The Glass Dragon

By Stan Farrar

This book was written in the belief that someone will read this then do what I did and more. Fulfilling their childhood dreams and living the life we all wish for in the clear blue waters of the exotic islands and the cold water of the Northern and Southern parts of the Globe.
To anyone who can find the courage to overcome their fears, if only when they realize that there is no longer anything in this World to fear, because death is breathing down their neck. Thus, giving them a freedom that few can understand.
I once went to the foot hills of the Adirondack Mountains and lived in a cabin for five years with no electricity or running water, my version of being a “Mountain Man”.
I spent a week in the Mohave Desert riding dune buggies I worked on. Only someone who has seen a desert can understand this.
I spent time prospecting for Herkimer Diamonds like sailors and other adventurers the quest for a bigger score keeps the miners longing for more. Those of us who have tasted adventure inherit a restlessness that can't be satisfied. If it wasn't for people like this, there would have never been an America.
This country was founded by free spirits, and free thinkers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stan Farrar
• Release date: Mar 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311229908

Book preview

The Glass Dragon

What Do I Do After Cancer?

Copyright 2013 Stan Farrar

Published by George Williams at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One - Willow

Chapter Two - The Hudson and Lake Champlain

Chapter Three - Lake Champlain

Chapter Four - Lake Champlain to the Sea

Chapter Five - New Jersey

Chapter Six - Sunrise Beach to Atlantic City

Chapter Seven - The Delaware and the Chesapeake

Chapter Eight - North Fork to Georgetown

Chapter Nine - The Hurricane to Florida

Chapter Ten - Florida and the St. Johns

Prologue

This book was written in the belief that someone will read this then do what I did and more. Fulfilling their childhood dreams and living the life we all wish for in the clear blue waters of the exotic islands and the cold water of the Northern and Southern parts of the Globe.

To anyone who can find the courage to overcome their fears, if only when they realize that there is no longer anything in this World to fear, because death is breathing down their neck. Thus, giving them a freedom that few can understand.

I once went to the foot hills of the Adirondack Mountains and lived in a cabin for five years with no electricity or running water, my version of being a Mountain Man.

I spent a week in the Mohave Desert riding dune buggies I worked on. Only someone who has seen a desert can understand this.

I spent time prospecting for Herkimer Diamonds like sailors and other adventurers the quest for a bigger score keeps the miners longing for more. Those of us who have tasted adventure inherit a restlessness that can't be satisfied. If it wasn't for people like this, there would have never been an America.

This country was founded by free spirits, and free thinkers.

Chapter One – Willow

What do I do after Cancer?

I had to ask the question no one wants to have to ask themselves, but some of us have to and I'm one of the unlucky ones who suddenly woke up one day and realize the worst possible thing that you can imagine has happened.

When a Doctor says you have cancer.

Now that the worse that can happen does and there is nothing left to fear you can become the master of your own destiny or what is left of it.

How does such a thing happen anyhow?

Maybe it's because I used to smoke, before I had a heart attack. Or was I just one of the unlucky ones?

Am I being punished for some unforgivable sin I committed?

Why didn't God protect me or help me by catching the cancer in time to spare me the great amount of suffering and the permanent damage to my body?

Who is to blame Myself, God, the Doctor Kip Beard of Beckley West Virginia who told me I had a kidney stone, the Company He worked for, the Social Security Office that sent me there?

I think all of these. I was stupid enough to believe a Doctor who had to subsidize his income by working for another agency because He wasn't a good enough Doctor to support Himself by having enough patients in his own practice.

Why does the Government allow incompetent Doctors to practice medicine?

I also trusted God to protect me from such a terrible disease, I had helped so many others in their times of need that I believed I could count on God in my time of need.

We all know of severely disabled people who died while trying to get assistance from our government.

My close friend William (slugger) Hess was just one of many I knew of, He was injured in a coal mine accident where I understand rocks fell on Him breaking His back, He lived on pain pills afterward for many years until His death only a few months after He received financial help from the Government in the form of Social Security Disability after years of being denied.

My friend Art Whitman took His own life, like so many others after suffering for years with depression, and not receiving much needed help.

Americans like to categorize others and are quick to pass judgment without ever actually experiencing the pain that others endure on a daily basis.

I hear so many people tell me that anyone can find a job and have money if they want to these are usually the same people who can't pay their bills but think others can do great things without money.

I suppose I could understand the reason the States fighting so hard to keep people from receiving Social Security Disability moneys if they weren't so broke, it makes no sense to me that the States can't afford to operate on their budgets yet do everything possible to see that sick or injured people are denied financial help whether it be a matter of Workman's Compensation or Disability money after all they are going to spend the money in that State. If the State they are in makes it too hard for them they should simply go somewhere else to spend their money once they get a settlement.

So what do you do now that your life no longer has meaning and you are on borrowed time? I compare myself to a frog in a biology class where someone dissects him removes organs then tosses him back into a pond to see how long he will live.

I suffered for eight months believing I had a kidney stone when I had bladder cancer, which evolved into stage three cancer, and spread to my prostate. Then, the only treatment was radical surgery. This set of events resulted from the misdiagnosis by the Social Security assigned practitioner. This doctor assured me I had a kidney stone and guaranteed I didn't have prostate cancer. I donated the removed organs to Science.

With nothing to lose and no better answer I decided to do what could to live my dreams, you know the ones you have as a child where you see everything in roses and bright sunlight only high feathery clouds in the sky and golden sunsets. I decided to get a sailboat and do the exotic Islands

My whole life I have been a dreamer and I think there are other dreamers as well. While reading a story or viewing a movie the reader can be anything He or She wants to be. You can become the one who is having the adventure, and you can change it in your dreams to however you want to.

People have the gift of imagination, and can put themselves in whatever situation they choose. With so few opportunities for adventures left in the world, Sailing is probably one of the last ways that a person of any financial means can still have an exciting and thrilling adventure. I am not writing this for others to live my adventures. But to give some advice to anyone who is daring enough to undertake their own. The Country is full of arm chair heroes who watch others play their sports, catch their fish, drive their racing machines, and live their lives. I hear all the time from people how they could do all sorts of things if they had someone else's money or if it was them. I don't see how anyone could get addicted to T.V. talk shows, judge shows, and this or that real police, what sorry lives so many Americans live.

This book illustrates some of the many mistakes I made on my epic journey and many misconceptions I had about Sailing. I hope that this book gives others wishing to do the same an advantage over me and maybe this will help them to avoid doing things that could lead them into danger. This is true and written as honestly as I am able some things were left out of course but I hope all the important issues were covered. I didn't go into the rigging of sails because there are a lot of different ways that a Boat can be rigged, and many options. I don’t consider myself knowledgeable enough to give advice or to try to categorize all sailboats.

Where do you get a sailboat especially when you have no money?

I decided to visit my sister in South Carolina and while there I checked the price of sailboats on Craig's list, but the prices were absurd. I did have a good visit there, since after surgery I can no longer tolerate cold weather and it was winter in New York.

From there I went to visit a friend Barney, who lives in Florida and stayed there for a period of time while still looking for a sailboat. Again I had no luck in finding a sailboat that I could afford.

My search lead me to travel along the Gulf Coast, I had no idea of the beauty I would discover along the way. The Gulf Coast is never talked about as a beautiful vacation area, I don't know why because that is just what it is, a paradise. The white sand beaches go on forever it seams and the road is so close to the ocean you can almost see the fish as they swim in the warm water.

Then I came to the familiar sight of destruction. We live right next door to parks rivers lakes and places that other people travel sometimes hundreds of miles to see and we take these things for granted because they are too easy for us to view or just too easy. The same goes for Hurricane, Tornado, Floods, Ice Storms, and other disasters, but once you have been a victim of a disaster you understand what others are going through. I worked as the Construction Coordinator for The Prespitory of West Virginia where I evaluated damage to flood victim’s homes and properties. I also supervised the projects that the volunteer workers preformed. The look of exhaustion and shock on the faces of both the volunteers and victims alike is unforgettable; they become emotionless people moving as if programed like robots. Here I was again seeing people who had suffered from a disaster again I question the caring of God for not just the people but for all that is affected.

While I was living in Atlanta, Georgia a Tornado struck downtown Atlanta it happened to be the night before I went to Grady Memorial Hospital to be checked out for what I thought was a kidney stone, which turned out to be bladder cancer. The windows had been blow out of many of the upper stories and the emergency entrance was closed. It seemed almost like a ghost town that morning instead of crowds of people everywhere there were only a few people about, the familiar absence after a disaster. The streets were blocked off to through traffic, and broken glass was scattered everywhere.

I lived in the small City of Mullens, West Virginia in 2001 there was a flood, I and the rest of the City watched as the waters rose due to rain until the water level reached 14 feet in the Fire House. The whole town I included watched in fascination as the water rose, it was exciting until it was over and we assessed the damage. The amount of damage was unconceivable there was over a foot of sand on the streets, power and water were cut off for two weeks, and homes everywhere were damaged or destroyed. The National Guard came and kept people out at night. If it wasn't for the Red Cross bringing food and cooking for us we would have gone hungry. Of course the different Church Groups played an important part in helping the people who stayed there. FEMA was there but was of little benefit since it was one of the first real disasters they had to address.

As I traveled along the Coast I felt that for a moment I was back in the mountains of New York as it became dark late in the evening the white sand appeared as snow along the Coastal Highways. I wasn't home sick just reflecting on what the winters of the past had been like another life ago, when I was a different person, not necessarily a better time but a different time never to be relived.

I searched along the roads close to the Coast but I didn't see any sailboats for sale. I continued along the coast seeing damage and destruction from the Hurricanes and the slow and lengthy task of rebuilding houses and highways.

I could understand keeping aliens out of the United States, if this country wasn't in such desperate need of rebuilding.

When I think of the so called alien problem I reflect on the stories told to me about actions of my ancestors. In the early 1900's they rowed boats from Germany to the United States in search of a better life, no different than what the Mexicans are doing. The tales go on to say that when there was a storm at night all the boat would gather the next morning to see how many were lost to the sea during the night.

So the problem in my opinion is not too many Mexicans just simply not enough industry in the United States. Whose fault is that? No organization alone can rebuild all that I saw destroyed during the Hurricanes nor can this be done in any reasonable length of time. The money sent overseas to fight a war we have no hope of winning would have gone a long way in helping the American people who had lost everything in a so called Act of God. It seems impossible to save the economic future of America by borrowing money and spending it overseas instead of taking care of our own people.

As a student of martial arts I studied books such as the Art of War written by Chang Tzu which was the Chinese philosophy of fighting and winning a war. He states that to fight a war in another country coast three times as much as in your own country. Art of War explains the philosophy for battle which the Middle Eastern countries are incorporating. These tactics have proven themselves to be very effective over thousands of years of successful applications in Asia. Shock and aw doesn't work when a country is fighting against an attacker. People with nothing to lose have little if any fear of death, just ask someone who has had stage three cancer and knows that it may return at any time.

There are things worse than death.

There is one thing that a person not used to the Gulf coast should be aware of that is the giant

bridges which are all along the way, there are bridges high enough that huge ships can go under them, some that seem to stretch on forever. I was nervous about crossing some of them. I have met several people who won’t go there because of them.

Traveling further I turned South along the Texas Gulf Coast where the destruction was far worse than I could had imagined Galveston Island which I had heard so much about was virtually buried under sand and the road running along the coast was gone. The state parks I had planned on spending nights at were no longer there. There again I searched for a sailboat, but the few boats I found were either too badly damaged to repair or were being auctioned online.

My finances were dwindling and I was forced to give up my search for a sailboat along the Gulf Coast. I had seen many sailboats for offered with online sales lists in