Taken from chapter one, A 10,000 Island Sojourn
"Retired, Sort Of (February 4): I retired six months ago. I wasn’t completely retired; I was still working half time, so I suppose the notion of being “retired” and “working” was a bit of an oxymoron. But the retirement job didn’t require my appearance on a daily basis. I could set my own schedule, blocking out ten days for a paddling trip in the middle of the northern winter. I had been in email contact with Scott Locorini, owner of Adirondack Exposure Outfitters for some time. I liked the sound of a multi-day adventure he offered in Florida’s 10,000 Islands. I shared the information with my friend John Resch, who I knew would be in Florida in February. It took a little persuasion, but in the end I convinced him to give up his golf game and join me.
"It was an easy flight from Albany (my home at the time), through Philadelphia and on to Fort Myers. John was waiting for me whenI arrived at 2:45 pm, thirty minutes late. We collected my bags and headed for Collier-Seminole State Park in John’s rented mini-van. We were to meet Scott, who would be our guide for the week, at the park and spend the night there so that we could get an early start in the morning.
"Arriving around 5:00 pm, we made our way to campsite 18 where we met Scott for the first time. Scott is a compact, strong and handsome man. It was hard to guess his age from his appearance, but as the days passed, we pieced together enough information to place his age at about forty.
"As it was raining and the campsite was muddy and devoid of ground cover, John and I elected to sleep in the van rather than set up our tents and start tomorrow with everything wet. It rained heavily through the night, but began to taper off to an occasional shower toward morning. Sleeping was sporadic and uncomfortable, as I seemed to have developed a slow leak in my air mattress which required refilling every few hours; and John snored like a buzz-saw.”
Next Page —->
