Crooked River Campsite Z: Day 26, Florida CT Paddle 3.10.18

Dear Reader, Today’s paddle had all the ingredients for a perfect day of paddling, except two. Dang, we were so close! It started with The Old Carrabelle Hotel’s proprietor and gracious Innkeeper, Skip, returning Miss Pink, Baby Blue, John and me to Carrabelle’s Public Launch Site on the Carrabelle River where he’d picked us up two days ago. And then up the river we went, past Carrabelle’s waterfront and fishing fleet and pleasure crafts. Up into the marshes, where we veered to the right, up the Crooked River. Islands of marshland which turned into wooded forests. Tate’s Hell State Forest, …

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Layover Carrabelle: Day 25, Florida CT Paddle 3.09.18

Dear Reader, Today is a layover resupply day. We opened the big box we’d packaged and had mailed to us via General Delivery, and spread its contents around our room. We’d made a milestone: our first mailbox pickup. My brother Rick showed up with the REI purchases we’d ordered over the phone while camped at Spoil Bank 2 earlier this week. I was excited to get my new sleeping bag liner, and John his Hydroskin paddling shorts. We went back to Carrabelle Junction for today’s Blue Plate Special of French Dip and then Rick took off with some unused and …

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Carrabelle: Day 24, Florida CT Paddle 3.08.18

Dear Reader, This morning was freakin cold. In Florida. In March. There were solid ice droplets on my boat. Miss Pink was not happy. But I was just happy we didn’t have to paddle far and thus could stay in our tent with the fly doors closed to block the wind while we drank our morning coffee. We only had a measly 1.8 nm to paddle to the small, quiet fishing town of Carrabelle. There, Skip, the Innkeeper of The Old Carrabelle Hotel, met us at the public boat launch with his truck, loaded up our boats and gear and …

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