Katrina must have been scary! Not as scary as 9/11
but still scary. did you realize and reflect on 9/11?
there were beautiful/sad memorials on tv sunday.
also bush is "supposedly" bringing home 50,000
soldiers from iraq, before years end.

I think I told you i've been doing bible studies for
prisoners. it's really bizarre, but as a christian
you should be able to relate to this, but the
prisoners are much more of a blessing to me, than I am
to them. isn't God mysterious!

well keep the faith sugarplum! I may head down south
this winter to keep these old arthritic bones warm, or
I may stay up north and bury myself in a snow drift to
deal with the hot flashes. either way let me know if
there's anything I can do, financially or otherwise!

love
Katie



--- John latecki <john@...> wrote:

> Hello,
> Thanks for all the nice words from all of you. It is
> a great feeling
> to know so many people were worried about me. It is
> not great you
> were worried, but it is great for me to know how
> many of you care. I
> just added an update to my web site which I also
> enclosed below.
>
>
> Tuesday September 13, 2005
> This update comes from Demopolis Alabama. July 31
> marked exactly one
> year to the day since this trip began in Cleveland,
> Ohio. The new
> year started out with a great stop in Mobile Al. Bob
> Wylly helped
> set up an MS awareness stop at the dog river marina
> on the Mobile
> bay. Bob's nephew Austin lives on the east side of
> the bay and Bob
> arranged for Austin to come and pick me up and Bob
> sent Austin a
> check so he could take me out to a nice restaurant.
> The dog river
> marina told Bob I could keep my canoe at the marina
> during my stay.
> Because of scheduling conflicts I was unable to meet
> with local MS
> society but did meet with the local T.V station.
> After leaving Mobile things started to go down hill
> fast. During the
> first year of paddling I never got sick or had any
> health problems
> other than a few minor nagging injuries and
> frostbite. A question
> people often ask is "have you ever gotten sick on
> the trip?" The
> answer has always been no, but That was all about to
> change. I was
> so happy to be paddling on the Tom Bigbee waterway
> gone were the
> days of big bays, oceans, and tides. The temp is
> about five to ten
> degrees higher inland than on the coast. The
> humidity is very high
> which drives up the heat index to sometimes over 110
> degrees. On a
> hot day nothing hits the spot like cold lemonade,
> ice tea, or water.
> Paddling in the extreme heat with no way to keep
> water cold warm
> water is all I have to drink. Warm water does not
> quench thirst like
> ice cold water. I always had the same feeling no
> matter how much
> water I drank. To fight the extreme heat I tried
> paddling at night
> and sleeping during the day. Night paddling helped
> with the heat,
> but trying to sleep in the day was difficult in the
> heat. I always
> felt tired and hot. The final straw was when the
> heat index reached
> over 110 degrees it was to hot to sleep so I paddled
> all day
> sweating non stop. Towards evening I started feeling
> a bit light
> headed and then my head started to hurt. This was
> different pain
> then any headache I have ever had. Things just
> continued to worsen.
> My feet felt like they were coming through my head.
> I knew something
> was seriously wrong when I felt like I was going to
> pass out. Heart
> attack, stroke, or a blood clot that reached my
> heart was all I
> could think of. I thought I was dieing.
> Instinctively I went for
> water and realized I had only drank a half gallon of
> water all day.
> I simply forgot to drink enough water and suffered
> heat exhaustion.
> This could of turned out much worse than it did. I
> drank almost all
> the water I had and was able to restock my water
> supply at a boat
> ramp and camped near the boat ramp for the next few
> days drinking
> about four gallons per day. I think my immune system
> was weakened a
> bit because I also over the next few days
> experienced some mild flu
> symptoms. A few times I felt like throwing up, but
> never did.
> Recovering from heat exhaustion. in the south
> Alabama August heat is
> not the ideal place to recover.
>
> The further north I paddled the friendlier the river
> bank became.
> The lower Mobile river is mainly a delta with no
> sand bars and the
> banks are lined with mud. As you get out of the
> delta the occasional
> sand bar comes juts out and provides a nice place to
> camp or stop
> for an afternoon lunch and swim. The woods lining
> the banks provide
> plenty of wood for campfires. The delta and costal
> water have very
> few woods and campfires are far and few between. Now
> wooded banks
> line both sides of the river and sand bars are a lot
> more plentiful.
> Campfires are a nightly routine.
> Hurricane Katrina passed over Florida as a category
> one hurricane
> and I never gave it much thought. However when she
> hit the gulf and
> began to gain strength it became a concern. It
> became apparent
> Katrina was going to become a serious force wherever
> it hit. I
> decided to lock through the first lock on the river
> near Coffeeville
> and find a place to hold up. My choices consisted of
> woods on the
> right bank and woods on the left bank. I wanted to
> find a high bank
> in case of high water. I found a nice high bank with
> enough clearing
> for me to haul my canoe up into the woods and
> prepare for Katrina. I
> pulled off the water about 1:00p.m Sunday afternoon
> amid beautiful
> blue skies and eighty degree temps. All I could
> think of was how
> many people must have died in the past before
> Doppler radar and the
> weather channel. Just like with Hurricane Dennis I
> noticed there is
> absolutely no signs of anything out of the order. It
> took me a good
> 2 hours to finish preparations which consisted of
> finding a spot to
> hold up along with hauling my gear and canoe to the
> spot. The spot I
> chose to wait out Katrina was not the most ideal
> spot, but it was
> the best spot considering what I had to work with.
> My biggest
> concern were falling trees and my canoe blowing
> away. I found a
> large tree leaning about sixty degrees this would
> serve as my "roof"
> I tied my canoe about three feet on the opposite
> side of my roof so
> if the tree did fall it would not be on me. Now my
> roof would
> hopefully serve to catch any of the other large
> trees in the area
> from landing on my canoe. The reason I stayed three
> feet from the
> base of my roof tree was in case one of the other
> trees near by fell
> and rode down the sixty degree slope it would land
> beside my canoe
> and not on it. I tied the bow and the stern off
> tightly to other
> trees nearby My canoe was flipped upside down
> waiting for me to craw
> underneath. The thought of rising water prompted me
> to dig up and
> soften up the ground under my canoe. A mental
> picture of a tree
> landing on my canoe and not quite smashing me but
> trapping me inside
> and if the water rose I would drown trapped in my
> canoe. The odds of
> that were slim in none, but still I softened up the
> dirt under my
> canoe just in case I had to dig out. The trees were
> not real thick
> and it had the appearance that selective cutting had
> taken place,
> however the trees were large and I counted 20 trees
> that could
> possibly land on my canoe. That is not to mention
> the many large
> branches above. After setting up for Katrina there
> was nothing to do
> but wait. I gathered wood and enjoyed the rest of
> the afternoon and
> evening. My phone barley picked up a signal off an
> analog tower. I
> called my father and explained my situation. He
> thought I should of
> maybe sought shelter in Coffeeville, but no shelter
> would
=== message truncated ===




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