Chuck O’Neal, Marty Sullivan, Dierdre Macnab, and Jim Kern brainstorm Florida Trail issues.
Dave Bewley from Sarasota opined that support for completing the Florida Trail from the two biggest agricultural interests in Florida, cattle and citrus, could help tremendously in creating good will for the trail. He suggested that I meet with his partner Stan Dickinson from Winter Park, who might be willing to open some doors for us. I had lunch with Stan yesterday. Indeed he is willing. He said he would write three key e-mails of introduction for me.
I then met with Dierdre Macnab, past president of the Florida League of Women Voters. Katie Ross, regional director for Senator Bill Nelson in Jacksonville, suggested I get the League behind our mission to complete the trail. No response for weeks to my e-mails, but at last my letter landed on Dierdre’s desk, and I got a phone call right away. We met on Park Avenue in Winter Park after my lunch with Dickinson. She brought with her Chuck O’Neal and Marty Sullivan. Chuck will be running for the Florida Senate from Winter Park. We had a wide-ranging brainstorming session on how to complete the trail. A very sharp group with lots of good ideas, a compliment to the trail itself that it can capture the enthusiasm and vision of folks like this. What do you think of “From Fat to Fit on the Florida Trail”? Or, something tamer like: “Explore Florida’s Original Paradise; Hike Sections of the Florida Trail”? Or, “Hike for Health”? Or, “The Surgeon General says Walking is the Best Exercise. We say Hiking is the Best Kind of Walking”?