1st. Day of Spring and the 1st. Full Day of Per's Expedition

Last night, I emailed Per to find out how he was doing, and received this reply:

Hi Tom!

I am trying to sleep, and am very tired! Will write after arrival at first stop tomorrow.

Take care,

Per

When I came in for lunch today, I checked for emails, and found one from Per. After answering his email, I checked for new glass floats on Ebay, then went back to my inbox, and found that Per had answered immediately. He was online. For the next 15 minutes we shared a number of emails, confirming that we had contact, and that the photos from Per's cell phone were coming through. It was a great way to spend lunchtime! As I planted tomato seeds this afternoon, my thoughts were filled with the excitement of Per's find, and the expedition. Once the planting was finished, I could finally get back to my emails to see what else might await me.

Here are today's emails and photos. The first email was sent to the readers of the blog, who are following the expedition.

Hi folks!

Sunny weather today. Arrived at first stop at 12:00 P.M., and left the vessel at 12:15 to begin searching for floats. Shot a few pictures now and then of the jugend style architecture and fishing boats.

Contacted a man who owns several old antiques that belongs to his father, grandpa and gran-granpa. Antiques are very very old, he told me early 1800...this is a cellphone email. Will send new pictures and data when i'm on the internet, hopefully later this evening.

Per

The conversation continued:

Hi Tom,

Having trouble with internet connections etc. I have to resize pictures from my camera into my cellphone, then send them. It's a lot of work! As long as you can receive...I will continue sending from my cell phone. Float found today is super old. I can see from the shape and thickness of the glass and the color, that it is from early 1800. Seller also told me about bottle floats with a neck in both ends. He now has my card, and will take a serious look among his family's old fishing gear etc.

Take good care,

Per

Hello again Tom,

Just arrived at second stop, and weather is cloudy but fine temperature. Just got connected to the web, but it will not last more than a few minutes. Will send you the float's size when I'm back on my cabin-approximately 4-5" long and 2" thick very rare.

Per

At the end of my workday, I found this email:

Hello to you and Nancy,

I am fine now. Yesterday was not so good. Could not get to sleep until 7:00 this morning. Tonight I had a glass of red wine, and am just relaxing. Thank you for your last email, but I'm having trouble reading it, because words are left out when downloaded to my cell phone. Hopefully I will connect to the web on my next stop. Arrival at next stop tomorrow morning at 6:00.

Per

Sure do hope that Per is now over the initial rush of adrenaline, able to relax in unfamiliar surroundings, accustomed to ship noises, etc., and has a good solid night's sleep. Per has been on my mind continuously, and after receiving today's first email with the photos, I had a hard time concentrating on work.

From the first emails about Per's idea of making an expedition, our minds have been working overtime-filled with excitement and possibilities. Since that time, it has been non-stop effort on Per's part to put it all together. Absolutely typical of Per's headlong rush into action. He's a great friend, and keeps this collector motivated.

This expedition might not have "floated" without the additional help of Todd, the Norsknailpounder. Thanks Todd.