Day 220

Daily stats
Start: 6:00 AM - Kelleys Island, OH
Finish 8;00 AM - Middle Bass Island, OH
Time: 2:00 hours
Daily dist: 7 miles
Total dist: 4200+
Companions: None
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with highs in the low 80s
Notes: Short run to next island to the west

With not a lot of time, and a recently unreliable cell/internet connection, I was getting desperate to get on line to check on the leads I had for support while going through Detroit this coming weekend. In addition I’ve been trying to figure out the details to meet up with some family friends who live an hour or so east of Toledo. All the plan we had was sometime on Wednesday no ideas as to exactly where or exactly when. Having your communication lines weakened when you’re trying to sort out logistics like this (especially when you spend the better part of each day in a kayak) is frustrating to say the least. Consequently, I’ve been a bit pre-occupied worrying about getting it all figured out. For that reason I didn’t mind sacrificing a half day today to work on it. With luck the cell connection here at the Middle Bass Island State Park where I ended up was very good and after four hours on the computer and phone everything looks like it‘s coming together perfectly.

As soon as I started checking up on my leads for support in Detroit I discovered that many of the folks that had been interested and able to meet up with me are headed up north to the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium this coming weekend. Thankfully a local kayaker named Deborah de Lorenzo (who is an angel to me) got on her phone (while driving to the symposium none the less) and shook out some support for me when I reach Detroit this coming Friday. Another contact named Eric Slough who lives a bit more than a few miles east of Toledo was able to steer me toward some good camp sites just outside Toledo as well as a boat up restaurant that I can meet my friends at. I don’t know what this trip would be like without the connections and help I’ve had with so many people along the way.

Spread out doing a half day of 'paperwork' one of the realities of staying in touch on this trip

Talking about people I’ve met along the way… After spending half the day doing ’office’ work I was itching to paddle over to South Bass Island (aka Put-In-Bay) to check out the scene over there. I was warned that it’s a bit of a party town overrun by tourists on golf carts and that description was not far off. My first stop was by the local kayak rental place to see if there was a place for me to take out there. There was no room but Vicki Wigle (who runs the operation) was so impressed by my trip that she called the local press to see if they were interested, ther were but they were out of town.  Not wanting to miss out on the story, Vicki took it upon herself to take my picture and suggested that I take my boat out at the "Boardwalk" restaurant not far away.  She still needed more info about my trip so I walked back over and gave here some of the details. 

Very near the beach where I pulled my kayak out, I discovered a sign with arrows pointing to different towns with distances shown in nautical miles via actual water routes. Having been to many of the places on the sign, by paddling the very water routes their respective distances indicated, I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of the sign. While I was doing that Jason from the parasail outfit nearby noticed me and struck up a conversation. He had seen me coming in while he was running his last batch of clients and could tell I wasn’t just there to dabble around the islands. He lives in Florida in the winter, in the Marco Island area, and could appreciate just how far I’d come. The next thing I knew he asked if I’d like a ride on the parasail… Well gee, twist my arm… Not being one to turn down an adventure I jumped at the chance.  So after a quick visit with Vicky at the kayak rental place I doubled back to the parasail dock and got a birds eye view of the town at the end of an eight hundred foot long rope. The view was spectacular and the ride smooth and remarkably silent. With my mind always on the route, I found myself at one point in my “flight” searching the horizon to the west for what lies ahead tomorrow. If you’ve never parasailed before I highly recommend it. Talk about fun.

After the flight I walked around town for an hour or so dodging the many golf carts that roam the streets. Along the way I took in the Peace Memorial which is a very tall tower that was built to honor the longest peaceful border in the world which exists between the US and Canada. At first I thought it was a bit odd to have a monument to honor the peace between us and Canada. It’s such a solid thing that one can hardly imagine it any other way. But when you stop to look at all the places in the world that fight constantly back and forth across their borders, it is a truly amazing (and almost unique thing on this planet) that we can share 3000 miles of border so peacefully.

The small arch on Gibrlatar

On my way back to Middle Bass Island I did a loop around Gibraltar Island where I was treated to beautiful rock formations and a sighting of the elusive water snake that inhabits these islands. I tried to get a picture but as I drew near the 2 ½ foot snake submerged and swam away… gave me the willies a bit I must admit.