcell).
I would like to thank several people that helped us along our journey. First and foremost, Sierra, Shay and Clinton for letting us stay with them in Titusville with everything they have going on. I'm sure the last thing they needed where more things to do! Thank you Rick for your support and help at any point, any time, anywhere no matter what you were doing and what we needed. We might have otherwise already given up. Jan for the accomodations and kindness early on in the trip. I still want to do the Suwannee with the group in October and I'll be in touch. Jan if you could also say thank you to Kathy and her husband for us. Jody at Amelia Island Outfitters, even though we didn't take you up on your generous offer to stay at the outfitters, the offer was none the less greatly appreciated. The folks at at Davis House in Sebastian (if anyone has a chance and needs a place to stay while you're up at Captain Hirams, it's walking distance and the owners are super nice and the accomodations are excellent!). Don Smitz (Trail Angel) in Ft. Pierce who offered us a ride to the grocery store and to get items to replace Randy's rudder cable. He also offered us accomodations at his condo when he saw the incoming storms (which we declined). John and Lynn (Trail Angels) in Delray Beach, who crept up behind us out of curiosity and offered a place to stay very late one afternoon when we weren't sure where to stay that night. We did stay with John and Lynn and the accomodations and kindness where phenomenal! John, I'll keep in touch and let you know when we're out there kayaking again!!! Doug Alderson for all of our pre-trip planning and guides. Making it this far would have been impossible without your guidance. And a huge thank you to everyone in Cocoa who supported us and helped when we were in town. And thank you Randy for being a trouper when you got bit by something and got a staph infection and putting up with me.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
A quick update for those of you following us. Due to weather and Randy being bitten by something strange and having an infection and an eye infection we'll be returning home until Tuesday so that he can seek medical attention (don't worry he'll be fine.......or not). We will resume at Jonathan Dickenson State Park Tuesday morning, four miles back up river, but a different route for us to explore. Stay posted for gross pictures of Randy's ailments.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Made it as far as Jupiter Inlet today (Wednesday, May 2oth). As I'm sure it has been with everyone else, the weather has been pretty horrible. Spent hours under a tarp Sunday afternoon until it let up enough to set up the tent. Have since spent 3 miserable days wet, sandy and believe it or not, even in Florida, cold. We were hoping for a little rain to relieve us from the heat, but you know the saying, "be careful what you wish for". We're hoping that as we get further south things will improve. We had to head for a hotel with the impending weather today, which was much needed to dry everything out..........again.
Sunday morning Randy's rudder broke and thank goodness for "Trail Angels". A gentlman that was biking over the Ft. Pierce Inlet inquired as to our destination and started a conversation fortunately for us. He was kind enough to give Randy a ride to the grocery store, McDonalds (thank you GOD!), and West Marine for rudder parts. So I have give a HUGE THANK YOU to Don Spitz for helping us out. We would have been in a mess with the storms that came through later in the day!! Also, thank you to Rick for helping us "de-salt" last friday. And thank you to "DAVIS HOUSE" in Sebastian for helping us find them and being so accomodating. You guys have an awesome place and we appreciate the friendliness after a rough day of paddling.
Not posting many photos this time. With the rain, the camera is better left in a dry bag, but there are some.
Don't forget to leave us comments, we definitely look forward to them.
Sunday morning Randy's rudder broke and thank goodness for "Trail Angels". A gentlman that was biking over the Ft. Pierce Inlet inquired as to our destination and started a conversation fortunately for us. He was kind enough to give Randy a ride to the grocery store, McDonalds (thank you GOD!), and West Marine for rudder parts. So I have give a HUGE THANK YOU to Don Spitz for helping us out. We would have been in a mess with the storms that came through later in the day!! Also, thank you to Rick for helping us "de-salt" last friday. And thank you to "DAVIS HOUSE" in Sebastian for helping us find them and being so accomodating. You guys have an awesome place and we appreciate the friendliness after a rough day of paddling.
Not posting many photos this time. With the rain, the camera is better left in a dry bag, but there are some.
Don't forget to leave us comments, we definitely look forward to them.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Randy and I made it to Cocoa Thursday evening and spent the weekend resupplying, saying hello to everyone, getting the computer fixed and just taking a break. We had a stop in Titusville Wednesday night to stay with Sierra and her family and it was great to see them again!!! We originally planned to leave early Monday morning, but Randy's computer took a little longer than planned to get fixed and we're still entering GPS points, so we'll leave Tuesday early morning. So for those of you that are following us....patience please. We'll be back on the road (so to speak) soon. KEY WEST HERE WE COME!!!!!!!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
We're 10 days into the trip and the wind and tides are always against us, regardless of our best efforts to plan otherwise. The wind in our face makes a favorable tide useless. We're hanging strong and have good and bad days. You'll see in our newest photos we had a wonderful day 3 and 4 with Jan in St. Augustine beach. Jan.......YOU ROCK!!! Hopefully you'll join us on more of the sections. And please tell Kathy and Dick we said THANK YOU!!!! The breakfast they had for us was incredible (PS if you can get the cheezy grits recipte for me that would be awesome). We've had killer manatee attack Randy and send him a foot into the air, a scorpion hanging out next to me (Lisa) at camp, killer fire ants, killer mosquitos, fish jumping into the kayak and snakes. Life is good though.....As you'll see in the photos we add we had the occasional hot tub, beer and deck party's too.I'd also like to thank Mary and Breece for helping us find a landing so we could be picked up. A special thanks to Breece for the Rib Bone he shared with us and to Mary for the Busch Light's while we waited for Clinton to pick us up.It's funny we either get treated like vagrants or people are incredibly kind when we tell them what we're doing.Please don't forget to visit Sierras web site at myspace.com/sendsierra2china4stemcell. Sierra's mom, Shay (Sierra's mom), has many events planned to help with their upcoming trip to China. PLEASE help support as many of these events as you can!! They're so important for Sierra to get to China and get her treatments!!
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