Hello everyone,

I would like to get your opinion on a couple of things. First I have
been fighting against a disease called HYPP for the past couple of
years. Please read it and let me know what you think.
http://www.fightingms.org/hypp_parker
Second is the medical marijuana issue. I was wondering if this issue
directly effects any of you. Montel Williams the talk show host is
an advocate for medical marijuana and he has Multiple Sclerosis. My
web site is going through an update which will be done later this
evening and I will post it when it is finished/

Update Sarasota Florida June 14
It felt good to be back on the water after a weeks break in Sanibel.
The weather looked like rain. The one bright spot of the day came
towards dusk when I found a cooler floating near shore. It was nice
cooler with a handle and wheels. Inside was few cans of pop and some
rotten fish that was apparently bait. The cooler was to nice to just
leave so I towed it behind me to the Captivia Marina. It was dark
by the time I arrived. There was no way for me to find the owner of
this cooler, it probably fell from the boat of a tourist enjoying
the holiday weekend. I just wanted someone to be able to get some
use out of it. I traded the cooler to a man in a large boat for a
flashlight.
Later in the night I found a nice beach to sleep on and then it
rained very hard. My defenses against the rain are very low since I
lost my tent. In other words when it rains I get wet along with my
blanket.
Thursday mid morning the rain let up. I was wet, along with my
blanket. However I did have dry clothes to change into and that
makes a big difference. Towards evening I began looking for a place
to camp and paddled through a small cut which opened up into an area
about half the size of a football field, and it was filled with
manatees. I paddled right out in the middle watching them surface
and play around. It was really neat until one of the manatees bumped
my canoe. I barley felt the bump but it spooked the manatee and big
huge splash occurred. After that all the manatee play time stopped,
only a small nose coming up to grab some air and ducking back down
could be seen.
A mile up a nice beach with trees made for a perfect place to camp
and start a fire. It was difficult to get a fire going because of
all the recent rain. I had to break and cut wood to find the dry
wood in the center. I hung my blankets and wet clothes over the
trees. About ten o'clock I felt the all to familiar sprinkle hit my
hand. Sure enough it started to rain which yet met another night or
sleeping with a wet blanket and clothes.
Friday it rained almost all day. However towards evening I found
just off the intercostal a small bridge to stay under. I slept in
my canoe, the canoe was on an oyster bed. It was not comfortable
sleep. I was still wet and had to sit up because there was nowhere
to set my gear. My canoe was tied best I could to the oyster bed,
but when the tide came in the oyster bed was going to be covered
with water. The past three nights sleeping wet and uncomfortable
was a stark contrast compared to my stay in Sanibel where I could
keep dry, sleep dry, and had a nice screened in swimming pool to
swim in.
Saturday started out dry, but as the day went on it started to rain.
This rain was very hard and pounding and I found shelter under a
bridge. The rain let up some but it looked like another strong burst
could be coming. I was surprised when I seen a couple with a fishing
pole come around the corner. Gary and Janet Bruster decided to get
out of the house and do some fishing. I talked with them a bit they
asked me some questions about my trip. It started to rain very hard.
They invited me back to their place for a shower and hot meal. They
only lived a few hundred yards away. This came at a perfect time. I
was able to shower and change into clean dry clothes and get a
charge on my phone. Janet made a great steak dinner with broccoli,
potatoes, salad, vegetables, and pie for desert. The rain had
stopped and it was back on the water for a few hours and the rain
started in, but this time a bridge was in site. Drops of rain were
hitting my hands about every ten seconds. I dug in and paddled as
hard as possible to beat the rain just as downpour occurred. Just
did make it in time. Found a wall to tie off and enjoy my first dry
night of sleep in three days. I was tired and dozed of quickly.
Somewhere along the night a blue heron landed on the side of my
canoe. I startled him as much as he did me.
Sunday morning I paddled about a mile and was just dead tired. I
found a very small island and unpacked my wet clothes and blanket
and hung them over the trees to dry out. The sky was overcast and it
was probably going to rain, but I was so mentally and physically
tired it did not matter. I awoke in the afternoon to sun a white
puffy clouds. I left the island in the evening and despite sleeping
all day only went maybe a mile or two to another island. I had to
tie my canoe up to the mangroves because the island would be
underwater at high tide.
Monday was a nice day with no rain, I paddled about four miles and
found a real island and not the oyster shell islands I had been
using. Slept again most of the day and dried things out.
Tuesday I reached Sarasota which was good because I had a planned
stop. Rebecca Stults who I had met in Everglade city had a friend
who lived in Sarasota. I called Rebecca and she gave me very good
directions, It was nice because the house was right on the Sarasota
bay. I arrived Tuesday at the what is widely know to many in
Sarasota as the "bay shore house" A guy named Matthew rents it off a
friend and Matthew rents the rooms out. It used to be a house only
for collage kids going to New Collage, Matthew is New collage
alumni. The best way to describe the bay shore house is an open
house. Most of the people come to visit are all into things like
organic foods, meditation, yoga, and they are very liberal. Most of
the people are artists of some sort. Dancers, singers, artists
ect.. The dancers do belly dancing, and fire dancing, not the normal
dance. The house has a massage room and it seems like everyone is a
massage therapist. It has been quite a learning experience and
despite how liberal these people are they are quite nice and fun to
hang out with. The location of the bay shore house is perfect, right
on the water sandwiched between a couple of multi million dollar
houses. The bay shore house is for sale, not the house itself
because it was built at the turn of the century pale in comparison
to the houses around. However it is hidden well through a lot of
foliage. The lot is for sale for just under four million dollars. My
stay has been extended longer than expected for a few reasons. The
pending hurricane Arlene was heading for Florida and it was not
known where it was going to hit. The next is the red tide which has
seen literally thousand of dead fish being washed up on shore right
before my eyes. For some reason the red tide kills fish, but no one
here has ever seen it to this extreme. Being around the water makes
you feel like you have to cough and that is part of the red tide
algae bloom… anyway I want to wait until it passes before I get back
in the water which should be in a day or two.
After my stay in Sanibel and here in Sarasota I am actually looking
forward to getting back tom paddling. From here I am now headed to
Cincinnati to way to say hi to family and friends before heading
down to Texas for the winter. To get to Cincinnati from Sarasota by
way of the paddle I will follow the coast of Florida to Mobile
Alabama and follow the Tom bigbee water way to the Ohio river which
takes me to Cincinnati. The Tom Bigbee water way is sort of like the
Erie Canal with locks to make the canals navigable for boats.
John Latecki