The Man in the Boat

Somewhere along the way, South Carolina I think, we encountered a green canoe with a man sitting low in the stern paddling along.  He appeared to be traveling, not just out for an afternoon.  His boat had a crudely rigged sail made of an old plastic tarp and a long stick for a mast.  On the waterway we really don’t see that type of thing often so it stuck in my mind.  Over the next couple of weeks, we saw him a few more times.  Apparently when we stopped for the night and sometimes for a couple of days, he kept moving so we would leap frog with him.  Each time we saw him, we became more and more curious about his story.  Well, don’t you know that we were in Fernandina Marina on Amelia Island, FL. and paddling from under the pier comes this green canoe!  He paddled right by our boat as we lay tied to the dock.  I jumped up and went to the cockpit and called to him and he stopped to talk.  I told him we had seen him several times and asked where he was going.  He said “here, this looks like a nice place”!  I asked where he started and he said Alexandria, VA.  That’s a trip of almost 900 miles by canoe. 

There is always a back story.  He told me that he was recently homeless and decided he needed to move to warmer weather to survive.  He had been living with his last living relative, his mother, and that she recently died.  After that and to make matters worse, the apartment in which they had been living burned.  He was then staying temporarily with a friend but needed to find another option. His friend gave him the canoe, took him to Walmart to get some clothes (all his stuff burned in the fire!) gave him a little cash and off he went.  We talked for a few more moments and I told him where he could get some water.  He was looking for a shower so that he could clean up.  He was going to look for a job and asked where the library was so that he could look through newspapers.  I said “Good Luck” and he paddled away.  He never asked me for anything.

I realized that I did not even know his name.  I watched as he came alongside one of the docks and prepared to climb out of his boat.  I walked over to him and asked his name and he said it was Bill.  I handed him $20 to help him along.  He was very gracious and I could tell that he really needed it.  He said that everywhere he went, the people he met were very kind to him.  Some gave him shelter when there was bad weather.  Some gave him groceries and supplies.  I told him he should write a book.  The waterway is full of stories like Bill’s.