Knee Surgery/Media Coverage

Hello, all

Here it is more than a month since last entry, but promise...regular updates will be entered from now on.

Yesterday, had surgery on my left knee. Surgeon says I have knees of a 19 year old...was he being encouraging to this old man, or was he hitting on me...won't ask. Looking to heal in a week or so and to start my walk about April 20.

Sam has been further upgraded with load bearing beams to pass over weak points. The second battery pack is on line & works very well. A second solar panel has also been added. Now I can use one battery pack to drive the wheel while charging the second battery pack. Should give SAM plenty of uuumph to keep rolling. In the event cloudy/rainy days prevent solar charging, have installed two 120v AC battery chargers which top off the battery packs in about an hour. In the event I cannot find trees with AC outlets along the way, I hope to flag down passing motorists and "buy" electricity to feed into my new 400 watt inverter, into which the AC chargers can plug & top off the batteries that way.

Have completed my communications package of cell phone & mini-computer. Will take my business on-the-road, daily taking orders and drop-shipping product to clients. A return home monthly or so to do paperwork is scheduled. Have worked out a plan to reconoiter my route in detail in advance by driving my motorcycle the first 600 miles or so, storing it in a rental storage unit, and returning by Plane/Bus/Friend, etc. When SAM arrives at the rental storage, will put her to bed inside, take the motorcycle out, drive back home to do paperwork chores, and ride back to SAM and onward to check out the next 600 miles or so...then repeat the process all the way to Key West. This gives me constant transportation during the walk at a reasonable cost - gas $ being what it is.

You may read the first media publication of my/SAM's walk at http://www.bellinghamherald.com/ for March 01 under ..."74 year old idot plan to walk....etc."

A movie company has also completed filming their documentary of our venture, which they plan to enter into an international "Documentary Film Festival" in late April...with possibility that it my air on PBS. All very tentative, but they also plan to do an update documentary when I/we reach Key West. Oh, fun fun fun. Have agreed with WALKABOUT magazine at http://www.walkabout.com/ to provide updates for possible publication along the way. So, a bit of interest has grabbed hold of our quest. Now, I'm REALLY committed.

Sure beats sitting on the couch munching chips & bon bons watching football or editorials re AIG, et.al stealing our tax $'s...just kidding !

I am setting up a program with my Twitter account and Yahoo Flickr, which can be accessed for more details of my/our walk.

OK, I'm off to join my internet yacht club for din din in Anacortes, Washington. (Yes, I am also a Yachtie with a 38' Sloop. Also, I fly, scuba dive, and and and)

Much more later.

Bye