Day 121 (The Portage to Portage trip is back on the water)

Daily stats
Start: 2:00 PM- Fort Pierce, FL
Finish: 7:00 PM - Vero Beach, FL
Time: 5:00
Daily dist: 14 miles
Total dist: 2314 miles
Companions: My friend Neil Baertlein
Weather: Sunny, 80 degrees, E wind 10 mph
Notes: My first day back on the route after a one month layover. Dropped off by Neil in Ft. Pierce then met up with him in Vero after he set up a car shuttle.

After more than a month off the route waiting for the weather to warm up on the East Coast, I am back on the water and headed north once again. Today I was joined by my childhood best friend Neil (who’s house in Hollywood, FL has served as my base camp for the last month). Over the last few days while I returned from California and went about the business of getting my gear and head sorted out and ready for the trip, I’ve had a perpetual “I’m forgetting something” nervous feeling. We even contemplated postponing the re-start for a day to give me one more day to prepare. However, I knew that no matter how long I had to get ready that feeling would persist until I was finally floating in my boat. The reality is that I wasn’t really worried about forgetting anything it was simply after spending the last five weeks visiting friends on both coasts I was feeling a little bit nervous (or perhaps a bit lonely) about leaving all of them behind and going back out on the trail by myself. Having Neil along this first day and night back on the trail was just what I needed to ease back into the trip.

Neil walks his three boys to daycare

It was about 13 years ago on a canoe trip with Neil that planted the seed of interest in paddle sports that brought me to this trip so many years later. We had convinced his younger brother Paul to give us a ride to the headwaters of the Wisconsin river where we dropped a borrowed aluminum Grumman into the water and loaded it with a few cans of soup, dry cereal, and granola bars, a tent, and two sleeping bags. Four or five days later we arrived in Tomohawk, WI a bit worse for wear but full of experiences we would carry with us for the rest of our lives. Neil had wanted to paddle part of this trip with me since I first mentioned it to him last summer. The portion from his office in Miami back to his brother’s apartment in Dania would have been ideal but work and family obligations trumped adventure and we had to let that idea pass.

Thankfully this time around Neil (and his wife Heather) were able to sort their busy schedules out to make time for Neil to join me for an overnighter on the re-start of the trip. While Neil dropped their three kids off at daycare in the morning I finished loading the boats and gear in his truck then we were on the road north to Fort Pierce.

Neil joining me on the water in Vero Beach

In Fort Pierce Neil dropped me off at the Marina where my friend Randy had picked me up three weeks ago and I loaded my boat and launched back into the Intracoastal. While I paddled north Neil drove to a boat launch about 12 miles away in Vero Beach. There he dropped off his kayak and then set about trying to sort how to use the bus service that runs in the area to work a shuttle that would allow him to return to his truck the next day.

After three hours of chasing around he got things sorted out and rode a bus back to where I was now waiting for him at the boat ramp. Minutes later his boat was loaded and we paddled north to find a camp spot on one of the many dredge spoil islands that line the Intracoastal in this area. The first spot I had seen on Google Earth didn’t pan out so we paddled a mile further north and found a dandy spot on the tip of an island that gave us a great view of the sunset. It was funny how after 13 years we fell right back into the same routine we used on the river and while I set up the tent Neil gathered firewood and started a nice little campfire.

Neil making a campfire as the last glow fades from the sky

After cooking dinner we stayed up a bit longer reminiscing about the old days, pondering current events, and wondering where I lives might take us in the years to come.

It was the best re-start to the trip I could have asked for and now feel ready to head north and get this trip going full speed again.