Throughout this trip I’ve benefited from the kindness and generosity of hundreds of people such that I can only hope to enjoy a full lifetime of paying it all forward to others.  Today, my last full day on the Atlantic leg of my journey, I once again was dealt a fortunate hand of pure luck by way of four great people that made my night much more enjoyable than it would have been. 

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been setting up a visit with Ron Rauffer and his kids Kris, Kurt, and Kirsten in Atlantic Heights one of the last towns before crossing over to New York.  It is a long story (that I will more fully explain later) but because of tides, weather, and other logistics I had decided to not stay with the family.  Instead, they were going to come out to the end of Sandy Hook to visit me where I was going to camp (a little illegally) in order to get a jump on the crossing to NYC tomorrow.   That was until a series of large thunderstorms lined up to the west and started a stately march toward the coast. 

At five in the evening, after a long day of baking in the blazing hot sun, I heard thunder and crawled out from under the sun shade I’d built to see the tall thunder clouds on their way in. I secured everything in the Ikkuma and pulled it way up onto the dunes then walked two miles around the point to get to some sort of shelter to avoid the brunt of the storm.  My plan was to wait it out then go back and set up camp in what I hoped was the calm after the storm.  At that same time Ron and the kids were on their way out to visit me.  However, before they came, Ron called and asked what they could bring me from Burger King and ask if I wouldn’t still take them up on their offer to stay with them considering the weather.  I wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect of leaving my boat unguarded (but at least well hidden) on the beach but they did manage to talk me into at least going into town to have dinner with them while the storm passed. 

The storm did pass but a quick check of the weather revealed a couple more storms as well as off and on showers in store for the rest of the night.  So, believing that no sane person would be playing around in the dunes, in the rain, and after park hours, it was decided that I’d spend the night on Ron’s comfy and cozy couch rather than in the rain alone on the sand dune.  Tomorrow right when it opens at 5:00 AM Ron is going to give me a ride back out to the park where I will hop in my kayak and hopefully catch a three hour window in the weather to cross the bay and finally arrive in New York City!  

It was a great day that ran much longer than I expected.  I'm already dozing off so I'm going to make this post quick then get to bed for some much needed rest.  I'll fill in the gaps tomorrow. 

I got a very early start and paddled down the beach a couple miles to catch up with Rick and Hank who drove down from the Baltimore area to do the crossing of the Delaware Bay with me.  The weather was good as you could imagine and we made it nearly all the way across the bay on almost mirror smooth water.  We arrived on the New Jersey side by about 10:00 then paddled another five miles up the East shore and came in the Cape May inlet.  From there Rick and Hank paddled south down a canal to catch a ferry back across the bay.  Meanwhile I turned and paddled north in search of high ground on which to camp and to put a few more miles in.  The least I can say is that the search for high camp-able land was a bit of a challenge but came out good in the end.

Jake phoned in another update due to a bad internet connection.  He had another long day paddling but was happy to report his back is feeling better.  He's spending the night on Assateague Island across from the Maryland/Virginia border.

5/24 JAKE IS CAUGHT UP ON THE BLOG SEE THE D POST BELOW

  Not wanting to rub elbows with herds of people I paddled back onto the open ocean (which was now mysteriously calm) and headed up the coast another mile and a half. There I found an empty beach, (empty but for the stranded trawler and dilapidated stilt houses that were there anyway) and finally called it a day.

As you know a couple days ago my second new SPOT quit working after just two days of use.  Apparently it just needed a day of rest because last night, on a whim, decided to give it a try and what do you know, it was working again.  The folks at SPOT are actually being really good about helping me out.  Right now I'm a little spooked out with the luck I've had with these things lately and don't completely trust this new one yet.  We'll see how it goes over the next few days.  I won't be in as remote an area so my cell phone can cover if it should konk out again.