In the midst of flinging Gheenoe cravings back and forth onto one another lately, an interesting idea has surfaced. BassBug found this Gheenoe in Hobe Sound, FL. DerekD hypothesized that you could fly out there, rent a truck, and drive it home. My twisted little mind thought "It's a boat, Florida is surrounded and covered in water. Why drive it home when you could FISH it home?" Henceforth came our little mental exercise: Taking the Long Way Home.

So here's the scenario: You buy the Gheenoe and negotiate the price of the trailer and a ride to the nearest salty boat ramp out of the deal. You've taken a 6 week sabbatical from work and your significant other with whom you're romantically affiliated says she'll probably be there when you get back. Your mission is to boat your way home in the Gheenoe. For ease of calculations and simplicity, we'll say we're staying with Derek in Austin and that's our eventual destination.

Difficulty:
-No trailering until it is absolutely necessary and definitely not until you get back to Texas. You and the Gheenoe have got to get it done on the water.
-Other than fuel, food, and other perishables, you've got to take it with you and it has to fit in the Gheenoe.
-You've got to be home in 6 weeks.

According to this routing by Google Maps, it would be a 1,300 mile trip overland. I'd probably call it a 2,000 mile trip by boat just to be safe.

Initial Questions:
-Do you go alone or take someone with you? (note: the supermodels most of you just thought of aren't going near your Gheenoe)
-Do you go all the way around peninsular Florida, or cut through Lake Okeechobee to get in some freshwater fishing?
-What do you take with you, and probably more importantly, what DON'T you take?


Begin.

Take: Fishing clothes only, i.e. no underwear or socks; at least 4 fly rods, I'd say 6,7,8, & 9 wts. should do; tons of flies, leaders and tippet material; traveling vice and tying tools and materials including Jack Daniels and your tobacco of choice, cash for cheap hotels and burger joints; other necessary gear, like hat, sunglasses, snips, and the like. A FISHING friend, but only if they can cast at least 80 ft. in a high wind and pee off the boat standing up. Consider try outs for this - no whiners.

Don't take: Anything or anyone else.

No shortcut. Go all the way around. Take clothes and rods. Adult beverage of your choice. Money for food.

Fish only salt to Texas. Head up the Colorado for freshwater action as far as you can. Eventually you'll hit Austin.

I'd take one person, mostly out of safety concerns.

You would have to do as much freshwater as possible in FLorida, once you leave there on the intra-coastal you will be in the land of Redfish, Speckled Trout, if your lucky occasional snook, tarpon, ,etc. Fortunately fishing Clothes pack up pretty lite so you can carry enough to change occasionally. A small stove and a frying pan along with some olive oil or lard if you prefer, to fry up a meal or 2 every day. A credit card is a must for the occasional overnight room. If ya take someone make sure you get along good, them tales of folks bonding thru the most difficult of times is BS.
As for what gets left ashore, work would be the most significant, probably shouldnt take a computer ,maybe an emergency fone would be okay. TV is out, you can pick up a newspaper occasionally but most likely you would hear if WW3 started.

The more I think about this little journey, the more I'm thinking about it as a water-borne backpacking trip. If you had two folks in that Gheenoe, I'm thinking you're going to be pretty limited to what you can take along and retain your ability to actually fish out of the boat.

The Okeechobee versus the Keys part of this hypothetical trip is a very difficult choice. Do you go for peacocks and largemouths, or go south for a chance at bones, tarpon, snook, et al.?

There might be a third option: all of the above. There seems to be a system of canals that runs south as well as the ones noted earlier running east and west. Maybe you could fish the big O and head south via the canals to the Keys.

Here's an article I found to make you salty folks think a bit more about the freshwater canals.

Canal Fishing in Florida

Take:
One good friend
4, 6/7, 8/9 wt rods
floating line only for the 4; floating, sinktip, and sinking lines for the others
Boxes of flies, some tying material & supplies
RAIN GEAR
A couple changes of clothes and about three hats
Gobs of sunscreen
Some bug spray
A short list of good marinas
List of the best burger joints within walking distance of those marinas
Put the liquor stores on that list too
Sleeping bag, tarp, pad, stove, etc.
A couple Carl Hiassen novels

Leave:
All cares behind.

In fact, I think I might never make it home from a trip like that. Just... go south.

They tie it a little differently from the way Wally Nielsen does it.

I'm not familiar with Mr. Hiassen's work, but a quick look on Wiki tells me that he writes about the Gulf Coast. You'll already be there, so I'm going to take something to read about somewhere I'm not. Since reading is all about escape for me, I'd want to read about somewhere cool that doesn't have mosquitoes the size of a WWII bomber.

You'd like him. Good, escapist fiction. I think his characters would appeal to your inner nerd on many levels.

When have I ever restricted my nerd to the inside?

He does make a good point Jackmack.

Owerch, my fragile pride.