I started out in Muskegon Michigan and learned to sail in 1.5 years. I recently had gone through a divorce and was living on the sailboat. In 1994 when winter came up I decided not to pull the boat out of the lake for the winter, but headed south. I went through Chicago's Calumet shipping channel and into the Illinois river. This empties into the Mississippi river. I traveled down the Mississippi to the Ohio river and went up to Kentucky Lake. (The picture on my home page was taken there.) I traveled on the Tom-Bigbee river to the Gulf of Mexico. After entering the Gulf I crossed it in 48 hours. I traveled through the Everglades and around the Florida Keys out to the Dry Torgugas. I spent 6 weeks in the Bahamas and then went back to Florida. I sailed up the east cost and ended up in Charleston SC. I have been here since April 28, 1995 and plan to be here many more years. This trip took about 7 months and I now own a houseboat as well as Straggler (the sailboat).