Sleeper in canoe under E Lake bridge

**Caroling** · 10-04-2009, 05:35 PM

I don't know which forum to put this in. Not just a photo, or environment, etc. This morning at 7 a.m. walking on the bridge over Eastern Lake, I saw a canoe with a man sleeping in it. It was tied to the piers in the middle of the water. He had a pillow and blanket, looking like he was in bed. Except he was in a boat. At about noon I checked again and he was gone. Here is a detail and the picture I shot. First thought was that he's camping out. Other thoughts are that he was dead, homeless, or clueless. I'd really like to know. Does anybody?

**30ABandMan** · 10-04-2009, 05:42 PM

Maybe that is the only place he could get some peace and quiet! :-)

**ChillPill** · 10-04-2009, 05:51 PM

I'm thinking its a more interesting version of "Being in the Doghouse" with the wifey...

**TreeFrog** · 10-04-2009, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by ChillPill

I'm thinking its a more interesting version of "Being in the Doghouse" with the wifey...

My thoughts exactly.

**Jdarg** · 10-04-2009, 07:07 PM

I didn't know Riverotter was in town!

**ShallowsNole** · 10-04-2009, 07:28 PM

Hopefully he is okay. I think that I would have called the WCSO or game/fish or somebody to check on him, though -

**DuneLaker** · 10-04-2009, 07:31 PM

Well, I mean, he did have a pillow, and it looks clean. That is impressive. I think I'd like to do that.

**Johnrudy** · 10-04-2009, 08:39 PM

I'm thinking that's just part of the canoeing experience. He probably prefers to sleep in the canoe rather than on the ground.

He doesn't appear homeless from the looks of it.

**jodiFL** · 10-05-2009, 03:13 AM

Originally Posted by 30ABandMan

Maybe that is the only place he could get some peace and quiet! :-)

Looks pretty peaceful to me!

**Smiling JOe** · 10-05-2009, 07:59 AM

Looks almost like heaven to me. I've often thought about sleeping on a small boat on one of the lakes for a year, writing about the daily life (Thoreau-like). Let's see, close to full moon, clear sky, hmmm -- great night for sleeping under the sky, with a ripple or two splashing against the boat.

**kkddbb** · 10-05-2009, 08:08 AM

i sure wouldnt want my pic posted on the internet without knowing.... so much for privacy.

i wouldnt be surprised is he's an example of the recession. ive heard of worse lately

**truluv** · 10-05-2009, 09:10 AM

probably be fun til the skeets, dog flies, and lovey bugs come callin....

**scooterbug44** · 10-05-2009, 11:00 AM

I've napped in a canoe before, but that position and location (scrunched up under a busy road in a buggy area) don't look like a way to get a good night's sleep.

Though if he slept in a canoe he is halfway to being an honorary Canadian!

**Rita** · 10-05-2009, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

Looks almost like heaven to me. I've often thought about sleeping on a small boat on one of the lakes for a year, writing about the daily life (Thoreau-like). Let's see, close to full moon, clear sky, hmmm -- great night for sleeping under the sky, with a ripple or two splashing against the boat.

.

Well maybe SJ, but I sure as heck would caution against it in October!

.

**Douglas the Intrepid** · 10-05-2009, 12:01 PM

I had to quickly scrutinize the canoe, as my green canoe was stolen from Eastern Lake about 6 weeks ago! lol I agree with Scooterbug, that location is less than ideal for a restful night of sleep and obviously has some privacy issues to boot!

I always did tell my daughter to keep her eyes open for trolls as we went under that bridge to the beach....Hmmmm...

**Topsail Transplant** · 10-05-2009, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by TreeFrog

My thoughts exactly.

I have to agree with both of you looks an awful lot like dog house itis.

**SWGB** · 10-06-2009, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by kkddbb

i sure wouldnt want my pic posted on the internet without knowing.... so much for privacy.

i wouldnt be surprised is he's an example of the recession. ive heard of worse lately

Then I would recommend not sleeping on a public lake under a public roadway and public pedestrian/bike bridge.

**Mermaid** · 10-06-2009, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by DuneLaker

Well, I mean, he did have a pillow, and it looks clean. That is impressive. I think I'd like to do that.

A $1500 Old Town canoe is impressive, too. I don't think I'd spend too much time worrying about this guy.

**Caroling** · 10-06-2009, 06:33 PM

Someone wrote me, "It�s a provocative picture. Makes you immediately come up with storylines, one right after the other."

To which I answered:

my story is a poem:

Am I a man dreaming I'm floating under Eastern Lake Bridge?
Or am I a boat dreaming I'm a man?

(Copied from the zen that goes something like: am I a butterfly dreaming I'm a man or a man dreaming I'm a butterfly?)

**Smiling JOe** · 10-07-2009, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by Mermaid

A $1500 Old Town canoe is impressive, too. I don't think I'd spend too much time worrying about this guy.

The canoe isn't the impressive part, since it is not his canoe. The impressive part is that he has a pillow and a blanket and curled up in a very tight spot.

FYI -- the canoe was returned the next morning to the dock from which it came.

**30A Skunkape** · 10-07-2009, 12:18 PM

Is that JT?

**Topsail Transplant** · 10-07-2009, 12:31 PM

Things that make you go HMMM. I agree with caroling the story lines are endless

**scooterbug44** · 10-07-2009, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by 30A Skunkape

Is that JT?

Way too pale for JT!

**Caroling** · 10-07-2009, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

... it is not his canoe.

FYI -- the canoe was returned the next morning to the dock from which it came.

So the sleeper borrowed a canoe for the night. That is assuming the sleeper returned the canoe. Does the owner of the docked canoe know the sleeper?

**Lake View Too** · 10-07-2009, 07:51 PM

OK: My scenario was that the hard times got the guy...he had to decide: lose the condo or the canoe...and he made the right choice...besides, living the life of the sailor on the seas is so much more romantic than making condo payments upside down. (except when it rains)

**Teresa** · 10-07-2009, 08:16 PM

Originally Posted by SWGB

Then I would recommend not sleeping on a public lake under a public roadway and public pedestrian/bike bridge.

exactly.. especially if you are in the doghouse canoe... this is a very small town!

**Lynnie** · 10-07-2009, 08:23 PM

I love sleeping outside all snuggled up! Maybe that's all he was doing; I wouldn't have tied up to the pilings because of the traffic noise, but it seemed to have worked for him and that's all that matters.

**Mermaid** · 10-07-2009, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

The canoe isn't the impressive part, since it is not his canoe. The impressive part is that he has a pillow and a blanket and curled up in a very tight spot.

FYI -- the canoe was returned the next morning to the dock from which it came.

Hold on a minute SmileyJ. Give us the Cliff Notes. How do you know it's not his canoe and from whom did he borrow it? Is this an honest thief or a prearranged night out under the stars? A bet? An argument? What do you know, oh ye who tantalizes us with only bits and pieces of the story?

**Smiling JOe** · 10-07-2009, 09:44 PM

Mermy, I know the owner of the canoe. Haven't seen the owner in a few weeks, so haven't had a chance to ask if he let someone else borrow it. It definitely isn't the owner, and Old Florida Fish House didn't have a crazy night, the night in question. Plus, bar patrons don't typically have their pillow and blanky with them.

I don't know why he was sleeping in the canoe, but all seems to still be in order.

**Mermaid** · 10-07-2009, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

Mermy, I know the owner of the canoe. Haven't seen the owner in a few weeks, so haven't had a chance to ask if he let someone else borrow it. It definitely isn't the owner, and Old Florida Fish House didn't have a crazy night, the night in question. Plus, bar patrons don't typically have their pillow and blanky with them.

I don't know why he was sleeping in the canoe, but all seems to still be in order.

All's well that ends well. I go for the 'in the dog house' theory, and it must have worked itself out because our mysterious sleeper obviously has not had another moonlit night on the water.

**SWGB** · 10-08-2009, 12:35 AM

Where's Shallowsnole? I want to know if that guy would be due to pay bed tax if he's renting the canoe?

**Lake View Too** · 10-08-2009, 06:18 AM

Originally Posted by Mermaid

All's well that ends well. I go for the 'in the dog house' theory, and it must have worked itself out because our mysterious sleeper obviously has not had another moonlit night on the water.

Has anybody checked some of the other bridges? This could be the new affordable housing...

**ShallowsNole** · 10-08-2009, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by SWGB

Where's Shallowsnole? I want to know if that guy would be due to pay bed tax if he's renting the canoe?

Actually, no. Statutes are silent as to boats.

**SWGB** · 10-09-2009, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by ShallowsNole

Actually, no. Statutes are silent as to boats.

Oh boy, I can already see people floating homes.

**scooterbug44** · 10-09-2009, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by SWGB

Oh boy, I can already see people floating homes.

They're called houseboats and there was an attempted project several years ago to provide more affordable housing by putting a bunch of them in one of the canals near the bay.

**Caroling** · 10-11-2009, 08:46 AM

This morning before 7 a.m. a thin rope is attached to the bridge dangling down with a length in the water by the center piers. Along the pedestrian bypass railing is a small old Cingular cell phone and relatively large battery looking swampy with bits of weeds attached, as if having been dunked and put out to dry. Didn't touch or stop for photos.
I seem to be more interested in the green-topped Phragmites weeds along the lakeshore.

**Smiling JOe** · 10-11-2009, 02:20 PM

I saw those ropes hanging from the bridge. Never seeing crab traps tied to the bridges like that, I pulled one up out of curiousity (on the north side of the bridge), and found that it was indeed a crab trap.

I'm pretty certain I know the sleeper, but never got a chance to ask him when I saw him the other day.

**scooterbug44** · 10-11-2009, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

I'm pretty certain I know the sleeper, but never got a chance to ask him when I saw him the other day.

SJ! This is the Sowal area 51! You HAVE to get us the dirt!!!

**Lake View Too** · 10-11-2009, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by scooterbug44

SJ! This is the Sowal area 51! You HAVE to get us the dirt!!!

Yes, Scooterbug is right. What if he was an ALIEN????!!!.

**Caroling** · 10-11-2009, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

I saw those ropes hanging from the bridge. Never seeing crab traps tied to the bridges like that, I pulled one up out of curiousity (on the north side of the bridge), and found that it was indeed a crab trap.

I'm pretty certain I know the sleeper, but never got a chance to ask him when I saw him the other day.

I've always wondered if there was any hope for the crabs' long-term survival in E Lake since no one monitors the take. Do you think it is sustainable? Do the crabs have a chance? The ones in a trap I checked were small, 3".

You certainly are teasing us with your sleeper info.