1/2 way there. . ..

From Carl Pellegrino:

Margo is about halfway through her Gulf coast paddle now. She finished her trip around the tip of the Florida peninsula in her first week, emerging from the Everglades unscathed. She was escorted through the Everglades by a kayak tour service - to ensure the best passage route. She was up in Tampa by last week and had a great event at the Florida Aquarium there, where she was a panelist at a round table discussion with partnering groups - reaching out to people, as is the primary mission of the paddle. The YouTube video link below is from a Tampa community public radio piece covering the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exYzxwWwuZA

She continues to make her way up Florida's Nature Coast, where she'll have her next large events on Friday at St. Marks with a large group at then at the state capitol in Tallahassee on Monday, May 11th, where she also hopes to meet with the Governor. The kids and I will also be heading down this weekend to visit her there. She has other events planned spanning Friday through Tuesday, so we'll get be part of some of them. All of us are looking forward to our trip down, even the car ride part. (Growing up chasing Margo's paddles, along with our yearly trips to New England has made the kids great car travellers.) Oddly enough, those trips also provide a great respite for me from the life-on-the-run which seems to have become my routine. Between working, parenting, managing the household, and providing whatever remote support I can to Margo, there's just not a lot of time left. The drive will be a pleasure.

As with her experience in previous paddles, she sometimes stays overnight in hotels, but is also hosted by families just as often. She is buoyed by the level of excitement that others have in her paddles - whether from people who learn of Margo's plan in advance or by others who meet her on the water. She is encouraged by the level of concern she sees in those who already know the water - the boaters, fishermen, conservationists, and local townspeople along the coast. It is from those communities which she undoubtedly draws the energy she needs to paddle day in and day out to makes these expeditions that help reach further with the message of ocean conservation.

I also got Margo a new website name, www.Miami2NOLA.com, since her Miami2Maine site name would make it seem as if she is paddling in the wrong direction.

Speaking of the wrong/right direction, or at least forward/backwards, our friend, Roz Savage, is an ocean rower who is about to embark on the second leg of her solo row across the Pacific. The difference between Margo and Roz is that Margo likes to face forward when she paddles, as Roz rows backwards. Anyway, later this month, she'll begin her voyage from Hawaii to Australia, having rowed from San Francisco to Hawaii last year.

Her website is www.rozsavage.com. If you are interested in following her trip, send her a note through her website to be put on her mailing list. She has a newsletter which comes out once a month during the "off-season", and once a week while she is on the ocean. Like Margo, she also derives some of her energy from people supporting her back at shore.

- Carl