Joe Murphy, the Florida coordinator for the New Orleans based Gulf Restoration Network, told me about one of his buddies who had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. According to his friend, there's thing called "trail magic," which basically is described as a serendipitous event that helps one along the way.

This has happened to me on all of my paddle journeys, and it is always the result of the kindness of strangers. That folks have been willing to host, feed, and support me, or simply store my boat on their property, is definitely part of the "trail magic." Yesterday I paddled a 50 mile stretch from Perdido Key to about five and a half miles of my intended destination across the Mobile Bay Inlet.  The currents were ripping. 

My support team at Gulf Restoration Network was scouting out options for escort boats - from the Coast Guard and the State Police.  They weren't available because all of their assets were already engaged in search and rescue operations.  That was a great indicator, right there, to pull ashore and wait for another day to continue my journey.  

Today, the Coast Guard is still looking for one of the four people on a boat that ran into trouble during yesterday's intense winds from a distress call that went out at about the same time I pulled ashore at Fort Morgan, a National Historic Landmark site of the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay.   I was hemming and hawing over whether to cross the inlet, but came to the conclusion that I'd be better served to wait ‘til morning when the winds are less strong. Glad I did.

My unplanned stopover at Fort Morgan was made possible through Blanton Blankenship, who let this Yankee sleep in one of the old houses there. There was no food, but I could at least walk the mile and a half to a restaurant where, after dinner, a very, very nice couple drove me back so I wouldn't have to walk all alone in the dark.

I crossed the inlet this morning.  The paddle was still in extremely rough water, but brought me to Dauphin Island in less than an hour. I managed to pick good lines and surfed my way down the channel that ran by an oil rig all the way to the Dauphin Island Marine lab's boats, where they are staying put due to the weather.

Let's hear it for "trail magic!" This trip would not be possible without it. I might redefine it, though. I think trail magic is the goodness found in the hearts of all people as well as our own creative ability to latch on to a potentially positive occurrence or situation and make it an actual beneficial reality.