Back Home...

Hi everyone! I'm back home at last! Like Jay said, I finished my journey around 1:30 yesterday and got to be on the news and everything! Keith Legette was there, too, which was awesome! It was weird traveling in a car after traveling for nine days at no more than 5.1 mph; I kept finding myself tensing up as the car approached red lights, still going at what seemed to me to be incredibly reckless speeds, but it was just normal driving :)

So, yes, I did it. Yes, I now apparently hold the record for the fastest time kayaking the entire St. Johns River. It's funny though, how little that kind of stuff matters by the end. Some of the things that have really meant to the most to me are the new friendships and experiences that I have developed along the way, and also realizing the devotion and determination of old friends. There are so many people that lent a helping hand or a word of encouragement that I am so grateful for. Here is just a short list:

David, Jay, Jimmy, Nicole, Lauryn, Carl and Danny at Holly's Marina, Zach at the Astor Bridge Marina, John and Bubba, Dan and Jenny, Eli, Lane and John, Matt, my dad (Carl) and my mom (Cheri), Sarah, Beebs and Noah, and the whole rest of my family, Big Country and the whole UNF environmental group for the warm clothes, and specifically Captn. David for all his help with Lake George info, Pat Hatfield, Dinah Pulver, and all the other news guys, Pat and Dennis, Josh, (the other) David, Katie, Jessica and Emily, that guy with the old tin boat and the NOAA radio 7 miles south of Lake George, the father and son that I met on that windy Sunday who offered to let me stay on their dock if I couldn't cross the River, plus all of the other families along the St. Johns that opened their homes to me as possible stopping points along my trip.

My deepest thanks to all you guys; you not only helped me to complete my trip, but you became a part of it.

I also learned a lot about myself from this trip; especially when it was just me the last four and-a-half days. I am positive that wilderness requires something from us for us to successfully pass through it. It has a way of stripping away all of the superfluous and trivial aspects of our selves through relentless tests, trials and obstacles until our deepest intents are brought to the surface.

To pass through wilderness, one must find a cause and a purpose deeper than "breaking a record" or "just to say I did it". Wilderness shows us that we are the one that must be conquered; we who so often hide behind sarcasm, fads and empty pursuits. Wilderness leads us through those veils to what we truly are. When you can come to terms with that, you find the strength, the discipline and the endurance you seek. I will never, ever be the same because of the way God has changed me through wilderness. He began years ago with the very first Canoe Trips, and has continued up to this very day. And I am confident that I will continue to be transformed, being washed ever cleaner by our wild River, the St. Johns.