Tuesday, May 14

North 27° 09.093'
West 111° 59.010'
Distance: 9.2 miles

I paddled 9.2 miles today - all in the last couple of hours. It is now 10:30 in the morning. The combination of a perfect and restful night with a lazy morning has done wonders to restore me. I have done nothing this morning except read, nap, and have a breakfast of avocado, tomato, and cheese on fresh tortillas. The tortillas here are wonderful. I bought two dozen in Santa Rosalia. The cheese is great, too. I am contemplating packing up in a few more hours and doing some distance. Perhaps to Punta Chivato or perhaps just close enough that I can easily paddle there tomorrow morning. In everyday life I am protected quite a bit from the variation of experience that I find here. The weather makes very little difference to a person living in a house, driving a car, and working in an office. Here it can be the difference between luxury and misery. At home I can easily get cold water or juice when I am hot and thirsty. I can turn on the heat when I am cold. The walls stop the wind. When I am tired I can easily shut myself in the house and relax. I know where I will be sleeping every night and can easily get food 24 hours a day. Here I need to constantly monitor my water storage. Food doesn't last long. I get cold drinks at night and warm drinks in the day. Every evening I have to search out a new camping place with no knowledge of the local geography and with limited mobility. The result is that some days are very bad and some days are very good. Much more day to day difference than I am used to. Jay said that one of the problems of a trip like this is that you forget the bad times and remember the good times. This causes you to repeat the mistake. Amusing, but maybe true. I often forget how miserable my first year at UCSD was. I had many hard days there, but only remember the fun. Business is like that, too. Victory and defeat. But I think the good of the good days overwhelms the bad of the bad days. Keep playing the game as best you can and the good will happen. As the day goes on, the wind is picking up. I read and rested till about 1:30 in the afternoon. With the hot sun there isn't much else to do in the middle of the day besides sit in the shade. After a morning of kayaking that can be very welcome, but today I have done nothing. I am bored and lonely. As usual in that state I am eating and feeling sorry for myself. This is the first time I have really felt like quitting.

I got up and took a walk and felt a bit better, but it was still a hard afternoon. I wondered how sitting doing nothing could ever possibly be of any value to my life. About 3:30 the wind settled down a bit and I decided to get up and go. I took a little time to get two bottles of water from the bowels of my boat into a more convenient place. Then I packed and got going by 4:30. The sea was rough but manageable. I immediately felt better and started having fun. When the sun started going down about 7:00 pm I hit the beach. I am still three miles from Punta Chivato, but am happy about where I am for the night. I made progress, I got exercise, and I am on a nice beach. I guess the American Culture is just too imbedded in me to like just sitting. I want to feel progress toward some goal. Just getting out there working made me happy. This was the first day I have really felt lonely since I have been alone. As long as I am doing something I am OK. If I had my geeky head light I would be fine. As it is I am using my candle trick again and I don't much like it. I sure hope I can fix it. I think it is time for me to get a room tomorrow. Time now to sit back and watch the stars.