And the good news is that it looks as if Sedna may be on the move very shortly as well - just from Miami to Tampa for now, where she will be exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry.
The sticking point had been legalising the boat trailer, but some very helpful and resourceful friends have figured out a way to get us through the various bureaucratic hoops, so soon the trailer will be registered as street-legal in the US and can hit the road.
Sedna will live at MOSI until the end of March, when I will be giving a presentation there. By then, hopefully, I will have figured out how to get her to the West Coast...
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I am on the move again - off to Africa to climb Kilimanjaro. Altitude training may not be essential preparation for a very sea-level challenge, but it will be a good cardio workout and an unmissable opportunity to see the famous snows of Kilimanjaro before they are lost forever to global warming. It has been estimated that at the current rate of shrinkage the snows will be gone within the next 30 years.
And of course, ironically, by flying there I am doing my bit to hasten their demise... Air travel is the most environmentally damaging form of transport. Mea culpa.
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After my highly enjoyable paddle on the Columbia River in a Maas boat last year, I wrote to the company to ask if I might be able to borrow a boat for training purposes. To my delight, they said yes.
So last week I went to their premises in a far-flung part of Point Richmond, north of San Francisco, to collect a brand new shiny Aero 21.
Doug Kidder, the boss man, proudly showed me around their premises. On the wall of their office was a photo of the company's founder, Chris Maas, surfing a sculling boat down a sizeable wave. These boats are built to last - although when it comes to ocean rowing I'll stick with Sedna. You could fit a few LaraBars in the hatch of an Aero, but not much more. Certainly not three months worth of food.
Quackers and I got a few strange looks on the 11-hour drive from sunny California back up to the snowy north. When I stopped for petrol a lumberjack gave the Aero a hard stare. "Sure is a funny looking toboggan", he muttered....
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You may remember that last November I was due to run a marathon in New Jersey with Dean Karnazes - the 49th of his 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Then a stress fracture prevented me from training and I had to miss the opportunity.
It seems I was fated to meet Dean anyway - he's an old friend of Eric's through windsurfing. So while I was in San Francisco, Dean's home town, we met up for a coffee (well, I had a coffee - Dean arrived in running gear and didn't partake - he probably doesn't sully his system with such toxins. I would have had a muffin as well, but after reading in his book that he had given up sugar, I was way too intimidated).
Looking remarkably fresh for someone who ran 1,310 miles in under two months late last year, he graciously signed my copy of his book and chatted for a while before running off to an appointment somewhere else. He did confess to being biomechanically blessed, but there is still something seriously intimidating about meeting an endurance athlete of his calibre. A true inspiration.
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