Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Day 62

Excitement on board this morning as not long after crawling out of the cabin in the morning I saw my first sign of other human life in the last 29 days! A ship of an unknown type named Pasella, was heading from Trinidad to Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands of all places. I really wanted to tell him that he had a long way to go, but decided against it. In general the captain seemed rather bored by the whole thing (I was ecstatic), and passed on the pleasantries and just said he'd adjust his course to starboard, though it wasn't really necessary. Apparently a very small yellow rowboat on the open ocean isn't exciting to everyone after all! Pasella stayed too far away (2 miles or so) for me to really get a good picture, and the one below is more interesting anyway.


Ok, by popular demand, more on salt sores. Below is a picture of the two spots on my legs that are really feeling the effects despite my best efforts to keep this seemingly easy-to-clean area free of salt.



GROSS!

I can't believe people wanted to see that and I really hope that picture doesn't make it on CNN!


Anyway, there you go. I'm not a doctor, obviously, but each one of those spots seems to be a tiny irritated and/or infected hair follicle.


Yup, I jump from the glamor of national news coverage to in-depth descriptions of my salt sores. Well, you guys wanted to know what it's like to be out here! More fun topics tomorrow, I promise.


Thanks to all who have supported this expedition and important research at Yale Cancer Center with a donation to Row for Hope. If you haven't donated, or if you would consider donating again, it would be much appreciated. To donate online use the link in the upper right-hand corner of this page or visit www.rowforhope.com.


Paul

21 comments:

gh said...

well good that you are in high spirits! Post some pictures of the ship and sea as well, if you are uploading it somewhere do let us know!

Anonymous said...

Paul,
EWW! and COOL! are closely aligned in this photo. Thanks for sharing.
-PTR

Blonde Saffron said...

Yikes! I hope your legs heal quickly when you get to Antigua!!

Too bad that the captain was not that excited about seeing you.... I hope you see more 'real' life as you get closer to land!

Take care, good luck with rowing tomorrow.

Erinn from Toronto

Anonymous said...

Paul,
Do you remember the Sons of Norway's wonderful Christmas parties... well, I was there with my family...even though we are Swedish your mom very kindly let us join in the fun and as a favor we refrained from telling Norwegian jokes! It worked out great!! We miss the festivities…. it was really special for my girls to join Joy in Santa Lucia tåget.

Hope everything will go smoothly the rest of the way. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

Anonymous said...

A little song for you...

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the ATLANTIC OCEAN!
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merilly,
Life is but a dream..... :-)

Every day I look forward to checking your blog to see your progress. Your adventure has inspired me to start running again! The way I see it is if another human being can actually motivate himself to ROW across the ocean I can surely push myself to run a few miles per week to keep in shape!

I hope you plan to write a book about this adventure someday. Best of luck with the rest of your trip and fund raising. All of us in Michigan are rooting for you.

May God bless you on the rest of your trip and always. Peace.

Anonymous said...

Hey dude,

Legs will heal and chicks dig scars :-)

I put the CNN vid on the homepage! Lot's of people watching and tracking you. You are doing amazing and we can tell. .

We're anxious to see you safely home. Keep the faith.....

Charles

Unknown said...

Nice man, they look just like the spots that I had right before Chris and Zara's wedding. haha.

Anonymous said...

Add more pictures like that to guilt trip people into donating!

katie said...

Hang in there Paul. Pain is temporary, pride is forever...or something like that! You can do it!

Matt said...

hey Paul-

Matt Woodrow here from Colgate. Wanted to send you a brief update on the RowforHope event we hosted at Theta Chi this weekend. No final counts yet, but estimates currently stand at about $2200-2300 raised! I think we had a few hundred people come through, all of whom seemed to have a great time. The brothers also appreciated the note you wrote up for us.

One of our more charismatic brothers emceed the event and did a great job of selling the erg competition that we set up. Sixteen of us rowed in the bracket (500m pieces) and I do believe the competition was thoroughly entertaining. As you suggested, go with those who really row (one of my captains won the event).

Also watched your interview - hopefully the more widespread publicity will stunt some fundraising for your team.

Awesome job out there. Practice sure has been demanding this winter but I can't imagine it measures up to what you're going through. Keep it up.

-Matt and your brothers at Theta Chi

Anonymous said...

I read the little preview box in the Binghamton Press every morning while having morning breakfast and coffee to see what I can expect in your daily blog. Salt sores! I couldn't wait to get online. (NOT!) Thanks for sharing, dude.

Anonymous said...

The chlorine at the hotel's heated pool in Antigua will heal those sore legs! You've earned it and so much more! Keep it up! -- ETS

Anonymous said...

Paul,

I am so impressed with this phenomenal tribute. I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog and hope you know that you have a fan base here in London cheering you on! It was awesome to see you on the CNN clip - congrats with what you have already accomplished and best wishes for continued success.

Sincerely,
Shannon Duggan

Anonymous said...

Hi Buddy - Nice. The blurb in the Press this AM said there was a 'graphic' photo of salt sores - people just love 'graphic'! I'm sure you'll get a lot of new supporters today - the creepy kind, but supporters just the same. I suppose the spiritual accounts of rainbows and communicating with the dolphins don't really match up to photos of oozing sores - it takes all kinds! I'm hoping some of the professional rowing crowd will chime in here today with advice on how to heal those things up. We'll bring whatever medications they recommend to Antigua. You are doing great - every ache and pain will be magnified in the these last 'few' miles - hang in there - keep the focus. Head in the game, ass in the boat - xxoo-

Anonymous said...

Do you know how CNN found your story? It's wonderful that they did! Great publicity!

Zack Bloom said...

They almost look like mosquito bites. So in light of your recent revelation of where the fundraising is at right now, I'm going to hopefully get approval today from the Board of Ed. and get the Darien High School Community involved. Maybe it'll get the cause a few more bucks!

Arod has a cyst on his hip now. Normally there would be more media concern, but this is apparently one of, if not the most common steroid related injuries/side effects. Nine more years of this BS!

Random Question to the blogger named "K Rock and #1 Wild Bill":

I saw a recent post about you not being able to see the stars so well in the city on Lincoln Ave...Is this Lincoln Ave in Brooklyn. I only ask because I'm moving to that very street near prospect park this summer. If not, no worries, just thought I would check as the street name rang a bell!

Anonymous said...

P-Rid,

I have that chalk stick that you gave me a while back that can fix those legs!

Anonymous said...

Paul -

I was expecting worse on the salt sores...which is weird in and of itself...but there ya go.

I can't wait to hear your description of seeing the shore of Antigua! You are almost there - closer every day, in fact.

I would have been thrilled to see your little yellow boat in the middle of the ocean. I don't know what that ocean liner man was thinking!

Stay positive!
Lindsey

Zara said...

hey boo!

just wanted to let you know we're thinking of you and counting down the days until you're home. chris wants to play a game that rhymes with putters as soon as possible. he made me write that. :>)

keep rowing hard!

Anonymous said...

i would say that is enough pictures of your legs.

Anonymous said...

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!