[Paddlewise] Who Are We

I must be the last lurker.  Story of my life...last on land though first in the water.  
	I am Ken Johnson, 67, retired 1992 moving from Chicago to Corpus Christi with the sole purpose of kayaking.  Looked at Costa Rica, Mexico, and S. Texas for someplace warm, on the water with good kayaking, and cheap to live.  Corpus Christi won out. 
	Saw my first kayak at Chicagoland Canoe Basein 1990; a Current Design Solstice, red deck, cream hull, hanging from ceiling over cash register.  It was love at first sight and I bought it on the spot.  Lived in a condo on Lakeshore Drive so they kept it for me while I figured out where to put the kayak.  Would have been in my living room, but it wouldn't fit in the elevator and my window was 28 stories up!  Finally arranged to hang it from a heating pipe over my parking spot in the basement garage.  Learned to kayak in Lake Michigan.  First trip with with U of Minnesotta school of kayaking, through the Apostle Islands.  Then hit kayak symposiums at Bayfield WI, Grand Haven and Grand Marais MI, Port Townsend WA, and Tampa/St Pete FLA.  Also paddled with Ed Gillet down to Scammons Lagoon in Baja Mexico to see grey whales in migration.  Other trips: in Pacific between Acapulco and Puerta Vallarta, Pictured Rocks MI, north shore Lake Superior, Les Cheneaux islands in Lake Huron, and thousand islands in Georgian Bay, and Everglades and Keys in FLA.  Also paddled along west coast when drove from Corpus up to Port Townsend for the symposium.  Next Trips:  another trip through Everglades, Keys (this March), Horn Island off Mississippi coast in March, Charleston SC symposium in April, Isle Royale in June, and Pictured Rocks symposium in MI again in July.  So much great kayaking and so little time!
	Paddle a Seda Glider (19'), Dagger Meridian SK (16'), and a Wilderness Systems Sealution (17').  Use a Lightning Ultralight paddle, but now have my eye on the new Epic.  
	I try to limit my time indoors to an absolute minimum and paddle almost every day.  Have been fortunate to have many people take up my offer to show them the paddle sights of Corpus Christi (see description of Corpus Christi paddling sights on GASP under "destinations").  Enjoy meeting and paddling with new kayakers; great group of people!  Enjoy paddlewise discussions, but have not spent much time on the computer.  This who-are-we thread has been the exception.  Hope some of you will take up my offer to visit Corpus Christi.  Great kayaking year around.  Ken
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