Paddlin' in the Rain

This post is a day late, because Blogger was being persnickety yesterday.

My wife thinks I'm nuts for paddling in the cold rain, but I told her that I was no more wet, than if I had rolled the kayak only once. I went paddling in the rain mostly because of the post that Bonnie had about her day in the rain. It was really enjoyable. I never heard a single boat motor for the entire three hours that I was out. I only saw three people, the whole time. I had the whole lake to myself.

When I got home I was treated to a fantastic post by Keith Wikle about his trip to Qajaq Training Camp. As a new father-to-be, I was particularly interested in what Keith said about family. For a long time I used to be the guy that was single and going where ever I wanted, and spending money on what ever I wanted, while all of my friends were at home with the kids. Now its my turn, and frankly, I am really excited about being a daddy. All of those bachelor years seem really hollow when I look back at them today. What did I accomplish? Being married and expecting a child feels like a much more rewarding way to live. Let's face it, even when I was single, I wasn't going to go paddle around South Georgia Island, or Newfoundland, or Madagascar. All of my paddling is a lot closer to home, and that's the way it will stay. As for my wife, she doesn't paddle, but she knows that I need to paddle, and provides me with plenty of opportunities to do so. I look forward to one day taking my daughter paddling with me. The hardest part will be leaving a nervous mommy on shore. =8^}

Thunderstorm Racing

I paddled a leisurely three miles on my local lake tonight. I stopped at the county park and used the porta-can. After I stowed my sunglasses and hat, I donned my goggles and nose plugs and performed three extended paddle rolls just outside of the swimming buoys. I think that I have reached a plateau in my pursuit of rolling excellence. I need to seek out some expert advice on how to improve my rolling. I'm positive my rolls are not pretty, but they work. To steal a line from the movie "The Firm"- "It ain't sexy, but its got teeth." Oh well, I can work with teeth.

The total distance tonight was six miles however, and the return trip home was not so relaxing. After the rolling, I heard a "Thunder-dunder" off to the west. So I took a big swig from my water bottle and got down to a serious forward stroke. Heading westward, straight into the dark sky, I concentrated hard on a loose grip and lots of torso rotation, the good kind of torso rotation, from the core, below my navel. I covered the last three miles tonight in 35 minutes. That's a sustained average speed over 5mph. I even got a blister on the ball of my foot, from "peddling" the kayak, trying to fully transfer all of my forward motion to the hull. The cool part is I don't even feel sore now. I must have been doing it right!

I made it home before the bad stuff arrived. Just a few sprinkles, and the worst of the storm pasted to the north anyway. It was a good workout.

Wildlife

A nice picture of a turtle. He held still for me to get real close...highly unusual. He only scrambled off the log, after I bumped the log gently with my bow.
A "stick bug" waiting for me when I got home. I don't know what they are really called, but it looks just like a twig. I had never seen one before this one, and then I saw two different ones, five minutes apart. I grew up in a small town, and I used to live in a highly farmed rural area, but now I live closer to the woods, and I get to see all kinds of wild critters.

Going...Going...Gone.

Hey go check out Kayak Place. It won't be around for very much longer. My friend Wes is going to let the lease run out on the site. Makes me kinda sad.