A small miracle, but a miracle by all means. Yesterday I was coming back from the bank and my phone rang, the caller hung up before I could answer, another call from the same number minutes later, same result. Minutes later another call from a different number. I answered and the voice on the other end tells me his name is Dallas and asks me if I have had a kayak stolen, I reply yes. His response, 'dude I think I have your kayak'. He asked me several questions about the kayak and after confirming several things he said 'this is your kayak man'. Come to find out that Dallas deals in used kayaks, buying, refurbishing and reselling. He recently bought my kayak off craigslist. But before he did by it he actually did a stolen kayak search through the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Dept using the hull numbers from the kayak. Since the kayak was not stolen in Okaloosa County they had no record of it being stolen and since I never registered the kayak with the hull number it did not show up in any other searches. So he buys the kayak to refurbish and resell. While searching the internet to determine a value and looking for a replacement handle he happens up on my original post on SoWal - 'Stolen Kayak' and proceeds to call me (thank you SoWal!!). Dallas lives in Mary Esther so the kayak made it from Santa Rosa Beach to there and has probably changed hands at least twice if not more. I told Dallas I would come over on Saturday and identify the kayak and pick it up but he insisted that he would bring the kayak to me, he was for sure it was mine, and so he did. When he arrived there was no doubt that it was my kayak, a few new scratches and dings but it was mine. I hugged Dallas and thanked him. I am reimbursing Dallas the money he paid for the kayak and have followed up with the Walton County Sheriff's Dept because there is definitely a trail. Hope they find the low life that stole it.
Sorry for the long post but I felt that this story needed to be told as it is simply amazing that the sequence of events lead to the recovery of my beloved kayak. But the most important thing I realized is that there are good honest people out there and Dallas is one of them. Thank you again Dallas and may you receive many blessings forward for your honesty and good nature!!
By the way Dallas works Crab Island selling koozie poles for you drinks, if you see him go up and shake his hand and if you can buy a koozie pole.
Also, thanks to all of SoWal for the support and helping find my kayak. I think I will go for a kayak ride this weekend and contemplate on what has occurred!
A small miracle, but a miracle by all means.
Sorry for the long post but I felt that this story needed to be told as it is simply amazing that the sequence of events lead to the recovery of my beloved kayak. But the most important thing I realized is that there are good honest people out there and Dallas is one of them. Thank you again Dallas and may you receive many blessings forward for your honesty and good nature!!
By the way Dallas works Crab Island selling koozie poles for you drinks, if you see him go up and shake his hand and if you can buy a koozie pole.
Also, thanks to all of SoWal for the support and helping find my kayak. I think I will go for a kayak ride this weekend and contemplate on what has occurred!
A small miracle, but a miracle by all means.
