"It's a light, durable plastic boat, a real workhorse," he said. "It's stable, with a huge capacity, but not a very comfortable seat. I added as much comfort as I could, but any seat gets uncomfortable after 10 or 11 hours with your legs stretched out in front of you."
He traveled up to 4 mph and averaged 35 miles a day. He encountered large alligators, venomous snakes and aggressive dolphins, skirted the wakes from cruise ships and was stung by a huge jellyfish whose tentacles were wrapped around his paddle. It's all on his Web site, thanks to Shultz taking dictation.
"That Web site almost destroyed our relationship," he said. "I'm a mumbler, and she paraphrases what I say."
Weather presented major obstacles, with frequent storms and many campsites washed out by waves. There was one long night of lightning that included frequent phone calls home to his younger sister, Rachel, who was tracking the storm.
Securing overnight camping spots "was tricky, especially since there are not enough public parks, and people are so funny about their waterfront property," he said. If offered a bed, he didn't turn it down.
"I found a tremendous amount of good from people I never met before," he said.
Honeymooners offered him a meal and an extra room in their suite. Friends of friends would find him on the water and take him home for a night. Wayne Heimiller of Vero Beach, Fla., brought Peichert and his kayak home for a crab feast, a shower and a comfortable bed.
"I found him after he had been on the water for about 10 days, loaded the kayak onto my truck and gave him his first break," said Heimiller, who was part of the welcoming crew yesterday.
Four days north of Vero Beach, 12-year-old Devin - who had been following the journey on the Internet - took his kayak out on a canal, found Peichert and brought him home.
"I paddle for an hour and a half, and I get tired," said the boy. "I don't know how he did it."
Peichert carried enough food for a week - lots of pasta, tuna in pouches and Pop Tarts ("cheaper than power bars with just as much energy," he said). In color-coded dry bags, he stored charts, a tracking system, a solar battery-charger, an iPod, a cell phone and a device that relayed his latitude and longitude home daily.
David Peichert called his son cautious, level-headed and savvy.
"He had experience, a lot of safety equipment and was most of the time in protected waters," he said.
A durable life jacket kept him safe, even amid large ocean swells, his son said.
"I would not paddle one foot without a life jacket," Seth Peichert said. "I feel totally weird without it."
Although he savored the communion with nature, he struggled to keep loneliness at bay, he said. By Thursday evening, Peichert had reached Annapolis, with home just around the corner from his campsite. He made Gibson Island on Friday and left there at 6 a.m. yesterday, arriving in Baltimore about 20 minutes past his predicted arrival at noon.
"I have had three months on the water and off work," he said. "I feel lucky and a little sad now at the end, but I have had a great time. I have learned so much."
mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com
