Jan. 9

Waking this morning was difficult. It seemed that my energy was completely gone. The relatively long sleep I had had did not accomplish much if anything. I could not focus on the map or the plan for the day.  We needed to get going to check out in time.  I noticed the ache in my neck that I have had for months was quite strong.  The bottom line was that I did not feel like getting back in the boat today.  The struggle between my desire to keep going and add more mileage and get further down the coast and my physical signals telling me it wasn't a good idea was raging.  Finally, I broke down and told Heather I wanted to rest another day.  I think I worried Heather a bit. She immediately thought of my recent operation and the symptoms I'd had leading up to discovering the aneurysm in my brain.  I had had a neck ache then.  But I think my entire problem is a result of my battle with the tide on the Wilmington River.  Just over a week into this trip I was not ready for this and simply overdid.

So we changed to a different cheap hotel where the wireless Internet service worked and ate breakfast. As soon as we had moved our bags in I went to sleep for an hour and a half. We had a good lunch, did some errands and came back to catch up.  I feel much better and expect to be ready to row in the morning.