2) Exercise - It is very important to be physically fit. If I don't have a healthy body I can't truly be happy because I don't feel good physically, and it goes without saying that I can always be healthier. Like most of us I get into workaholic rhythms where I neglect my body for so long that I get out of shape and start to look and feel bad. Sometimes I go to the gym and try to maintain but I never get back to the days when I was in high school and was thin and felt great physically. I have muscle pains, and toxicity in myself. With the UKT I know I will get into the shape of my life and will have a fighting chance of postponing, possibly even indefinitely, that setting in of muscle melting rigamortus jointed old geezer effect that eventually kills us dead.

There have been many times when I was bike touring where I was so fit and felt so good physically that I think I was the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. Just the feeling of being alive sweating under the sun and feeling my body working away like the jewel of the Universe that it is, made me feel like everything was going so perfectly that I could do anything I set my mind to, and with all of that extra time to contemplate I could come up with so many cool ideas. The UKT is better than bike touring though. With bike touring you just exercise your legs, but with the UKT you exercise your whole body when you include the mountain climbing. I have always wanted to be buff like Arnold, and this will be my chance to get a washboard stomach you could break two by fours on and arms that could lift trucks.

Apart from the huge benefits the UKT will have on reasonably healthy guys like Tony and I, the people who are really going to benefit from this wonderful trip are the normal button pushing desk jockeys who have very real problems with their health that is brought on by their chronic lack of exercise and sunshine.

There is a fitness problem in the world today which needs to be solved. And of the many ways to whip fat people into physical shape the UKT is by far the best. I'm sorry to have to admit this, but fat people are sick, and sick people need to be cured. The cure is the UKT.

3) Adventure - The UKT will be an adventure of epic proportions. It will be like going back to a time when the Earth was pure and free from pirates, dangerous tribes or harsh weather conditions. It will be just smooth sailing (assuming we remember to keep an eye on the weather reports that is). Every place we land will be distinct from the previous. We will experience the best of the sea, sand, beaches, sea life, bird life, and cosmopolitan human life due to the far flung origins of the inhabitants of the Caribbean.

There will be flat water in the Bahamas, and there will be rough seas in deep water. There will be tiny uninhabited islands and huge mountainous ones. You name it, the UKT has it. I bet the UKT even has deserts in some spots. The only thing the UKT doesn't have is the cold, and I can deal without that.

The UKT is a huge trip that is done by UKT er in the purest spirit of adventure. There are no guides, there don't even have to be hotels. It's just you and mother Earth, and that will fill you with dreams of more hard core adventures in other lands. But no adventure better than the UKT.

You name it, the UKT has it; and that's the spirit of adventure.

4) Education - The best way to educate yourself is to educate yourself. I have both a high school and a college degree, and from experience most of today's formal education is just about going to a big room and struggling to stay awake while some old person blathers on about some boring subject that the school decided I needed to take to get the degree I had to choose from a narrow range of subjects.

The best way to educate yourself is by listening to audio on a subject that you chose. The only problem is that you need time. People like me who work by themselves have plenty of time to educate themselves through audio in our jobs. I can just listen while I wash windows, but a lot of people have to deal with people and other responsibilities thoughout the day and need a retreat like the UKT to have the time to continue their higher education.

One of the most exciting facets of the UKT for me is that I will have the opportunity to educate myself through audio all day long with no interuptions. My favorite way to partake in such activity is by listening to Coast to Coast AM, and when I come to an interesting subject I listen to it over and over again until I memorize all the data and can explain the subject to others. Some other programs that have interesting interviews are Red Ice Radio, Laura Lee, Mike Hagan and various Buddhist discourses. There are other subjects I would like to collect as well, like lessons on economics.

Another point to consider when mixing self education with a trip like the UKT is that when we are way out in the middle of nowhere we can concentrate more on what is being said, as there is less electromagnetic interference from the radio waves that are created by the brains of all the people around us.

It is my prediction that in a few short years, higher education will consist of voyages into nature with the aid of gigabites and gigabites of self chosen material, as the formal college scenario will transform into merely a forum for the sharing of ideas by the students, as the profesors will be downgraded to mere guides.

5) Mysticism - Mysticism is an ambiguous word, but according to the definition as explained by Madonna Cicone, Mysticism is the emotional commune with nature. According to that definition, a profound mystical experience with the Earth could very well be just the thing we need to turn around the destruction we are dealing the environment.

Technology is great but it has some negative side effects. It distracts us and shuts us off from the connection we have had with the Earth for millions of years. Our separation from nature causes us to make consumeristic decisions that have negative effects on the environment, such as driving instead of riding our bikes, forgetting to garden, not exercising enough, spending money on indoor activities like watching TV and playing video games instead of going outside and learning about nature, etc, etc.

It goes without saying that the more time we spend in nature the more time we will spend finding ways to protect nature. When we get too emersed into cyber fantasy world, we become like fish out of water which causes us to conveniently forget the destruction we have on the environment and eventually develop a negative outlook on existence as a whole. Don't get me wrong, video games and movies and TV are cool, but we have to keep a balance here.

We need to get back in touch with the Earth, so what is the best way to go about doing such a thing? There are many trivial ways such as taking more natural medicines, eating more natural and healthier food, going hiking more often, joining environmental causes, but none of these techniques completely take you back to your cave man roots in such a way that you actually feel at one with nature to the point that it permanently changes you. After short weekend trips we fall back into the grind and go back to driving our cars when we really should be riding our bikes, buying over packaged foods when we should just be getting raw fruits and vegetables and cooking them ourselves, and the list goes on. How can we break free from this comfort civilization addiction that we all, including me, suffer from. Well, the answer is the UKT. I say an effective detoxification, or revitalization, takes at least six months and entails large amounts of time spent far from civilization or even other people. Think of it as a type of sensory deprivation in order to make room for another type of sensory sensitization, mystical sensory sensitization.

Every man, woman and child deserves a six month journey back into the their roots if they really want to, and the beautiful thing is with the invention of the UKT they can. We are so separated from nature that it takes a long time to get back into the groove. The journey back to mystical world is a process that involves the body and the mind. In terms of the body when it gets fit it feels healthy and can communicate with the surroundings better, and you get to the point where you and your kayak are as one, so you become an aquatic creature. Imagine the water splashing up and releasing ions from the water which you breath and it heals you, or at least, energizes you, in new and profound ways. When we perform repeated movements for hours on end we go into a trance and enter a quiet and peaceful world with no distractions which clears out all the buried negative thoughts and opens the mind to the creative dreams of the future and also the past, the distant past. The undulations of the waves open our awareness to the world of waves which are the means of the movement of everything. Once we are at one with the boat we become one with the waves and once we are one with the waves, even the large white capped ones are welcomed with a sense of macho excitement that catapult us back to the world of pre technology and remind us that we are in fact still a strong and most noble of animal capable of anything. When we are down on the surface of the water we feel the wind push the water in our faces and the hair atop our head. we will see countless fish, and may even see some Orcas, Dolphins, and Whales swim up to great us. Who knows, maybe we will be in such a mystical trance that we will make eye contact with these magnificent creatures and exchange a telepathic conversation. We will feel the wind blow away the glistening sweat from our arms and even hear and feel the wind push against the boat and off the wave tops. By the time we arrive at the next island although we will be tired and ready to stop, we will be at one with the water, wind, waves, fish, sunshine, and most mystical of all, our own bodies and minds.

The mystical experience doesn't end with the kayaking though. The islands we will visit offer a whole different and complete spectrum of commune with mother nature. Many of the islands we will visit will be uninhabited and unpolluted, and we will be so entranced by it all that we will be able to trick ourselves into thinking we are living back in the age of innocence before all of the craziness of today. We will go back to a place where time and worry do not exist, just like the good old days of the wandering aboriginal dreamland. We will walk barefoot over the white sandy beaches and notice new kinds of shells, grasses, and washed up sea life. The Stars, Planets, and Moon will shine brighter than ever before, and we will memorize their placements just as we did in the past, but contemplate their existence like never before.

One more thing. We will be passing over ancient Atlantis, and I bet you we will have visions of Atlantis and may even bring ancient aliens down upon us, who will in turn show us where the ruins are to be found. You never know what kind of power can be had until you open that part of your mind from the magic of the UKT.

6) Inspiration - The first reasons I had for the UKT were for the travel and exercise aspects of it, but the more I have thought about it the more I realize how magnificent the UKT actually is, and I feel honored and proud to be the person to discover and pioneer the Ultimate Kayak Trip, which is probably not just the UKT but the UT, the Ultimate Trip. So I seek to pave the way for a legacy that will enrich the lives of many to come.

I think that once Tony and I do the UKT and get another group to do it the following year with the donation of our gear, a spark will ignite that will motivate at least one group of UKT ers each year, and after five years about five groups per year will be doing the UKT. My reasoning for this is that once a couple of normal guys like us demonstrate that the UKT is actually fun and not difficult in the slightest, the people will come.

7) Party - I love to party. I heard a bike racer say the best thing about their sport is the glass of water at the end of the race. Well, we'll have plenty of water to drink while were paddling, but a couple glasses of a Pina Colada would sure taste good after a long day of paddling; and because of our social nature we will be more than happy to brag about our travels to the locals; hopefully giving them some ideas.

You see all of the islands will be a festive environment propagated by the friendly demeanor of the laid back island Rasta's and the blissful party atmosphere created by the tourists and the cruise ship cruisers. It will be like one big party divided by excruciatingly painful yet ecstatically pleasant power paddles between the islands.

The UKT is perfect for the youth because it is the ultimate adventure, and adventure is what young people seek and benefit from more than anything. A huge trip like the UKT can transform a young person into something they can't even imagine until they experience the magnificence of the UKT. All sorts of magical dreams and sensations will enter the emotions and mind of a young person who is experiencing an ecstatic sensory maximization from all the sights, sounds, and smells that are entirely new to the young person.

The youth would probably be most likely to do the UKT because of all their unbridled enthusiasm and exuberant motivation. Not only will they do it with zeal, but grace, as the young nimble, strong, and durable bodies will easily paddle through the the waves and climb up the mountains.

When I say poor I mean poor by Americans standards, I am not talking about third world poor. A poverty stricken person from the third world will not have the means to do the UKT, but if the world increases in wealth, and according to my current projections it will, it won't be long until even the third worlder's will be able to afford the UKT.

I'm not exactly sure how much the UKT will cost, but I know one thing, it will be affordable to the common man. You'll see. I will break it all down upon the end of the journey. I'm thinking five grand, and any Mcdonalds working kid could afford that as long as they live with their parents and don't blow too much of their money away.