Yesterday was another day of running around gathering input from locals and putting together all the clues of what to do. Mission accomplished. The rest of the week will be spent "doing"!
I had the great pleasure of meeting Russell Farrow yesterday at Sweetwater Kayaks, an expedition paddler with all the credentials. He is overly tan (by Canadian standards), as are all Floridians, tall and lean with long silver hair and the trademark stubble of a guy just returning from an expediton. He has a beautiful big three-year old German Shepherd named Cedric who would not sit still for a shot.
Russell had just gotten back from a trip to Baja. He's a guy to interview if you are a writer or journalist . . . if you can catch him! He's busy. Some have. I asked him if he would post the interesting story of his "Vacation from Hell" that I saw framed on the wall of his store. Cross fingers.
He had a blog that timed out and so is now lost, but the good news is that he is working on another one. He hasn't published it yet because he wants to build the content first.
"Hey, I started this paddle blog with zero content." I'm not sure I should admit that, but when you only have one follower, does it really matter!? Yes!
Being a blogger is more interesting than just being a tourist on vacation, although you are not really on vacation. You are on an assignment, and you are the boss! You really do need to keep your pen and notebook handy. People love to fill you with interesting details and tips for great places to discover. Stories will literally walk up to you as if you have a sign posted on your forehead, "I'm a blogger and I need content!" Maybe it's the notebook, incessant notetaking, and the camera that give you away!
I took a lot of pics yesterday, and which one made today's post? Russell's shower curtain!? He'll probably hate me for that. But he's got lots of great pics of boats on his site so go there for more on that.
If you visit Sweetwater Kayaks, make sure to visit the restroom! The shower curtain caught my eye. It made me take a second look, fish out my camera for a shot with my crappy Olympus (The one I hate and curse. The one I can't figure out which setting to use to get a shot worth keeping and that I'm getting rid of soon. It's waterproof, shockproof, everything proof!) You need to understand this as I had to play around with it in the restroom to get a pic I could keep of the shower curtain! Even I thought it was weird. But it was unusual. Made of some type of fibre, not plastic, vinyl or nylon, bold and striking, and there were real sea shells sewn onto it. There must be a story behind it? I wanted to ask Russell, but I'd already picked the poor guy's brain enough that day in between all his cell phone calls and other clients stopping by. I'll ask him eventually. I hope he doesn't tell me he got it at Walmart! (Just to follow up on this, as I later found out, his wife is a designer, and it is from "Claudia's curtains". If he ever sends me a link to her shop, I'll post it.)
Off now again to Sweetwater Kayaks to hopefully test paddle a few boats off Weeden Island on what looks like a pretty sweet day, and ignore all thoughts of shower curtains! Maybe I'll see a manatee. They are saltwater creatures found near the island.
Thanks go to Tom, a super local Ottawa paddler who suggested I check out Sweetwater Kayaks and say hi to Russell.
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