feeling a lot better and should be leaving for the river on the 10th, i decided to start in the turkey river which leads to the Mississippi ..this will give me a couple days to get used to the new canoe and gear before i hit the Mississippi!! and  this way if i have any problems i cant handle on the river i can call in assistance that's only a few hours away...really missing all my friends from the Appalachian trail and if all goes well i  will hitch from the gulf of Mexico to the trail days party in Damascus,Va mid may....that's a 3 day party you don't wanna miss whether your a hiker or not !!!!!,just spoke to
" tom n huck" whos paddleboarding the Mississippi river to the gulf and then down to the keys,Toms a great guy and has offered me a list of places worth stopping at and a contact list of people he met who may be able to assist a solo paddler on the river !!!!!

haven't had a chance to write i got  sick from not changing the filters in my work respirator.....But I'm feeling a lot better.
Received a box of goodies from the kind folks over at thegearhouse.com
http://www.thegearhouse.com/?utm_source=henry&utm_medium=300x250banner&utm_campaign=sponsor

2 xl granite gear dry sacks,2 sm granite gear dry sacks'1 White Rock outback hat

2 packs pocket "duct tape",3 pack of lightload towels
18 packs of afterbite "itch eraser",12 pack of Tinder quik for easy fire starting
1 coleman travel camp soap good for dishes and hands
1 survival bracelet, if you need to you can unravel it for approx 10 feet of nylon cord
2 backpacker pantry instant garlic potato's..do yourself a favor and check out their site,great outfitter,for backpacking, ultralight gear and paddling.I'm sure some of my hiking friends already know of them they had a booth set up at Trail days 2010/2011. my thanks goes out to them for
 helping me out with gear !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     My trip is still on and my date to leave should be April 10th,2012
still cant decide to just update my phone to iPhone or buy the hand held gps...and still trying to find a deecent PFD(life jacket) but otherwise i have most everything needed !!!