Introduction

In the winter of 2000 I was working way too hard. I had been working too hard for many years. First in engineering school at UCSD. Then at work as I tried to get together a skill set I could sell. Then a half dozen years where I was starting my consulting business. I had done what I had wanted to do - I had put myself in a position where I could get well paid to do work which I consider to be fun, interesting, and challenging. But I had also burnt myself out to some extent.

One day a co-worker told me that Costco was selling kayaks complete with a paddle and a seat for under 300 dollars. I drove over for lunch that day and bought one. Then I bought a wetsuit and started playing in the ocean. At first I just paddled it in the surf, but soon I was going places in it. I would paddle up to La Jolla or down along the coast toward the tip of Point Loma.

One morning I got up earlier than usual and went for a paddle before I went to work. This time I went south from Ocean Beach toward the point. When the time came for me to turn around I started thinking to myself: "Wouldn't it be great to be able to keep paddling all day." "I would really love to be able to just paddle all day today. And tomorrow. Wouldn't it be great to just paddle all day every day for a while. Keep going south. And maybe someplace warm. Like Mexico."

These thought stayed with me all day. I daydreamed about how I would do it. What I would need to carry with me, and how I could carry it all. How I would sleep and what I would eat. That night I got out a map of Baja, California and started to see if it would even be a reasonable thing to do. Lots of people have done just exactly that, but at that time I didn't know it.

This was not the first such trip I had daydreamed about. From the time I was young, I have always thought about having adventures. I satisfied myself with small ones. Backpacking for a few days or a week. Driving around the country exploring things. I have taken as much as three weeks off work to travel, but it has always been a vacation rather than an extended trip. I have wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. I have thought about rollerblading across the country, or even bicycling or walking. I have dreamt about sailing trips and backpack trips to Europe. I even planned to go to New Zealand once with a friend, but we ended up canceling that trip.

My good friend and coworker, Gary Meloney, has a great family with a sweet and pretty wife, Linda, a daughter, Kristie, and two sons, Mike and Greg. Gary, Mike, Greg, and I have taken many trips to the desert to camp, four-wheel, and dirt bike. Gary is a real tough, make-it-happen kind of guy and his sons are much like him. They are always willing to pitch in for the hard work, never complaining about physical hardships, always ready to go do anything.

When Mike graduated from High School, he decided to pursue a degree in Computer Science like his father. He asked me if he could live at my house when he transferred from community college to UCSD. I said that I was sure we could work out some kind of a deal. I figured I would give him a room in my house for about half what rents go for in my area. It would be enough to make him be responsible, but it wouldn't be too big a burden on a student and would give him motivation to stay. He is fun to be around and I figured he would be a good guy to live with.

Mike was working part time for the same company I was working for at the time, so we would talk about kayaking and camping and other things. One weekend we went to the desert for a quick overnight trip. Just to get out of the house and sleep outside for a change. When we got home he said that he wanted to move into my house starting October of 2001. I started to say that I would rent him a room when he continued. "Here is my proposal. If I can live with you free for a year, I will go on an adventure with you." I cursed him. "Damn you! You know I have to accept that!" I said. The kid is smart. He knows just what to do to get a good deal and in return make me happy to give it to him. I said "Instead of free, you pay $300 a month. But instead of paying me, you put it into an account so you will have money when we go." The deal was now made, but we still had to decide what the adventure was to be. I suggested the Baja trip, the Pacific Crest Trail trip, and an Australia bicycle trip. I wanted it to be something that would be a long distance under our own power. Mike chose the Baja kayak trip and I was in agreement.

We first needed to pick the time. I knew that the spring would be a nice time. We would have warm weather and cooler water. Too early and we would have cold weather. Too late and we would roast in the summer heat. Since we were going to be gone for four months, we would have to have a little of both and needed to balance the cold against the hot. Mike would have to miss a little school, but we wanted to minimize that problem, too. We finally decided that we would go shortly after winter quarter 2002 so that he could have the full spring quarter off and could still make it home for second summer session. We picked April 1 because it worked for all those factors and also was a fun time to start on an adventure many of our friends and family called foolish.

Next, we had to pick the kayaks. They needed to be long for speed. They needed to have a lot of carrying capacity. They needed to be comfortable and stable since we would be sitting in them for a lot of hours.

- Chuck, December 2002