Recovered Memory!

Next Friday, I plan to ride the motorcycle out to Cedar Key, Florida, meet reader GregL, and kayak out into the Gulf of Mexico (no, I won't be using that other name) to Atsena Otie Key:

I've been thinking of this planned expedition as "the first time I've been on a vessel in the ocean," but I woke up this morning remember that I've actually been on four vessels in the ocean. As a kid, I toured three of them (the WW2 aircraft carrier Yorktown, the merchant vessel Savannah, and a submarine I can't recall the name of at the moment) at Charleston Harbor. As an adult I toured the battleship North Carolina at Wilmington. They were all docked, but technically they were in the ocean.

So I guess this will be the first time I've been on a moving vessel in the ocean (excluding a little "boogie board" less than half the size of my body that I used in the Pacific off California).

If you happen to be off the Florida coast next Friday afternoon, drop by Atsena Otie Key and look for us. Bunch of history in the area, ranging from pre-Columbian habitation to Civil War fighting to John Muir's explorations, in the area.