River Yak

You Want Quality RiverYak Posts To Read?

2008-10-15T19:43:00.002-05:00

My birthday and Christmas are both coming up. I'm getting old as crap, so I figure I need to start seriously documenting my life before its over. I have come up with a solution to make this blog worth reading again while at the same time relieving my aging memory the burden of storing the events of this fleeing life.

A new camera!

With this camera, you will have wonderful things to read and see on the blog and I won't have to worry about forgetting all the awesome things that happen to me everyday. I could just take a picture!

Remember - Birthday and Christmas, right around the corner. Can your conscience assume the shame it will undoubtedly endure if I don't get this?

Here's a big hint on how to get this for me...split the cost among yourselves. I'll love you all, but I will personally make you my best friend since you thought of it. But it's a secret, so don't tell anybody else.

Fair winds and following seas...

All Politics and no Paddling...

2008-05-23T21:28:00.004-05:00

One day while I was paddling on the Rivanna River, I looked between my knees in the kayak at the load of garbage I had collected from the water. After a quick glance at the banks I realized my kayak was not big enough for collecting the amount of trash that had accumulated in my beloved river and have any kind of effect on the situation. At that moment I started brainstorming ways to fix this garbage uprise.

While drifting with the current with a soft breeze on my face and the stench of spent 40s in my boat, an idea slowly formed in the hazy area I call my mind. The words "Public Awareness" popped into my head, unexpectedly. So I continued brainstorming on ways to make the public aware of the rivers plight. The first thing that came to my mind was advertisements in the newspaper. Every time I went kayaking I would take pictures of the garbage I had collected during the day. My idea was to post these images in a newspaper ad with a quirky sentence or two to try to make people take an interest in the river. I researched advertising costs and realized this approach was not in my budget.

Mrs. Yak and I had been watching this video blogger called "Ze Frank." His blog was extremely successful and received loads of attention. I thought I could do the same, but little did I know how hard it is to get on the first page of a Google search with just the words, "Charlottesville," "Rivanna River," and "kayak." Ze Frank also has video, which is pretty cool and cuts out misspelled words and typos by about 100% or so.

I don't have the money to waste on advertisements, nor do I have a voice for radio or a face for television, thereby decreasing the odds of a successful video blog by 80%, if my math is correct. So, here I sit at a keyboard on a free blog service I found by accident. Almost like fate or karma, or like, it was meant to be. It was such a spiritual moment for me when I stumbled across blogger.

Next thing I had to do was create a name for the blog. I wanted something catchy, easy to remember, and pertinent to the material. Believe it or not, I made up the word Riveryak. I don't know why I spelled it River Yak when I set up the blog, but the proper spelling is Riveryak, or RiverYak for added spunk. One word. The word itself is an animal I made up one day while paddling and pretending to be on assignment for "National Geographic." I was on the hunt for the elusive riveryak, a species of Yak that is found near, um...rivers.

So I had my mission-write a blog about the ailing Rivanna River and any other paddling trips I take. I had a fitting title-www.Riveryak.blogspot.com, I even wrote it on the side of my kayak in 2" block letters. The blog would be updated weekly, except when I was excited and updated it two or three times a day, or bored with it and didn't update it for half a year. And sometimes I get off topic, such as the last post that I didn't even title.

I was talking to someone at work the other day about the blog. He said he enjoys reading it, but it's not "a life altering event." (People hate talking to me because they know it might get blogged.) I was shocked for a split second and my feelings were badly scorched until I realized I never meant for this to be "life altering." I am not a political journalist, hell I'm not even a journalist. I'm a paddler that gets off topic every once in a while and needs the threat of losing one of the five readers I have. I love kayaking and I'm passionately patriotic, but oil and water don't mix.

This is a paddling blog, with a lot of conservation being preached. I feel that political blogs are fruitless since nobody is going to get along over current issues anyway. I must never allow myself to be distracted and turn attention away from paddling and towards Washington. Although, it will happen again. As a matter of fact, I have an unpublished post about my thoughts and feelings on exploring new places to drill for oil. Whenever I finish checking the facts it will be posted. You've been warned.

I appreciate my uncle's comments on the previous post. And my sister in laws, too. Uncle Pink told me in an email to publish more comments. I would if I got some! Evidently there are a few people that actually read my blog, but I never know it because nobody ever comments! Or they try to blow my cover with too much information.

As Uncle P said in his comment, he is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. My other uncle was in the Navy (God have mercy on him, he didn't know any better), and I have a brother in law in the Air Force who is deploying soon, again. Uncle Pink was merciful in his comment. I was actually a little nervous to read it. I guess I forgot that we are family and he has tact. By the way, Uncle Pink, I would have published your comment even if you had done as I was expecting and ripped me a new one!

Fair winds and following seas...

2008-05-08T22:21:00.003-05:00

A number of things have been going on lately that have had me thinking. The things I think always sound great in my head but sometimes get lost in translation when I speak. I have found that keeping these things inside until I can't take it any longer then blogging it rather than talking to rational, competent and intelligent people about my ideas allows me to keep thinking I am rational, competent and intelligent. It is only after I have spoken the thoughts that I sound like a lunatic. Or get the feeling that I am sounding like a lunatic from the looks on the poor people's faces who are unfortunate enough to be within my comfort zone when I have had enough and need to vent.

Item number one that is bothering me: Have you heard about the cyclone that tore through Myanmar? Surely you have. The last numbers I read were estimating over 20,000 people dead and that number is expected to reach 100,000. 100,000!! I thought 20,000 was bad. I mean, 20,000 people is about the same size as the town I am from. I don't know how many people reside in the county I grew up in, but I bet it is less than 100,000 people.

How bout that government that didn't warn anybody a freakin' killer cyclone was nigh? Now that same government is blocking aid from foreign countries, saying, "Nah, we got this one man. Maybe next time." Think about this...most of the casualties from this cyclone aren't dead yet. The only reason they will die is because their government can't get over their pride and ask for help. That sounds so familiar...

Warning...I'm about to bring up 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina!!...Warning

Do you remember Iraq offering assistance with the recovery efforts of 9/11? Don't feel bad if you don't (actually, yeah, feel bad. You need to pay closer attention), because our own government blew them off like a sparrow in a hurricane then blew them up. I bet you remember "Shock and Awe." Maybe we did have that one covered and rescued as many survivors as possible, but how many of the rescuers were killed when the buildings suddenly collapsed? You know, the collapse nobody saw coming. How many rescuers have died since because of "Ground Zero Syndrome?" It is possible we don't know everything and could have used some intel, at the least, from a country that has experience with suicide bombings.

Hurricane Katrina-the Feds did not arrive for DAYS after the hurricane. The only reason they did come was because the cities that were wiped off the map had no infrastructure left and could not manage the situation. They had to BEG their own government to help. The Coast Guard wasn't even called in until after FEMA evaluated the situation! Isn't this the role of the National Guard and Coast Guard? Did I hear them wrong when they went over this stuff in bootcamp?

In an effort to appear humane, our government is "putting pressure" on Myanmar to allow relief aid to come in and help. This probably shouldn't piss me off. Maybe our gov has learned a lesson from 9/11 and Katrina and has come to the realization that some jobs are too big for one little operation to handle. But then again, I doubt it. How fucking pretentious can a government get? The same government that cried like spoiled brats about helping its own citizens during THE SAME TYPE OF CASUALTY is now trying to stick it to a third world country for acting the same way. Fascist anyone?

I have to stop before I throw a clot and die a terrible death. Keep up with the situation in Myanmar. This should be interesting.

Fair winds and following seas...

A New Bottom for the Kayaks

2008-03-21T14:51:00.012-05:00

I was going to title this post "Something Uncle Pink Will Be Interested In" because it features the newest piece of equipment in our livery. Before I could get any pictures of the new Land Rover and make a post on here, Uncle Pink was crowding my inbox with curious inquisitions into our latest purchase. Since he has heard the story already, it's no longer a surprise so a new title had to be cleverly made up on the fly.

See that? "Special Vehicles." Gotta be cool, right?

1997 Land Rover XD, limited edition. Only 250 were built and all were shipped to the U.S. The package includes front brush guard, roof rack, tail light covers, yellow paint scheme with black decals and a Land Rover Special Vehicles badge and sold for $35,000 new (NOT what I paid). I have seen pictures of others with a broader black stripe on the side and a large Land Rover decal under the rear window (as looked at from the angle of this photo). I want those decals but it seems Land Rover stuff is hard to come by. I will let you give me $1000 if you notice what is missing in this photo.

Front view with my upstairs neighbor walking by. I didn't get him to sign a release to allow his photo to be taken, so don't tell him you saw this. Bright fog lights for blinding these assholes in Virginia that don't believe in dimming their headlights. Really they are much worse coming up behind you with their brights on then they are about coming at you. I plan on installing a light on the rear of the truck just for that reason. The little bars that cover the headlights had to come off for inspection. According the dick at Merchants, nothing is allowed to cover the headlights or tail lights. I had to take the tail light covers off, as well. They came from the manufacturer that way, and evidently have never been removed. Louisi-fucking-anna didn't give a shit about them, even. So after 11 years of salt water and road grime, they had to come off. Most of the hardware broke, so I had to use all my military engineering training to rig some shit to get them back on. As you can see, it was a success.

Rear tailgate with detail of the ladder leading to the roof rack. I have climbed the ladder every day since I bought it. I've always wanted a vehicle with a ladder. You may be thinking the ladder is most likely obstructing the drivers view through the back window. Well, it isn't, which is OK because you can't see anything out the back window anyway. Those are the tail light covers that had to come off. I'm still pissed over that. Oh, yeah. They also broke my headlight and told me I did it! I was able to fix it, thank God, because Rover parts are not in any way affordable. See the cool Rhino spare cover. I can't figure out if it was purchased in Louisiana or Florida. I found the original window sticker and it was from a dealer in Florida, but the tire cover says New Orleans. I'm guessing it was probably sent to New Orleans from Florida as a special order. No biggie to me, because since Katrina, it's now cool to be an advocate for New Orleans and it's always been cool to support Rhino's. I'm a real philanthropist for keeping this cover on the vehicle. Don't let it fool you, though. The spare is flat.

Interior. I hope this posts the way I laid it out in the template. You would not believe how hard it was to get those pictures to set up side by side. The interior is in excellent condition. Because of the light I wasn't able to get very many pictures of the inside. There are some cool nets attached to the overhead that serve as great storage for my GPS (thanks mom!), hiking trail maps, DogYaks portable food and water dish, and other assorted odds and ends. You may be able to see in the center console picture that there are separate climate control knobs for the passenger and driver. This is an excellent feature since Mrs. Yak and I rarely agree on a temperature setting. Two vents in the console supply air to DogYak in the back seat, along with power windows so we can easily crack a window when he farts.<--Made you laugh with a fart joke. :) But, this "luxury SUV" with it's separate climate controls and air vents to the rear passengers for 35 grand has no cup holders in the back and those in the front don't fit any cups. Maybe that has something to do with why Americans are fatter than the British. Do they have smaller cups?

I haven't put the kayaks on it yet. I'm not too sure they will fit since the roof has that drop in it behind the front doors. I am probably going to have to buy some cross bars and attach the kayaks to those. We'll see.

Our big trip for this year is Ocracoke again. We were planning a trip to Key West with a night or two camping on the Dry Tortugas. But our computer died and Mrs. Yak needs one for school, so we used our Key West money on a new computer. I think I mentioned that in the last post.

We have rented a house rather than camping this year because Mrs. Yak's sister and her husband, their new baby, and Mrs. Yak's mom are going, also. Hopefully this year we will actually take pictures. More on this later.

In the meantime, enjoy some more pictures of the Land Rover and think of a name for it. RoverYak won't work because I already thought of it and it's too close to JeepYak. Bumble Bee and stuff like that is disqualified, as well. If somebody can think of a good name for it I might send you a RiverYak sticker, if I can find them. I still owe people stickers from the last contest, so don't count on actually getting anything. If I can't find the stickers, I'll be your friend for a day! How does that sound!?

I thought I had more pictures, but I don't and I don't feel like editing what I already wrote.

Fair winds and following seas...

New Computer=More RiverYak

2008-02-13T17:42:00.002-05:00

The computer that I bought in Alaska back in 2002 finally died. Mrs. Yak and I had been planning a trip to Key West, but the funding for it went into an awesome little Macbook that we have fallen in love with. Good news for all you RiverYaksters out there, though, since a new computer means more updates to the blog! "Oh my, how exciting!"

Unfortunately, nobody will be reading about an exotic adventure to Key West on this blog. Not for a while anyway. We still plan to go, so we have been referring to this hiccup in the plans as a "postponement" rather than a "cancellation."

The weather should start warming up as soon as February has finished crapping on us. We haven't had much snow, which means there won't be that rush of water in the river this spring when the snow melts off the mountains. It has been raining quite a bit but it's been too freaking cold to play in the water. How can it be this cold and not snowing? Where is the rain coming from? Have I been bad and God is reminding me what it's like to live in Juneau as a warning?

This all boils down to the fact that I can't wait for March and 60 degree days so that I can try out the river now that the dam is gone. Remember a few posts ago (I'm feeling lazy and don't want to search it out to post a link, go look for it) I mentioned the Woolen Mills dam had finally been breached? You probably don't, but a dam has been breached and now the river runs like a river and less like a lake. I've discovered a few areas that will probably be alot of fun with the right amount of water. I can't wait for March.

I'm cutting this one short. Keep an eye on here for more activity. Hopefully I will do a better job of keeping up with this thing.

Fair winds and following seas...

Let Me Tell You About the Smart Asses in my Life, Then I will Tell You About Our Ocracoke Trip.

2007-10-05T13:47:00.000-05:00

Most of my readers think they are sooo smart. Start with you Mel. I rejected your comment about me linking to a certain last name so now the whole world knows my last name. You should be a detective, except I'm one step ahead of you. This blog can only be googled with RiverYak. I'm very keen on keeping any form of I.D. from being typed into the body. If you noticed, until a few weeks ago I had a picture of myself on the front page. I don't know what happened to it, but it seems to be gone for some reason. So in short, the little shits at work cannot google my name and find this blog.

I'm not a nine year old girl, so I'm not worried about predators discovering things about me. Those of you that know me should have in mind that I work with criminals. Those are the people I don't want finding this blog and reading it.

OCRACOKE, NC

Way back in August, Mrs. Yak and I took a trip to the Outer Banks island of Ocracoke. The outer banks are a group of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. We drove our little car down there (on 3/4 of a tank of gas) with both of our kayaks strapped to the roof. The trunk was loaded with our tent, sleeping bags, clean clothes, paddles, PFD's, and assorted safety gear that Coasties generally always take to the beach.

This was my first trip to the OBX (slang for Outer Banks, only used by those in the know, like myself and 13 million other people), and I have to say, I was disappointed. The drive down to Ocracoke which lies at the far southern end of the N.C. OBX was no different than any other beach I've been to in the South. Heavily developed, crowded beaches with traffic jammed roadways were the icon of our drive. I've never understood why people drive everyfuckingwhere they go! The beach is no more than two blocks from any place of lodging, yet the roadways were clogged with SUV's and 4x4's going to the beach. Amazing why this country is so fat.

We were supposed to be at our campground before 10:oo PM, but because of all the traffic, we were delayed over an hour. The ferry runs every half hour during the day, then every hour at night until midnight. At 9:30 PM we still had about 60 miles to the campground. That mileage includes a ferry ride from Hatteras to Ocracoke. Just my luck, I got stuck behind some son of a bitch driving 35 MPH in a 55. There was a shoulder in some areas, but he wouldn't pull over. Finally we hit a long straight section of road so I was able to pass him. Not knowing how much farther the ferry was, I drove an undisclosed speed and arrived at the ferry terminal at 9:50.

Mrs. Yak called the campground to let them know we were going to be late. The guy on the phone didn't have any problem with that and told her to set up camp and find him in the morning. Good news since we were imaging the worse and figured we wouldn't have a place to stay that night.

The ferry arrived and we departed on the long ride to Ocracoke in the most narrow channel I have ever seen a boat that size navigate. Most of the buoys weren't lit, so the captain was using a spotlight to find the reflective dayboards that marked his path. Crazy.

I thought the ferry landed in Ocracoke and we were done driving. Nope. It lands on the opposite end of the island that the town lies on. Fifteen more miles to go and the time was now 11:00 PM. We pulled into Teeters Campground pretty late that night. I don't know what time it was. We had no problem locating the owners, they were the two guys sitting in the lit garage of the only house on site drinking Miller Light. It was apparent they had been in the garage drinking Miller for quite some time.

One of them stumbled in front of us as we followed in our car to the site that would be home sweet home for the next 6 days. I need to put here now that the owners of the campsite were awesome. The campground had hot showers that were decently clean and large tent sites. Everytime we saw the owners they were all smiles and friendly.

We set up camp by the headlights from the car and fell fast asleep in our little tent. We purchased the tent for this trip but also with future trips in mind as well. It isn't a large tent because we wanted to keep the weight down so that we could hike with it, but also be comfortable on car trips. We set the tent up in the back yard when it first arrived and lounged in it for the afternoon getting to know the most comfortable angles to adjust it and so forth. At that time it seemed so big and roomy...

The following morning we woke up and stayed in our domicile for a while before climbing out and making breakfast. When we finally did breach the comfort of the tent we found ourselves surrounded by log cabin sized huts that loosely fit the term "tent." I even joked with one of our neighbors that if it gets really nasty out, could we set up our camp inside their tent. Everything we had with us, including the car and kayaks, could have fit inside their tent.

We spent a lot of money on our little home. Even though our tent was much smaller than our neighbors, it cost about the same, and in some cases it cost more. I knew in my heart though there was a reason we paid a premium for our well designed and constructed tent. One thing you can always count on while spending a few days at the beach is a good wind storm. I think it was night three while we were reading books and eating Oreos in luxurious comfort that the neighbors were running around in the wind and rain chasing flailing tent pieces and frantically staking them back down. We would have slept rather well that night, had it not been for the neighbors tent flapping in the wind.

Now the good stuff. We went kayaking! I kayaked once in Alaska in the ocean, but other than that, this was our first taste of salt water blowing over the bow. On our first full day in Ocracoke we stopped in a surf shop that also gives kayak tours. Mrs. Yak started chatting with one of the girls that works in the store, getting all kinds of useful information about the best places to paddle. She even told us about the shops put in and gave us permission to use it and leave our car there for the day. "By the way," our fellow paddler said as we exited the store, "Watch for the ferry when you exit the channel. You don't want to be in the channel when the ferry comes in."

Now that we were in the knowledge of the local paddling grounds we spent the remainder of the day walking around Ocracoke and getting aquainted with the little town. The following day we parked our car at the surf shop and headed towards the channel. As we were putting in a ferry left the channel and one was still loading at the dock. The channel was clear so we made our way out into the open water.

Wind driven swells greeted us just out of the channel. We learned really quickly that stern-to swells will take control of the kayak from you and do whatever in the hell they please with your boat. Out in open water this was tons of fun. Closer to the rocks in the channel, it sucked. But we did enjoy playing in the waves. At one point we found a sand bar. If a wave was caught just right, it would carry the kayak up and over the sand bar without having to paddle or hit bottom. That was about as much entertainment a person could ask for.

Around the point we discovered some creeks that the surf shop employee told us about. I was out in deeper water and Mrs. Yak was closer to shore looking for rays. I was playing in the swells but also keeping an eye out for fish and rays. At one point I looked at the place I had last seen Mrs. Yak, but she wasn't there. Hollering for her was futile over the wind and waves, so I paddled to the place I last saw her. It wasn't until I was almost on top of the shore line that I saw her in a creek. The entrance was completed camouflaged until you were in it.

We paddled the shallow water as far into the creek as we could. Shrimp were jumping from the water into our boats. The banks and most of the bottom were smothered in a layer of Hermit Crabs of all sizes. Some of them were by far the largest Hermits I have ever seen, even of those in aquariums. Their conch's were every size and color making each one a temptation to pluck from the water to survey.

Finally we hit the bottom and had to walk our kayaks out of the creek. Shrimp continued to bombard us during our walk out and Hermit crabs scurried out of the way of our stomping feet. Back in open water we played in the waves some more before pulling onto a beach for lunch.

This area played host to hiking trails. Mrs. Yak and I are not people to pass up a good hike, so we changed shoes and secured the boats from floating away and spent the next few hours hiking. We rested under a giant oak before heading back to our boats and finally calling it a day.

The rest of our trip was pretty definitive of any trip to the beach. We played in the surf, shopped, and ate lots of not very good food. Ocracoke was Blackbeards hideout, and ultimately his last battle ground. Blackbeard lost his head in the area where we had been paddling, which is now called Teach's Hole. Blackbeards name was Edward Teach.

We went to all the Blackbeard memorabilia shops and museums. With all the information posted about Blackbeard and pirates in general, I didn't learn anything I didn't already know. It's a little disappointing when one realizes he knows pretty much all there is to know about a topic. I guess that's me with pirates...I've read too much about them, now there isn't really anything else for me to learn. I got a coffee mug, although I forgot to get a t-shirt. No problem, we'll be back.

On the drive home we stopped at another hiking area on Ocracoke where we saw a Vine snake. Once back in Virginia we stopped at the Dismal Swamp. Sounds cool huh? We are planning a kayaking trip there. Stay tuned for that one.

We didn't take the digital camera, but we bought a waterproof disposable while we were there. Maybe some day I will get those pictures on here so you can see.

Fair winds and following seas...

If blogging was a sin, I'm sure I would be doing it more often...

2007-06-28T22:48:00.000-05:00

It's getting so damn hard to keep up with this blog. But I'm persistent and will do whatever it takes to type some black across the vastness of white that fills my screen. Whether it makes sense or not, I don't care. It's a good thing I don't get paid to do this. I'd be broke as shit. Because I don't get paid, though, I can write whatever the hell I want and it won't matter to anybody. Knowing you guys, you'll either read it or not, then come back for the next post. And I love you for it. Seriously.

Since this is a theme blog, I guess I should stick to the theme. Kayaking. Oh yes, those crazy little boats that everybody thinks they would flip over if they ever got in one. I'm a dynamo when it comes to balance on the water and have never flipped a kayak, although I'm sure you would. I'm kidding, seriously.

This brings me to a point that I could write about: Mrs. Yak and her new kayak. They are getting along just fine. Neither has gotten the other too terribly wet, although the two of them put together have been the source of several soakings for me. Seriously.

We haven't had the boats out in a while, but I'm sure we'll go play in the water this weekend. Too bad we're not in Texas right now. I hear there is plenty of kayaking going on down there. My mom called me the other day and left a message asking if she could borrow my kayak because of all the rain. Seriously.

No mom, you can't borrow my kayak, but you did give me an idea for a trip! Speaking of trips, my cousin emailed an idea for a trip that was a little out of the parameters I set forth, but it intrigued me so...I still owe her a sticker. Oops. I haven't forgotten it, I just haven't sent it yet. I'm not going to make any promises because my last name is Johnson and you know how that always plays out, but I'll do my best to get a sticker in the mail this week. If you have no idea what I'm talking about see the side bar for trip contest, or whatever I titled it, I can't remember. Seriously.

That will do for now, but before you shut down your computer and go back to trimming your toe nails, or whatever it was you were doing that is more exciting than reading this blog, check out my brother and sister in law-to-be's new blog: mistyandjonjohnson.blogspot.com. That is as hard to type as it is to say. Seriously.

That's all for now. Be safe, wear your PFD, and remember kids...kayakers do it with paddles.

Fair winds and following seas...

Addendum: What's up with the "seriously"? I wanted to see if I could end every paragraph with the word "seriously". At first, I thought it would be difficult being how I would have to actually think each paragraph through and consider sentence placement. After the second paragraph, though, I realised you can say "seriously" after ANYTHING and it works. All you have to do is change the inflection in your voice to make it fit the tone of the sentence. Seriously, I could have put it at the end of every sentence. Or beginning. I left it in because I wanted to see if anyone would notice it, even though it killed the mood of the post and probably left the reader questioning my aptitude while trying to drink the word "seriously" out of his brain. Dude, seriously...

Here to Finish What I Started.

2007-06-18T23:32:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Yak is officially a kayak enthusiast. We added a bright blue (called "Cloud") boat to our fleet on Saturday. This brings our fleet total to...well, two.

We couldn't wait to get the new kayak into the water. So Saturday evening when we returned to Charlottesville with the new boat on top of the car we made a bee line for the reservoir. We splashed our boats and Mrs. Yak was as happy as a duck in a pond. I tried to give her some pointers on paddle technique such as stroke length, how to hold the paddle and use large muscle groups to paddle rather than arms only. She seemed more interested in seeing how fast she could paddle the boat, quickly blowing me off and then started ramming my boat. It didn't take her long to figure out that paddles are very efficient tools for splashing people. I had to beg her not to splash me and explain that the water gets on my glasses and I can't see. Thinking about it now, I can be a real pussy sometimes.

We paddled up the reservoir to my favorite areas for watching wildlife. I've been wanting to take her to this area ever since my first trip here last summer. The animals didn't let me down and were out in abundance. We saw several deer, one that scared the crap out of Mrs. Yak as it ran towards her in a couple of inches of water. Thankfully, it veered off and ran away, saving Mrs. Yaks "When Animals Attack" debut for another time.

The beavers were out milling around collecting twigs that they carried back to their lodge. Turtles weren't in short supply either, basking on logs and swimming to the surface here and there for a sip of fresh air. We even saw a large, dead snapping turtle. Ducks and Geese swam around the islands with their babies crowding their mothers.

We only paddled for an hour or so before heading back to the car. I didn't get a chance to try out the new kayak, but Mrs. Yak seemed to be thrilled with it.

Today I got to try out the new yak. Mrs. Yak was at work so I seized the moment and took her boat to the river. It's easy to paddle but a little small for me. The cockpit is tighter than my boat. I say this because I can't really find anything that my boat is better at. Oh well. More about that next week.

Fair winds and following seas...

No Time To Talk

2007-06-10T03:49:00.000-05:00

Hello everybody!

I haven't been keeping up with the blog because there hasn't been any blogworthy stuff going on. Work has been keeping me so completely preoccupied that I have only had the Yak in the water twice this year. The first time I had to wear my dry suit and heavy weather clothing. I couldn't stand to see my kayak hanging in the basement any longer, so I braved the wind and snow and went paddling. The second time was a few days ago, but it was extremely boring so I only stayed out for a few hours.

There is good news for my diligent and good looking readers! Mrs. Yak and I have decided to get another kayak! After expressing my concerns to her about how boring it is to paddle alone, she informed me that she has been wanting to get a boat, but feared she didn't have time to paddle. Pish Posh! We have made time, now we just need a boat.

On Saturday we are hoping to solve that issue. We found a really cool store here in Virginia that stocks over 2500 kayaks and canoes, so hopefully we will be adding another member to our little family this weekend.

In my last post I promised good news would be coming soon. Be patient, my darling readers. Good things come slowly, so you should be hearing something by August 1.

Gotta run for now. It's 5:00 AM and I don't have time to finish this post. See what I mean? Soooo busy....

To be continued...

What's In Store For '07

2007-02-04T02:05:00.000-05:00

As you may have noticed (or not) I have not been keeping up with the blog very well. That doesn't mean there hasn't been anything going on. On the contrary, Mrs. Yak and I have been hitting trails and doing some light travelling in the last few months and making plans for the upcoming year. 2007 looks really exciting around the River Yak compound.

The most exciting trip we are planning at the moment is a road trip to Ocracoke Island, the North Carolina area of the Outer Banks where the infamous Blackbeard made his last stand and lost his head. It all started with a trip planned to the island for a few days to get away and go to the beach. Then one day an idea popped into my head while on the phone with Mrs. Yak. "What do you think about camping in Ocracoke rather than getting a hotel room?" I said to her rather hesitantly. To my relief she became very excited about the prospect of camping and we quickly dove head first into figuring out what we would need to make it happen. Before we got off the phone she had found three good campsites and we eagerly agreed on one. We have to wait until the site opens in March before we can make our reservations so we started looking for a tent.

Since we are car camping and not backpacking we are not worried about the weight of the tent, but room. Because we plan on spending about as much time in the tent as we would in a hotel room, we decided a three or four person tent would fit our needs better than a practical two person tent. After we got off the phone I began searching for tents and found "The One." A three person, three season tent called the Mutha Hubba (actual name). Mrs. Yak fell in love with it as quickly as I did and the decision was made.

Next on the agenda is meals. Are we going to eat out or make our meals at the camp site? Being budgetly challenged, we decided to eat out as little as possible. This will require a camp stove, a viable little gadget that we are still searching for. We have some models in mind, and being that cook stoves are comparatively inexpensive (compared to the tent) we have pushed this to the back burner (ha ha, get it?) and will worry about it later on.

Since this is a low budget trip we have decided to get cheap sleeping bags from a box retailer as opposed to expensive bags from an outfitter such as The North Face or Patagonia. From our research into this matter we have found no important differences between a $30 sleeping bag from Target and a $200 sleeping bag from REI. We are camping in the Outer Banks in August, not competing in the Iditorod.

The tent will cost as much as a hotel room, but as you will see in a bit, this is not the only camping trip we are planning this year. Therefor, the cost of the tent will be justified by the time we get to Ocracoke and we can spend the savings over a hotel room on Blackbeard paraphernalia. I can't wait to get a Blackbeard sticker for the kayak!

Before the Ocracoke trip, my wife will be taking an Independent Study class at school which will require us to hike and camp in the backwoods of Shenandoah National Forest. That trip should yield some great photos and stories for you to view here.

The one trip we are taking this year that does not include camping is for my brother's wedding in September. It seems we can't do anything without being in the water or the woods anymore, so we had to come up with something to make our trip to Weatherford worthwhile. Not that seeing my brother get married isn't worthwhile, but Mrs. Yak and I aren't happy with going anywhere unless we can get wet or muddy. There aren't any "real" hiking trails around Weatherford, so we have decided to rent a canoe at Possum Kingdom Lake and paddle around for a day of bird watching and turtle gazing. I mentioned this to my brother to see if he would like to go, but he didn't seem interested. At all. He did, however, express an interest in going to Six Flags to ride roller coasters with us. I guess canoeing on a lake isn't as thrilling as roller coasters.

About a month ago, Mrs. Yak and I set out on the Rivanna River Trail that begins not far from our house. The trail is planned to circumvent Charlottesville, but has yet to be completed. We planned on taking lots of pictures and posting the hike on here, but in usual Riveryak fashion, I forgot the camera. We walked the paved part of the trail that we have walked countless times before, waving and saying hi to people we met and enjoying an unseasonably warm day.

Just before the pavement ended, we encountered a thick bamboo grove. Mrs. Yak could not resist the temptation to go into the bamboo and hide from people as they walked by, just a few yards away. I didn't think we would be able to get into the bamboo, but somehow she found a little path inside there that was just enough for us pass. My backpack kept hanging up on the large stems and they would shake violently as I pathetically tried to free myself. If nobody could see us, the shaking bamboo would surely spark their interest as to what kind of animal was lurking in the dark thicket. We hunkered down as a family with several small children passed slowly by on bicycles. Nobody saw us, but then again, I doubt anybody was looking. A few more people went by unaware we were watching them stealthily from the bamboo. She found a way to get deeper into the bamboo so I followed as she squeezed through the tightly woven stalks. The bamboo would shake and rattle noisily as my pack kept snagging and holding me back. We would have been very covert had it not been for all the bamboo.

The bamboo parted on the river bank and I was able to walk upright and more stealthily, even though we had lost the cover of the bamboo. We found a bench on the river bank and sat there for a little bit with the bamboo behind us and the lazy river in front of us. Small children had now found our new hiding place. One of them was particularly observant as he called out to the others, "Hey! There are some people over here in the bamboo!" We moved around to keep them looking. The others, less observant, never found us as we crept back through the bamboo. Even with my pack shaking the hell out of the bamboo as I tried to squeeze it through, the kids didn't find us.

We emerged from the bamboo back onto the paved portion of the trail listening to the kids inside still trying to find us. "They were right here!" Mr. Observant would holler to his disbelieving friends. We got the best of them. He never should have opened his mouth. Now he looks stupid.

The pavement finally ended as we stepped onto raw trail. There weren't any people on this portion and, had we not known better, would have sworn we were out in the woods somewhere and not within 100 yards of a neighborhood with busy streets. The trail followed the river for a little way then diverted up a steep hill and onto a road. Slightly bewildered by this, we followed little placards that were tagged to light poles with arrows on which road to take. After about twenty minutes we found were the trail left the street and headed back into the woods.

The trail took us down a slight embankment to a small stream. From here the trail split and crossed the stream or kept going in the direction we were headed. We opted to not cross and continued in the direction we knew would eventually take us to one of the busiest roads in Charlottesville.

When Mrs. Yak hikes, she likes to stop and smell all the flowers and turn over all the rocks to see what may be living underneath. Most of the time I don't mind this because she is very good at telling me about the flowers and what their names are. Usually she finds some sort of wildlife living under the rocks, and is always equally impressed by each find, even if it's a colony of ants. But at this moment it was getting dark and neither of us knew how much further we had to go before reaching the road we wanted. And doubling back to where our car was parked was not an option because neither of us likes to see what we have already seen.

I urged her on, trying to be polite and compassionate about her needs to smell the moss on the trees and turn over rocks, even the ones she had to dig up in order to flip. She understood time was running out but her curiosity as to what might lie beneath that rock and that rock got the best of her. When it finally became too dark for her to see under the rocks she let me know that my constant preening about the time was OK and she wouldn't turn over any more.

At one point a nicely built, well planned boardwalk had been constructed over a particularly wet section of the trail. Along this was some more bamboo that Mrs. Yak absolutely had to go into. I tried to wait patiently as she disappeared into the dense bamboo, but the thought of werewolves and anything else evil that could be lurking in there raised the hair on the back of my neck. Hiking in the dark is OK, but the prospect of hiking in the dark next to bamboo that she had disappeared into completely frightened me. If I couldn't see her with her brightly colored clothes, how the hell was I going to see a werewolf in there?

To my relief she emerged from the dark abyss and we continued on the boards until we reached a set of stairs that led up to a road. It wasn't the road we wanted so we continued down the other side and discovered a post with a stash of trail maps. In the dim light we studied the map and figured out where we were and how much further we had to go.

The sun did not wait on us and the trail grew completely dark before we reached our mark. When we finally did, we found that the trail does not lead up to the road. Instead, we had to cross under it before going up. It was pitch black under the bridge and large boulders had been dumped down there to prevent erosion. We stumbled our way through, praying there was not an escaped criminal hiding in the darkness. Because we are generally lucky people, we did not encounter werewolves or escaped convicts. Now the hard part: getting back to our car without getting run over.

We walked the familiar roads of Charlottesville back to the park where we had left our car (passing our house on the way). About halfway back, I remembered the city closes the gates at all the parks at sunset. We trudged on in the ever cooling night hoping to find open gates.

Indeed the gates were open, but once in the park the truly terrifying moment of our hike started. We couldn't see our hands in front of our faces so we cautiously and quietly crept through the parking lot listening with all our might for any little noise that hinted danger. From the trees just beyond our car came an unnaturally loud "CRACK" that sounded like a blunt object striking somebodies head. We stopped and looked at each other holding our breath trying not to make any sounds. Again, "CRACK!" We started walking briskly towards the car. I dug in my pocket for the keys. Before reaching the car, it happened again. I unlocked her door then quickly and as quietly as I could crept around the front of the car to keep from turning my back on the source of the sound. One more time, "CRACK!" I grasped the keys tightly to keep from dropping them. Mrs. Yak unlocked my door as I approached it. I quickly climbed in, locked the door and drove the hell out of there.

A few days later we realized we had a three day weekend when neither of us was doing anything, so we decided to go somewhere for the weekend. I am always looking at boattrader.com and am always seeing boats for sale in a small town on the Chesapeake called Deltaville. A couple of times I have looked up the town to see what it's like and always found neat little things about it. The towns website makes it look like a quaint little Victorian village on the Chesapeake bay. Not long after we decided to go, I received an invitation in the mail from a yacht brokerage in Deltaville to get into a boat show in Richmond for half price. So we decided to go to the boat show, then head down to Deltaville and check it out.

Mrs. Yak found a nice little hotel in town and a hiking trail not too far away. Being that we were going in the winter and the website said the hotel was open year round, we didn't make any phone calls. We planned on getting there then checking into the hotel if we decided to stay.

The boat show had some interesting kayak displays and a sailboat that I have been wanting to see. It was a small show, so we only stayed for about an hour then headed to the Bay. It was dark when we arrived in Deltaville, so we drove around for a little bit and found all the places we would like to visit the following day. Eventually we stumbled upon the hotel we read about on the Internet. We drove down an ill-kept road and turned into the dirt parking lot of the hotel. To our dismay every door was open to the rooms and mattresses sat outside propped against the wall. Hmmm.

Someone was walking around on the second floor balcony where the mattresses were propped. We sat in the parking lot for a little bit then decided to keep driving for a little longer before checking in. We drove past the hotel and found several marina's along with the yacht broker that sent me the half off deal for the show.

It was getting late so we decided to go back to the hotel. The lights were all still on, but we stopped on the side of the road before pulling into the parking lot. Mrs. Yak called the number on the sign to see if they had any rooms. She talked to somebody for a little bit before hanging up and informed me to keep driving. When she asked if any rooms were available, the person on the phone said he would have to check. I guess while she was on hold, Mrs. Yak made the decision for the person and decided they didn't have anything. I would have thought they could have poked their little head out the office and noticed there weren't mattresses on the beds and said no, but evidently it took a little more reckoning then that.

We drove back into town and found a gas station. While Mrs. Yak went inside to find a phone book I took the opportunity to top off the gas tank, just in case. She hadn't come out when I finished so I went inside and asked if they had a restroom. I was directed to the side of the building where a Porta-Potty stood. No problem, I thought to myself, until the door shut and I realized Porta-Potties do not come equipped with the necessary lighting required to see what you are doing. And the latch had been taken off the door. After peeing in what I figured to be the right place, but could have been the floor, I walked out of the potty checking the bottom of my shoes.

Mrs. Yak had found a hotel in Gloucester and acquired directions. After figuring out we were going the wrong direction and two more phone calls to the new hotel, we found our bed for the night and settled in. I grabbed the phone book and dialed a couple of pizza places because we didn't feel like going back out. Nobody delivered to that area of the county. So we loaded back into the car and found a Ruby Tuesdays where we waited outside for about 30 minutes for a table.

The next day we left the hotel early and headed for the hiking trail Mrs. Yak had found in one of our hiking books. The trail was in a state park with lovely facilities that put the gas station Porta-Potty to shame. We hiked to a bird watching blind, but the sun was reflecting brightly off the water, effectively camouflaging all the birds. So we continued on. After taking a short cut that turned out to take us back to where we started, just a little wetter, we hiked out to a point and picnicked with delicious food packed by Mrs. Yak. Another perk to hiking with her, she knows how to pack good food that fits in a backpack.

We got back to the car, feet wet and shoes soaked from our scenic short cut, washed up in the tidy facilities, then headed back to Charlottesville with more memories and large grins. Just no pictures because I forgot the camera...again.

I have been kayaking, but nothing note-worthy. Mrs. Yak wants to hike more and we are looking to get her a kayak. 2007 appears to shaping really well and we both look forward to an exciting year in the outdoors together.

Fair winds and following seas...

A Pirate Looks At 30

2006-11-20T03:24:00.000-05:00

Well, welcome back...I guess. That last post did not go in my favor. My faithful readers turned on me and voted with Mrs. Yak. She won. No Jeep. I'm really going to have to break down and buy a car, though. Do you realize how long it has been since I have been kayaking? September. TWO months! $300 for a roof rack for our car, and I've used it once!

I Need Your Help! did prove a few things, though. Number 1: My Grandmother will ALWAYS vote in my favor. If I were to title a post, "Should I kill Everybody Who Voted Against Me?" I would be able to count on her to vote, "Yes, do you need to borrow a rifle?"

Number 2: Uncle Pink and my brother have come to the conclusion that I am a "Tree huggin' Hippie." I believe that was their words. Sheesh. I'm no Tree Hugger! Granola, maybe. To prove I'm not a "Tree Huggin' Hippie," my wife shaves her legs. So, there!

To rub salt in an open wound, my uncle told me about his Jeep Cherokee after voting against me getting a Wrangler. Yeah, well...Your name is Uncle PINK!! (In my Uncles defense, this is a really cool nickname because he happens to share a surname with Pink Floyd. To show his excellent taste in music, he and I share a fascination of Pink Floyd.) And, yes, I know Pink Floyd is the name of a band, not a person.

Have you noticed my profile mentions something about talking my wife into getting a bigger boat? Since everybody but me seems to think it's a bad idea to get a Jeep, I have begun negotiations with her about getting a boat. Surprisingly enough, a nice boat can be had for $5000-my intended down payment for a Jeep. Click on "Buy Me A Boat" in the links and do your own search for sailboats with a max price of $5000. Most of the boats will come up in the range of 25 to 30 feet long. That's a nice chunk of real estate for getting me to my dream destination-the Caribbean!

The negotiations began tonight. It went like this:
Me: Instead of getting a Jeep, can we get a boat?
Wife: Blank stare.
Me: I was planning on putting $5000 down on a Jeep. I was figuring I could use that money to buy a boat.
Wife: Where are we going to keep it?
Me: In the water at a marina.
Wife: How much will that cost?
Me: I looked into it last summer, but I don't really remember.
Wife: Well, we need to see how much insurance and slip fees will be.
End of negotiation.

That is what I have been researching tonight. Insurance will remain unknown until I pick out a boat. Evidently, insurance companies won't give a quote unless you have the specifics on a boat. So I moved on to slip fees. I found a really fancy marina in the Chesapeake Bay and decided to check it out. For $230 a month, you get a slip with electricity, water, and cable T.V. Electricity is metered at the dock and paid by the boat owner monthly. The same for water and T.V., but I wouldn't need either of those. The catch, 230 times 12 equals $2760. That has to be paid upfront.

Those prices are for a 30' boat. Marinas charge by the foot. There are some smaller marinas on the Chesapeake that don't charge nearly as much. I'm pretty sure I can find a marina that will charge less than $5 a foot per month. All I need is something to tie to and electricity to keep the batteries charged. I don't care if they have a pool.

I came across a few interesting things tonight while searching for boats and marinas. When I saw this one, I laughed so hard I thought I might wake up the day-walkers upstairs. The tag for that website is "Really Cool Amphibious Vehicles." Really cool is NOT what I was thinking while laughing at them.

On the other hand, this is really cool. A luxury submarine! To hell with sailboats, I'm getting one of these! It's 213' long with four decks. Notice, though, there aren't any photos of their submarines. That's a dead ringer they have never built one. I don't know if I trust a company that can't afford to build a prototype, or even a model, of their product that purportedly dives to 1000' for days at a time. I'll wait until Richard Branson gets one. Maybe his will go on the market at a reasonable price a few years later.

I also found a cruising boat that resembled the Enterprise. The bow was a huge bubble mostly encapsulated with a large, darkly tinted window. Nestled inside the bubble was an extremely Trekie bridge. I didn't bother bookmarking that one, it was so ridiculous. At least they had working models to take pictures of in action.

I'm having another birthday this week. This will be the 28th since that ominous Thanksgiving day in 1978. Thursday will mark my 4th Thanksgiving birthday, counting the actual day of birth. As I was typing that, I think I figured out why my grandfather sometimes calls me "turkey."

If this quarter century goes as quickly as the previous, I'll be done with this world in what seems like a couple of weeks. I've enjoyed my twenties and I'm not looking forward to my thirties. But then again, I enjoyed my teens. My twenties blew that teenie bopper crap right out of the water! I don't know if I'll be able to hold on tight enough if my thirties blast my twenties.

In my teens, I went to a fairly cool high school. I was fortunate enough to get out of school every now and then to travel all over the place. In what turned out to be a one sided deal, I fell in love for the first time. I took my first flying lessons, then blew all my flying lesson money on my first love. As hard as I tried not to, I graduated high school, got dumped by my first love, got drunk for the first time, ran out of money for flying lessons, then started college without any direction on what I wanted to do with my life. So I followed the direction of my elders, turned twenty, and decided to do something other than go to college. I could always go back later, right?

I farted around for a year, turned twenty one, got drunk for the second time, then joined the Coast Guard. Graduated bootcamp on Thanksgiving day, my birthday. 21 to 25 was lived year to year with my eye on that "End of Enlistment" date. I got to do some really cool stuff, but I made it fly by looking too far ahead. I do know what it's like to live in Alaska. Few people know the joys of driving an old Jeep across the country for a girl. None of my friends know what salt water being sprayed from an HH-60 feels like on your face, or how to perform a J-turn at 45 knots without being thrown off the boat. I have done CPR, both successfully and not, pulled people from a boat while it was sinking, and felt the pleasant sting of O.C. Pepper spray in my eyes. I played toss with a seal 25 feet under water, saw starfish clinging to the edge of a wall, and know what it's like to lose a power tool to Davey Jones.

Before 25, I met the first girl I loved that loved me back and figured I'd better hold on to that and tight! So I got married. At that point I started living more in the moment and things began slowing down. Except the years still flew by in a flash.

I sit here a few days shy of 28. I have been married for four mostly happy years: I found out I'm hard to live with, I needed more diversity in my wardrobe, and the food I was eating wasn't good for me. Giving up Ramen Noodles was the hardest part of getting married. I haven't gone back to college, although a date is set, and I know what I want to do. I haven't finished flying lessons, but I could if I wanted to. What does thirty have in store for me? A bigger boat?

Fair winds and following seas...

I Need Your Help!

2006-11-06T04:55:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to convince Mrs. Yak to let me replace JeepYak. This should work:

I don't know what her problem is with it. Ok, sure it averages 17.5 mpg, and as with JeepYak1, I am going to spend a ton of money on it to make it look more like this:

The above photo is supposed to be watermarked with the photographers website. For some reason, the mark went away. That picture was borrowed, with permission from www.project-jk.com. Visit his site to learn a ton of information about the new Jeep and see pictures of it.

I'm not worried about MPG, though. JeepYak1 was a 2003 with 28k miles when I sold it. My commute to work is only 3 miles, and I still have the 75+ MPG Vespa. Honestly, the Jeep would rarely be driven. You may be asking yourself, "Why does he need this Jeep, then?"

There is a perfectly simple and logical answer to that question. I need a stylish way to get to and fro the river with my kayak. This Jeep is the only way I have found to be able to do that. My kayak would not be happy on top of any other vehicle.

Of course, there are many other reasons why I need a 4 door Jeep with 4" of lift and 35" tires. There are after market manufacturers that offer a roof rack for the hardtop. I could easily carry several kayaks on top and the associated number of paddlers inside along with all the required gear in the back. When trippin' alone, I can carry my kayak and bike on the roof, camping and other gear in the back, and still have room to pick up a hitch hiker or two.

The rear seat doesn't come out, as it did in JeepYak1. Instead, it folds down flat, much like most cars. With the addition of an air mattress, I can sleep back there. This would greatly decrease my expenditures on hotel bills while traveling to those epic paddling sites. Cost saving benefits!

The new Jeep also has available power windows and door locks. For $800. I thought I had my mind made up not to get the power options because I could not find window controls for the back seat drivers. And it costs $800. I was worried that if anybody were to fart back there, they would not be able to discreetly roll down the window to ventilate. Instead, they would have to embarrass themselves by asking a front seat occupant to crack the window. But, it has been brought to my attention that back seat passengers do indeed have control of the windows. The switch is located on the back of the console.

The driver has the ability to lock the windows. That is very useful in the art of "Dutch Ovens," where the driver farts and locks the windows so nobody can get fresh air. That feature alone makes it worth 800 bucks.

"But why do you need my help?" you may be asking. I need your help to convince Mrs. Yak that this Jeep is a good idea and a smart purchase. The benefit of being able to sleep in it will save about $65 a year on hotel bills alone! She doesn't seem to understand that the one or two times a year I stay in hotels costs a lot of money.

Also, it will make me more attractive to the ladies--- by this, I mean her since she is a lady. This thing could save our marriage if she ever decides I'm not attractive enough for her anymore!

She has deduced that the monthly payments, not counting insurance, will be more than we pay for housing. I need you to convince her that it's not that big of a deal. So what if we have a vehicle that's worth more than our house? Revert back to the hotel savings.

Sully, our dog, misses JeepYak. I think he would like having his own door, that's why I want the 4 door instead of the 2. How can she deny this for the dog?

As badly as I want one of these new Jeeps, my driveway is going to have to wait a while before being graced by its presence. We are still paying for the Vespa and Sully's surgery. Hopefully, by the time we have those paid off Mrs. Yak will be convinced that a new Jeep is in order. I don't think I can do this without your help, though.

Consider this post a petition. If you think it's a good idea, reply to the post with a YAY and send money. If you think Mrs. Yak is correct and we don't need anymore Jeepyaks, reply with a NAY and send money. If for some reason you can't send money, it's OK, your vote is still important. It would help me to get a Jeep if you would buy a t-shirt, though!------->

Click here to leave a reply.

Fair Winds and Following Seas...

An Email From Stopglobalwarming.org

2006-10-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

HISTORIC MILESTONE FOR STOP GLOBAL WARMING VIRTUAL MARCH

This week the Virtual March grew to over 500,000 marchers! The movement to stop global warming is here, now and growing louder each day. The diversity of our new partners goes to show that we are all part of this problem, and we all need to be part of the solution. New partners include Pastor Tri Robinson, pop culture designer Paul Frank, Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, The Los Angeles Zoo, Me&Ro Jewelry, and rock band Guster.

Thanks to the Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo music festivals, and to marcher Bon Jovi, for encouraging music fans this summer to join the Virtual March.

GLOBAL WARMING THREATENS RICH FALL COLORS

While the Virtual March continues to grow during the fall, the icon of the season – changing leaves – is being threatened by global warming. Click here to read more about global warming's threat to New England's rich autumn colors.

Another surprising impact from global warming is the recent declining pumpkin crop. The severe rains of the spring and extreme heat of the summer has directly reduced the number of pumpkins grown in the United States. One farmer reports that his normal crop of 70 tons of pumpkins shrunk to only 12 tons this season. Now we are talking about our Halloween jack-o-lanterns and Thanksgiving dessert.

FALL ACTION TIPS

By marching, you have taken the first step to be part of the movement to stop global warming, but perhaps you are asking, "What else can I do?" Here are a few action tips for the fall:

* Get five more people to join you on the Virtual March.

* Check out "Ten Tips for an Earth Friendly Halloween"

* Buy "Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You!" which has lots of ideas for becoming part of the solution. Stop Global Warming Marchers get 25% off. Click here to buy (enter code SGW06 at purchase for discount).

* Watch Virtual March partner The Weather Channel's new weekly show about global warming, The Climate Code with Dr. Heidi Cullen.

* Pick one StopGlobalWarming.org Take Action tip and start doing it in your everyday life.

It's not about doing everything; it’s about doing something – even just one thing. The solution is you!

Keep Marching!

Laurie David

Founder
StopGlobalWarming.org

To sign up for the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, please visit http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

If you do not want futher messages from Stop Global Warming, simply go here and we will remove you from our list.
Buzztone, 15260 Ventura Blvd. Suite 2100 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

Some of the things we have done around the RiverYak compound, all thanks to the Brother in Law that lives here:

We have replaced most of the light bulbs in our house with efficient fluorescent bulbs. A 60 watt bulb actually uses 15 watts, producing 800 lumens of light, and averages 6000 hours of use!

During the winter we winterize our windows with a thin, clear plastic film that sticks to the sills with two sided tape. Heat is applied to stretch the film tight over the window. When installed correctly, the film cannot be seen. Once or twice, a hand has been stuck through the film in our house because it is so hard to see! This prevents drafts, making the house stay warm without running the heater 24/7.

In the summer, we utilize fans and open windows as long as possible. In this area, that is possible, but probably not for Texas. To minimize air conditioner and heat use, seal off rooms that are not used, insulate the duct work in your house, and dress for the conditions. Although we have already had several frosts and freezes this fall, we still have not turned on the heater. Instead, we have added more blankets to the bed, sleep in pajamas, and wear comfortable fleece sweaters when we feel chilly.

To minimize our water usage, the bro in law purchased a rain barrel that connects to a gutter. The water trapped by the barrel has been used to water our garden for most of the year. This has greatly reduced our water bill.

With these efficiency standards in place at our house, our electric bill averages about $50 a month. The utility bill (water, sewage, gas) however, runs closer to $100 a month. This is because our house is not insulated very well, we don't have a dishwasher, so we end up using more water to wash dishes, I take long showers (I know I'm a terrible person), and a few other problems with the structure that are out of our control because we rent. Still, we are far below the average household energy usage of a two person dwelling, even though there are four people living here. This just goes to show that small changes can make a huge difference in your utility bill, as well as living a low impact lifestyle that is good for the environment.

Another area we save a little money on is garbage. Charlottesville charges by the bag or can, depending on how you want to pay for it. We recycle all our paper, cans, plastic, and cardboard. Our food is composted in the backyard, and will be used in the garden next year. This leaves a few non-recyclable items to go in the garbage. We have gone as much as one month without putting out the trash, but we usually do it every other week. Remember, we are doing this with four adults. It isn't very hard.

Engergystar.gov says if every American household would change just one light bulb to an Energy Efficient Compact Fluorescent bulb (the type we use), the country would save 5.6 billion killowatt-hours of electricity per year, or $526 million dollars a year in electric expenses.

When those old bulbs burn out, try to replace them with the Energy Efficient fluorescent bulbs and watch your electric bill. I promise it will decrease, plus you're using less energy. Using less electricity is a good thing for the consumer, the environment, and our health!

Fair winds and following seas...

What's Going On?

2006-10-17T23:08:00.000-05:00

I guess I should consider myself lucky to have the one affiliate that I have. In the past couple of weeks, I have been turned down by two other companies. Do I suck that bad? My failures have made me fall even more in love with Backcountry.com for being so generous. Now if I can just win the Goat Sighting contest! Click on the banner to see what that means (I don't get paid for clicks, so click away). Scroll down and click on the Backcountry.com Blog link. There you will find all the info about Goat Sightings and why I stuck one of their stickers on my kayak for C.R.A.K.

The last few weeks have proven to me that in order to be a successful kayaking blogger, one needs a car in order to get a kayak to the river. Granted, I no longer have a car payment (since selling JeepYak), but I also no longer have a way to get my boat to the water. Yes, I do have the Honda. But, that is actually my wife's car, and she won't skip school or work to let me use it. I could kayak in the back yard and blog about that, but I don't think you would enjoy reading about a guy dodging dog turds in his backyard. Even if it does involve a kayak. There must be a cabby out there somewhere with a roofrack on his taxi.<--- Ooooo, I might be onto something with that one!

Here is a compilation of what I believe is needed in order for me to become a better blogging kayaker, and what those items cost:

A new computer. The current model is old and beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Plus, my wife has outgrown this one with her school work. $2000
A car. I like the Scion xA<---not a typo. It is inexpensive (as far as cars go), gets excellent fuel mileage, and I can see over the roof, which makes me feel taller and loading kayaks will be much easier. $15,000 plus insurance, tax, title, license and inspection. Yuck.
A 10 mega pixel digital camera with interchangeable lenses and speed shooting capabilities. $1000
An expensive video camera that will make me look like I know what I'm doing while carrying it around. $2000
A sponsor: Priceless.

That's $20,000 so far! Looks like you people better buy a bunch of t-shirts, otherwise this blog is going to hell. And the Devil isn't happy about me coming, either.

I have a trip in mind that I would like to take, but it will be next Spring or Summer before that unfolds. In the meantime, I need another trip. Something within 200 miles of Charlottesville that I can complete in a few days. I have considered the Great Dismal Swamp, mainly because it has a cool name, but camping is only allowed in one area. That greatly inhibits any RiverYak style exploring. The New River would probably be cool, but I don't know anything about it.

So, I have a proposition for anybody reading this. Whether you are the one devoted reader I have, or you just stumbled across here on accident, suggest a trip that I should take. If I accept your trip, I will give you a RiverYak T-shirt. Stop laughing, it's all I have! I'm a desperate kayaker who needs to get back on the water. To encourage replies to this post, I will give you a sticker just for making a suggestion. You simply can not beat a deal like this!

Rack your brains and come up with your best. Just remember, it needs to be no more than 200 miles from Charlottesville and should take at least two days, if not more, to complete.

Fair winds and following seas...

A Day in the Life

2006-10-12T15:38:00.000-05:00

I still have not been kayaking since C.R.A.K., almost one whole month. I could go right now, but the wind is beginning to pick up as a cold front moves in. The cold isn't a problem, because I am lucky enough to have a dry suit, but the wind is hell. There aren't many activities I participate in while the wind blows like this. The only exception is sailing, and I no longer have a sail boat. Even if I did, there isn't anywhere in this area I could sail. Go to the link marked, "Buy me a boat" if you care to remedy this.

I could also work a few hours at my part time job, but I haven't had much time off since I started that job. Therefore, I feel it is in my best interest to sit here and do as little as possible. My wife has two baskets of laundry in our bedroom that I could fold. If that isn't done before she gets home, she will understandably be a little upset. I did take the dog for a walk. And, it's not like I haven't been doing anything at all today. I had training from 8am until 4 this afternoon at my regular job. Attending training and walking the dog is getting something done. All in all, this has been a productive day!

Some co-workers are going out to eat in a little while. Even though I wasn't invited, I could drop in on them. If I hung around long enough, I could probably even convince them to pay for my dinner. But, that would be a little rude, and although I don't wear them on my sleeve, I do have morals. I also have to work with these people. Could I face them if I pulled something like that? Probably. This plan is already foiled, though, because at least one of them reads my blog on a regular basis.

My kayak could use a bath, but then again, so could I. Today is also the day my cat gets his fluids. The subcutaneous fluids leave a large lump on his side. Since he is a Heffepoot, the lump has been coined a Heffelump. I usually do the fluids with my assistant, my wife, but this is something else I could be doing right now, even though she is still in class.

It has been brought to my attention that some of my posts have typos in them. I could be correcting those, but then the blog would be perfect(yeah, right), and that would take away from its character. Kinda like an old car with a story for every scratch and dent. In actuality, I just don't feel like reading all of them to find the mistakes.

Several people have told me that I never finish anything I start. I don't consider myself a procrastinator, even though my wife does. But, she is one of the few people that sees the real reasons why I never finished flying lessons, or never took the test to become a certified firefighter after completing all the required training, and the reason I had to take EMT class twice before taking the state exam(which I scored the second highest score of the night when I finally took it). I don't think procrastination or never completing anything I begin has anything to do with why I am not doing anything at the present moment.

Proper motivation, rather than laziness, is to blame. My wife is not here cracking the needed whip to get me in motion to clean up the kayak, fold the laundry, give the cat his fluids, or work on the blog. The facility nurse took us on a tour of her office area today during our training. Her office is tucked away where nobody can see what is going on in there, nor would they ever think about it because it is so far out of the way. I actually thought about how easy it would be to surf the Internet, talk on the phone, or doodle while in that small, tidy, and neatly organized office. What is becoming of me and my work ethic that I even think of this kind of stuff? Special note to anybody at work who may be reading: The thoughts and observations included in this blog do not directly reflect the thoughts and observations of the real person behind the blog.

My brother in law just walked in, which made me think about the sink full of dishes upstairs. I hear water running now. That makes me feel bad. Motivation initiated.

Fair winds and following seas from a very bored kayaker...

Capitalism At Its Finest: We All Knew I Would Sell Out!

2006-10-09T04:08:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to RiverYak, where I'll always know I'll be free, but the merchandise isn't(unless you're really cool, then you might get a sticker). Notice the new sidebar, complete with a link to the grand opening of the RiverYak Store. Click on the button for RiverYak T-shirts, stickers, and much more!

Why do retailers always use the term "much more?" The only thing I didn't list is an overpriced coffee mug and a refrigerator magnet. But it sounds good to stop short and finish the line with "Much More!"

You may have also noticed the huge banner under the RiverYak store button. Backcountry.com is a company that I have personally purchased gear through and didn't mind posting their banner when they made an offer. I chose the kayaking banner, because, well...this is a kayaking blog. But, they have gear and clothes for every outdoor enthusiast, from snow sports to water sports. While you are checking out their great site, buy me a tent.

Reilly Web and Graphic Design is owned by the great and powerful Meg, who designed the new RiverYak logo that you will see throughout the blog for now on. The logo is also plastered all over the merchandise in the RiverYak store. I couldn't resist seeing it on a t-shirt. If you need anything designed or hosted, Meg can hook you up.

Good news seems to come in spurts around the RiverYak compound. My wife found my camera the other day. With that good news comes some bad news, though. She told me she had a surprise at home when I met her after work a few days ago. "Oh boy!" I replied, and probably jumped in the air. When we arrived at the house, she stood in our bedroom with both hands behind her back and said, "Guess which hand."

"That one," I said pointing. Then I stood and watched her switch the object to the other hand and display an empty palm to me. Eventually she pulled the camera from behind her back while saying, "Good news! You don't have to buy a new camera anymore, because I found yours!"

Good news? I was certain that camera was gone and I was getting this for my birthday. Oh well. I am glad she found it though, at least I will be able to take pictures again, until I get a new camera. I am making enough money with my part time job to buy that camera in a couple of months. Shhhh...she mustn't find out!

I haven't had the boat in the water since C.R.A.K. The weather has turned really crappy and I've been working quite a bit. I'll try to keep posting on here, even if it's not about kayaking. The next trip is looking rather promising, but I would like to line up at least one sponsor before talking too much about it. In the meantime, buy some RiverYak stuff and visit the companies in the side bar. Stay tuned...

Fair winds and following seas...

Day 4: Four Days, Two Rivers, Almost 100 Miles

2006-10-03T23:25:00.000-05:00

We planned on getting up early and leaving as soon as the sun came up on the morning of day 4. Knowing this was our last day of C.R.A.K. and we had a timeline in which to reach Richmond, we missed our chance to get up with the sun in order to huddle like babies in our sleeping bags because it was so damn cold. This was the only day cold weather hit us. Eventually, one at a time, we emerged from our warm cocoons of down feathers and got underway somewhere close to 8am. Fog lifted from the warm river like smoke from a wildfire. Until the fog began to burn off, B.I.L. and I had to keep near one another in order not to loose eyesight of each other. When visibility finally reached decent levels, we took advantage of the wispy fog to grab some really cool photos.

The fog was lifting from the river in spiraling twists of little tornadoes. Fog tornadoes are evidently vampiric in nature, as they do not turn up on film. Attempts to photograph them were futile, and unfortunately this is one natural phenomena you either have to read about or get lucky enough to see for yourself. The twisters rose high off the water until they could not be seen anymore because of the rising sun. They were only a couple of inches in diameter, and did not move from their focal point on the water, but were just as fascinating to watch as their larger, destructive siblings.

Here is a picture I took of B.I.L. taking a little rest early on day 4. The skyward twisting fog is slightly evident in this photo, appearing as jagged finger-like extensions jutting from the top of the smooth blanket on the waters surface. We didn't get very far this morning because of visibility, both from the fog and the glaring sun in our eyes.

About an hour into the day, we found the public area marked on the map. It was a boat ramp next to a highway. We stopped for a little rest and I took the opportunity to some more work on the charts and figure our exact mileage and time to Richmond. While we were there, some high school age kids parked their cars in the parking lot and ventured down a path that led to a hidden hang out under the bridge. One by one, carloads of kids parked in the lot and headed down the trail. B.I.L. and I paddled away and waved back to a couple of them waving at us. This sparked a reminiscing conversation between the two of us about our high school hang outs. In my town, one of our haunts was the river. As sneaky as these kids were, I knew exactly what they were up to. The river wasn't very deep in this area, so I assume they didn't have the luxury of a diving platform as we did in our river. A cop once informed us, "The bridge is not a diving board." To which we promptly corrected him with, "No, it's not springy enough for a diving board, but it's a great diving PLATFORM." That little comment put a stop to our river hang out for a few weeks. The threat of arrest really is scary to a bunch of kids. But only for a few weeks.
The clump of trees in the center of this photo is our island we camped at. To show how little progress we were making this day, notice the fog is almost gone. At this tip of the island lies a pretty good explanation for why there were no private property signs posted. We discovered a birding blind with a state owned sign attached identifying it as a blind. Bird hunting is a sport I have never figured out. How sporting is it to hide in a camouflaged blind a person can't even see with some realistic decoys floating in the water and a bird call? Then when the birds come, the hunters spring from the blind, or just stay concealed in it, and start shooting without really having to aim. At least with training deer to come to a feeder set with a timer, the hunter actually has to aim! Real men hike in bear country, without a gun.

B.I.L. is a sucker for tree houses. This one caught his fancy, with good reason, and he could not resist taking its picture. Not really a tree house, per say, but still cool, none the less. I hope some rich sucker didn't build this for his spoiled kids. I wanted one of these badly when I was a kid. Not fair. It's right on the river, too!

This was the first structure we saw as we began to get closer to Richmond. This area of the river is developed more than the rest of our trip. Sparsely located large houses began to spring up. We still found ourselves in large areas of no development, though. For a while, the tracks ran alongside the river. A train passed in the opposite direction of our travel and honked at us. It's one thing to get a truck to honk at you. A person who can get a train to honk at them is in a whole new class of cool. Inevitably, though, the large houses began to grow closer together as we reached the lake formed by Bosher Dam.

Again, the current slowed to almost nothing in the lake, making for hours of boring paddling. We also ran into more people in this area, but still not many. Another boat ramp made for a nice resting place and we had the thrill of watching a guy we named Bubba put his jet ski in the water. Bubba seemed like a nice enough person, even if he was a few inches from having his shorts cover his ass crack. B.I.L. and I noticed this at the same time and tried to conceal our laughter. Concealing laughter only makes it more obvious you are laughing at someone. There were only three people on the ramp, and two were laughing. You'd think he might pull up his shorts. Nope.

He had a cigarette in his mouth and carried a bottle labeled as tea, but it didn't look like any tea B.I.L. and I have ever drank. We compared our experiences with tea over this subject. After a few seconds of cranking on the starter Bubba's jet ski fired up with enough smoke to put out his cigarette and he noisily sped off, in the same direction we were about to go. "Keep close to the bank," I cautioned B.I.L. It didn't need to be said, we both knew, but something needed to interrupt the following silence. About half an hour later, we encountered Bubba speeding past us, back up river. He waved with the cigarette between his fingers as he hauled up the river.

Later on we passed a boat which two guys were fishing from. Neither of them waved when I did. This automatically made them assholes to both of us. One had a military style haircut, so we brainstormed with each other and decided he was in the marines. They were both drinking, which it is illegal for the operator of a boat to drink. We rounded a bend in the river and they were out of sight. A shallow shoal forced us closer to the center of the river as I heard the familiar sound of an outboard wound up to full throttle. "Look out B.I.L., the marine and that other guy are coming," I said. We paddled as close to the shallow water as we could. In a few minutes the boat rounded the bend and passed by us very quickly. I made the observation to B.I.L. that these guys either knew the river extremely well to be going that fast, or they were idiots. Judging from their lack of the ability to wave and bad haircuts, we deduced they were idiots. An hour or so later, we found the ramp they had pulled out from. A fresh beer can lay on the beach next to the ramp, so I paddled over and discarded the litter in a trash can at the top of the ramp.

Once we were fully in the lake, we saw another bald eagle and two people rowing. The rowers were actually stopped, watching a flock of Canadian Geese swirl in the air above the lake. We stopped, as well, to see if they were planning on landing or if they had just taken off. A peculiar white goose flew with the rest of the flock. This one had a very prominent orange beak and matching feet. I pointed in the air like a flailing idiot hollering at B.I.L. who was a few yards behind me, "A white one! Look at the white one! You see the white one?" Of course he did. The poor thing stuck out like a streaker in a soccer match. If bird hunters ever aim, that is the goose that will be chosen. He doesn't stand a chance of making it past Alabama.

It didn't take long to spot the area the rowers had come from. A public park with an emphasis on rowing was located on river right at the very tip of the lake. We parked our boats to get a closer look. The park was very nice, with the cleanest public restrooms I have ever seen. B.I.L. and I used them because they were so pretty. We both agreed the restroom would make an ideal indoor camping spot, if needed.

There was a lot of real estate on the lake. Most of the houses had docks with pretty nice power boats moored to them. Some even had concrete ramps built, giving the landowners ideal access to the water. A few of the people who lived in this area have attempted to build retaining walls at the water line. It was funny to see the river reclaiming her banks by chewing its way behind the walls. Retaining walls on a river are in no way a good thing. All of the retainers had promoted premature erosion of the banks downstream of them. As much as people think Mother Nature needs help from Man, she doesn't. Maybe people don't realize the river was there thousands of years before they decided to build their dream house on the banks. No matter what is done to tame the forces of nature, it all fails. Even dams crumble.

An exclusive marina was even included on the lake, called Virginia Power Boat Association. Even their website is members only. We searched in vain for a restaurant, but found nothing. They probably wouldn't have let us in, anyway. I mention the power boat club because I noticed a serious lack of sailboats. I didn't see any. Not even a Hobie or Sunfish, which are easily found on any lake. Maybe the current is normally too strong or the water is not deep enough for a sailboat, but everybody seemed to be enjoying their motor boats. Although, we didn't see any boats underway in this area.

The foundation of the lake and our first major obstacle of the trip, was Bosher Dam. Somebody was thinking of paddlers and built a very nice portage around the dam. Thanks! Bosher Dam is a low head dam, just like the Woolen Mills dam in Charlottesville. The dam is a very dangerous area to play. Our boats were a little lighter when we carried them through the portage than they were on day 1, but they were still not easily maneuvered once out of the water. B.I.L. called his wife from this area to make sure she was still going to be available to pick us up. The time was now a little after 1 o'clock. She would be available until 5. No problem, we were less than 10 miles from our take out.

We paddled to the next obstacle, a "Z" dam about one mile from Bosher Dam. Again, somebody was thinking of paddlers on this dam and built the longest portage I have ever seen. The trail was a dirt path just like any hiking trail. I dragged my boat the length of it, then went back to help B.I.L. with his larger, heavier kayak. We labored over his boat, taking turns carrying the heavy end, and stopped several times to allow the feeling to come back into our hands and arms.

A "Z" dam is pretty simple to describe. It is a dam that stretches from bank to bank in the shape of a "Z". I don't know why they are built this way, or what the original purpose of this dam was. I'm sure it started as somebody trying to help Mother Nature. It's another low head dam, but only rises a few feet from the top of the water on the downstream side. Water gushed over it on this day, but it's not really as dangerous as Bosher Dam or Woolen Mills dam. A person could just stand up and walk out of the "Z" dam.

When we finally reached the end of the portage with B.I.L.s kayak, we rested for a bit. I was getting nervous about the unknown rapids coming up and drinking a lot of water. After a few minutes, we jumped back in our boats and headed to the first area of white water called Pony Pasture. Pony Pasture was difficult because there were so many rocks. The passages between them were only wide enough for a kayak. We had to pull our paddles from the water in many areas and let the current pull us through. Close to the end of this set, we encountered Richmond Raft Company with six of their rafts. Not a good sign for me, who was hoping for the water to be low enough to not encounter any rapids.

Some of the areas were pushing my limits as a paddler. I don't have much white water experience, and didn't have a spray skirt on my kayak. We did our best to stop and scout the routes before running, but the water rarely slowed down and pushed us hard all the way through. In most places, we were running ill-advisably blind, that is, we didn't know what the hell we were doing. The photo to the left is the only shot we got of any of the rapids. The water was running too fast for either of us to stop and take any pictures. In the few areas we were able to stop, I was pumping water out of my boat. This link explains this portion of the river extremely well. We ran all of the areas pictured and written about on that site. The last 50 yards was constant class IIIs with a couple of class IVs. We could see our take out point, and I wasn't going to die that close to completion. Keep in mind as you read, I was hitting class IVs without a spray skirt, and neither of us capsized. We are truly amazing kayakers...hold on while I laugh.

Halfway through this section of the River, I revisited God. I prayed in a way I have not prayed in about ten years. I didn't bother with praying to God or Jesus. I wanted to make sure I had the right one, so I prayed to "Whoever is up there." We had a couple of really scary close calls, but in the end we made it. I don't think it matters which religion is right. Something is definitely up there, and It looked out for us that day.

When we reached the calmer waters of the lower James, B.I.L. and I looked at each other in great relief. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. We survived rapids that have killed much more experienced paddlers, I had no more unknown routes and distances to calculate, we didn't get in trouble for trespassing, I made it home the day of my anniversary, and we were on time for B.I.L.s wife to meet us at the dock. A thought popped into our heads a few months ago and with careful planning, and most of all, determination, we made it happen. In four days, two rivers, and almost 100 miles, we accomplished something we aren't sure has been done since the day of the batteau. Two kayakers with a dream tackled the Rivanna and James Rivers. We did it.

I'll end this post with more pictures from the trip that didn't have a place, elsewhere.

I was going for the Pirate look and ended up with the Hillbilly look, instead.

Fair Winds and Following Seas...

Day 3: Commando Camping

2006-09-28T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I hope you haven't given up on me; I worked everyday this week. I can always count on work to suck all the creativity from my soul. Also, I started on this post a few days ago and it got lost. For some reason, I absolutely cannot stand to do something twice. So, it has taken every drop of self discipline that I posses (about two drops) to sit in front of the computer and try to muster any details at all from my memory and write something that isn't an abomination. Good luck, kind reader:
Here we are at Cartersville, the deceivingly small town. My map had this block of houses labeled in bold letters, making me think it was an actual town. You know, with a store, where I could get a nice cup of coffee, a Dr. Pepper, and a new bag of M&Ms. Water crept into the bag from the day before. James River flavored M&Ms are not very good. Luckily though, there was a trash can at the ramp so we were able to get rid of some weight. But, there was no restroom. That would have to wait.

What can I say about Cartersville, other than "disappointing"? Quaint. Quiet. I can't help but to wonder where in the hell these people work. The houses in Cartersville were quite old, but maintained in very good condition. It's one of those places visitors say, "Man, I'd love to live here," and the locals say, "I'm sick of this one horse shithole."

To be fair, Cartersville was very quiet and charming. The houses were all quite old and probably nested well-off people that enjoy quiet, country living and taking care of the old structures. Just don't plan on using it as a restocking point if you are on the river. We obviously didn't see this place during our brief visit. For that matter, we only saw two people: A retired man splashing his fishing boat who didn't know where Cartersville was, and a woman who tried to run over us with her car.

The man with the boat immediately reminded me of my grandfather. Before hitting the beach, I noticed his well kept beard and white hair. He didn't let the image of my grandfather down as we reached the beach and he started into a conversation as if he had known us for years. Apparently, he loved to fish. When he found out we had come from Charlottesville, he went into a story about his trip down the James some years back. He didn't go as many miles as we did, but it still took four days for his journey to conclude. His boat drifted most of the way as he fished the banks of the James River. At night, he camped on islands, eating the fish he caught during the day.

As he told his story, his eyes wondered far off, not really looking at anything. It was apparent he was reminiscing, and he loved to fish. He made a couple of funnies, giving us a pretty good laugh. During the few moments we were in his company, I was a little kid again, hanging out with my grandfather-the man who can make anybody laugh, build anything, and do no wrong.

The rest of this story is coming directly from memory, which is about as good as pulling it directly from my ass. If any of it is wrong, I will update it. The way I see it, this is my story and I can tell it however I want.

Day 3 turned out to be the most beautiful of the whole trip. After leaving Cartersville, we paddled along the expansive James River, again sometimes being so far from each other we didn't talk for a few hours at a time. B.I.L. paddled the banks, again, trying to find treasure. I on the other hand, don't enjoy the threat of dead trees falling on me, so I stayed near the middle and enjoyed the easier paddling of the faster water there.

Everybody thinks I'm kidding when I mention dead trees falling into the water. During a day trip on the Rivanna River last Spring, I witnessed a hawk landing on the top of a dead tree trunk. As he touched down on the jagged stump, about 30 feet in the air, the dead trunk gave in and fell to the water with a tremendous splash. An almost identical situation happened about 25 yards behind B.I.L. on this day. There was no bird, but a large limb fell from the top of a tree and crashed into the water, directly where B.I.L. had been paddling a few moments before. Told ya.

I think MapQuest is on to me. Shhh. I can't save the map anymore and write on it to show you what we did. When I right click on the map, it zooms now. It used to let me save it. Damn, you mean I have to come up with my own maps? I can't just pira...borrow them from MapQuest, anymore? What's the deal?

I can't remember how many miles we paddled for this day. I'm sure B.I.L. will let me know, and I will add that later on. We did at least 30 miles. There was a little blotch on the map marked, "Public Use Area". Hoping for a campground, we paddled like mad to get there. There is a clearly defined island on the map called Sabot Island. I was using Sabot Island as my landmark to locate the "Public Use Area," but there is a difference between maps and the real world. The little river that hooks into the James to form Sabot Island, called Little River, is really little. I never saw the little bastard, and therefore could not tell the difference in Sabot Island and the regular bank. This bit of il-navigating ultimately led us to a pretty cool camp site. You'll see what I mean, later.

Another difference between real life and maps are the symbols used to mark riffles and rapids. It is the same symbol. The little riffles in the Rivanna River are marked with the same symbol as the class V rapids in downtown Richmond. This means you cannot tell from reading a map if that water you hear up ahead is a riffle, a class V rapid, or a waterfall. An area that we took a particular interest in was a squiggly line (riffle, rapid symbol) running across the blue part of the map that denoted the James River, near a group of islands. Islands and squiggly lines on maps are a good recipe for rapids. I held the map in my lap and navigated our way, very well, through the group of islands. The squiggly lines turned out to be small riffles that we named "No Problem". This part of the James River was extraordinary. Islands broke the river apart and turned it into large streams, some smaller than the Rivanna River. The James bubbled over rocks and through islands, resembling a mountain brook. It really reminded me of places I visited with my mom and grandparents as a kid in Montana. Traversing this area made me think very hard about a paddling trip in Montana. The Montana trip idea was killed this night while I was trying to sleep.

The sun was going down and the shadows from the banks were getting longer until they finally traversed the width of the river. By this point, we had left the islands, I had missed the upstream point of Sabot Island, and we were coming up on a small group of little islands that were not on the map. Although a river only runs one direction, I was lost. I had no idea where we were in relation to Sabot Island and the islands we were now entering were not on the map. My navigation skills had been promising to this point. But at the moment, I couldn't figure out where we were. I hollered at B.I.L. to pull into a beach if he found one because I needed to pee. Actually, I needed a guise because it was getting dark and I had no idea if we had passed the "For Public Use" place or not.

B.I.L. found a great sandy beach on the first island of the group. I landed my boat and began studying the now useless chart. "Did you see the tip of Sabot Island, yet?" I asked B.I.L. acting like anybody could miss it if I did. To my relief and disappointment at the same time, B.I.L. had not seen it, either. We stayed on the beach for a little bit as I peered at the chart. B.I.L. followed a sandy path behind some trees and found the Eden of campsites. The other islands had "No Trespassing" signs posted all over them, but this one was not marked. B.I.L. took this photo the next morning. Notice you cannot tell we camped there. This was a priority for us on all of our campsites. I wish more people could camp this way.
B.I.L. was awesome about the whole ordeal, so we decided to make camp on this spot. We named this one "Probably Private Property, But Who Cares, I'm Tired." In about half an hour, we had our boats hidden on the sandy path, the tent was pitched, and B.I.L. was starting the stove. As normal, I was running my mouth when B.I.L. shhh'ed me. I could tell by the look on his face I needed to shut the hell up, so I did. Then I heard it, too. Voices. We immediately dropped to the sand, hoping to not get caught. This just turned into a situation of Commando Camping, a term coined by B.I.L. Some dork in a Hobie Kayak was paddling upstream without a PFD or shirt, even though it was getting rather cool at this point. He rode the small rapids next to our campsite back down towards a friend in a canoe, who was waiting downstream. He never saw us, and we didn't see anybody else the rest of the night.

The photo above shows the kayaks hidden on the sandy trail. The campsite is to the left. Can you guess which shadow belongs to which person?

I tried to stay up until nine that night so that I could call the blog from B.I.L.s cell phone, which remarkably had coverage. At about 8:30, I was dead to the word, curled up in my sleeping bag prepared for the coldest night during C.R.A.K. This is what killed the Montana expedition idea. Knowing we would be reaching Richmond the next day, we agreed to get up early and leave as soon as there was enough light on the water. We also had a time frame of only a few hours in which my wife's wonderful sister could pick us up once we reached Richmond. Will we make it? Stay tuned...

Fair winds and following seas...

Day 2: How to Drink Coffee From a Sports Bottle.

2006-09-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

We woke up a few hours after the butt crack of dawn to break down the camp and prepare our boats for our first long day. Day 2 found us leaving the Rivanna and entering the cavernous James River. About three miles from our camp we stopped in Palmyra to answer the call of nature at a conveniently located store where I scored a large bag of M&Ms and a cold Dr. Pepper. This stop would turn out to be the first, and only, time I would take a crap on the trip. That could have been a good thing, considering I did not have to tote a bucket of poop with me, but it ultimately led to problems for me on the last day. But I digress.

As I said in the Day 1 post, we searched for the other camp site that is marked on the map, but were unable to locate any such place in real life. We didn't need it, so it wasn't a problem. I'm adding this tid-bit in case someone else would rather pass the first spot and camp further down stream. Good luck finding it.

A new bridge is under construction in Palmyra. The construction crew seemed to be pleasantly entertained as we dropped off a small ledge in their work zone and headed down the peaceful Rivanna River. Reportedly, the new bridge will host a pedestrian and bike path to allow more convenient access into Palmyra. Sounds pretty good, we'll see how it turns out.

When we left the camp area this morning, a bunch of suds caught up to us that we passed the day before. The suds began to show up in the vicinity of Lake Monticello, then fizzled out later on during day 1. On the morning of day 2, I caught sight of some globs of foam that have been in the news recently along the James River. Before now, though, the foam has not been mentioned in the Rivanna River. Because of lighting, we were not able to get any decent photos of the foam. I will probably return to the area in a week or so to take some pictures and grab a couple of samples. Nobody is very sure about the source of the foam, or even what chemical properties are causing the phenomenon. It's still pollution, and I don't like pollution in my river. The foaming idiot causing this mess will be found and hopefully the river will not be too badly damaged.

On a better note, we did see our first bald eagle of the trip while on the Rivanna River! Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures. We also saw a couple of Osprey soaring above the trees, numerous ducks, tons of geese, a few kingfishers, heron, woodpeckers, and an unidentified mammal swimming in the water. Most likely, he was a groundhog since there were no signs of beaver in the area. The Rivanna River does play host to mink, though, so it is possible we saw the ever elusive and shy mink.

I thought I was eager to get out of the Rivanna and begin exploring the new territory of the James River. I thought this, until we finally reached the James. When we entered the huge, expansive James, I looked back at the dwarfed Rivanna and began to feel out of place. Part of me wanted to paddle back into the narrow break in the trees that marked the mouth of the Rivanna. An overwhelming sadness cloaked my body as I watched it fall away farther and farther off my stern. It looked like a creek compared to the wide bodied, slow flowing James. I had the misfortune of the slow moving James keeping the Rivanna within my eyesight for quite a while. Finally, I had to force myself to look ahead and leave my river behind. There was a whole world of opportunity ahead of me, even if I didn't know about it at that time. To keep myself from becoming home sick, I concentrated on the task at hand and aimed my bow in the direction of Elk Island.
Other than the guy challenging me from the bank on the Rivanna, the James brought to us our first encounter with other people enjoying the river. A couple of people were fishing from a small boat in the James at the mouth of the Rivanna. There is a state boat ramp across the river from Columbia, a small, near ghost town that sits at the intersection of the Rivanna and the James.

In its day, Columbia was a bustling city having the advantage of prime real estate at the intersection of the two busiest shipping lanes in that area of the state. Small wooden boats called Batteau carried goods to and from Charlottesville on this route. A system of locks, canals, and dams were built to accommodate the boats. In some areas of the Rivanna the ruins are still visible, including an aqueduct that actually crossed the river at one point.

We paddled for several hours, covering about 30 miles during the day. Eventually, Elk Island appeared on the horizon and we paddled towards it for a couple of hours before actually reaching the upstream beach and stopping for lunch. I took the opportunity to check the charts and figure out where we might want to stop for the night. The
downstream end of Elk Island looked to be about all the paddling we would be able to handle.

Elk Island is rather large, so we paddled along side of it for most of the afternoon. It was covered with farmland that appeared to be raising corn in its fertile soil. An unfortunate observation I made anytime we passed farm land, whether it be crops or cattle, was an over abundance of plant growth in the river. This is the effect of fertilizer pollution in the river. This type of pollution is a great example of how rivers become tainted. Unlike the common types of pollution, such as storm water drainage, water treatment plant drainage, and trash, like tires and forty ounce beer bottles, fertilizer is not dumped directly into the river. Instead, it is carried to the water by runoff. When we do things like cultivate the land, or build paved driveways, rain water cannot be absorbed by the soil and quickly makes its way to the rivers. With it goes everything we have put in the soil-fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, any kind of chemical that is not naturally found in that area.

When fertilizer gets into a river or stream, it does what it is designed to do and encourages foliage to grow. "Why is that so bad?" You may be asking right now. "Wouldn't that be good for the animals that eat the plants?"

The answer to this question is "No!" River animals that eat plants are normally scrapers. That is, they scrape the plant material from the rocks and other hard surfaces that plants grow on. The scraping action of these organisms keeps plant growth within reasonable limits, allowing the bug to gain the purchase it needs to hang onto the rock and eat. Remember, rivers are always flowing and a bug that can't hold onto something, gets washed away. When fertilizers cause the plants to grow at a rate faster than the organisms can eat them, the organisms get washed away because they can no longer hang on to anything, thus, they die. The lack of plant eating bugs in an ecosystem allows the plants to grow even more out of control, and chaos ensues.

The same goes for pesticides and herbicides, only with a more noticeable impact. Pesticides, of course, kill all the organisms in the stream, including fish. While herbicides kill the plants and start the same process that fertilizers do. No plants, no plant eating bugs. Then the organisms that eat the plant eating bugs disappear, and so on. That is how the food chain works.

Because of this type of pollution in addition to viruses and bacteria, we were afraid to use any water purifying gadgets in the river. We packed all of the water we would use and carried it with us the duration of the trip. The boats were a little heavy, but neither of us got the runs.

I grew up in a farming community and have even done some farming myself. I love the lifestyle and would like to be able to have a farm of my own sometime. Traditional farming is very destructive, especially near a body of water. That is why farmers need more incentive to switch to organic farming. Using fertilizer and pesticide on genetically modified crops is an easy, inexpensive way to yield high production, even if it depletes the health of the consumer.

It never fails; anytime I go kayaking, I get rained on. This trip was not to be the exception. Thunderstorms had been forecast for this day for about a week. We got hit hard for about twenty minutes with barrels of rain. Soaked and tired, we finally reached the end of Elk Island and discovered a nice camping spot on a small hill at the narrow tip of the island. Raccoon tracks littered the area, so after cooking dinner, we strung up some lines and hung all of our gear out of the reach of the crafty critters.

The camp site was ideal. Nice, soft dirt under the tent. Even a slight trickle could be heard from the river crossing a rock just off the bank. It was perfect until the sun went down and the first train went by. Every twenty minutes, all night long, a train passed by. There were no crossings within twenty miles, so we didn't have to put up with horns, but the rumbling engines and clacking cars kept us up most of the night. At about six A.M., I had enough and crawled out of the tent. B.I.L., not able to sleep as well, followed me outside where we made our breakfast and some instant coffee. We sat there waiting for the sun to give us enough light to pack the boats and get going again. At about 8 A.M. we were back on the water and paddling towards Cartersville, where we thought we would get some good coffee and maybe more M&Ms.

How to Drink Coffee From a Sports Bottle: First you need the nastiest tasting instant coffee you can find. Add just one (and please, for the love of God, not any more) teaspoon of the powder to an empty sports bottle (the kind bicycle riders drink from). Heat some water over your camp stove, don't worry about bringing it all the way to a boil. Boiling water will melt the plastic water bottle, anyway. Add the water to the bottle, snap on the cap and shake vigorously. Drink at your own risk. On the last day of the trip, your paddling partner will tell you he has sugar so you can add that to your last cup to make it actually potable.

Fair winds and following seas...

Day 1: Getting Underway

2006-09-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

Sept. 18, 2006: Our starting point was Woolen Mills dam in Charlotte- sville. As mentioned in an earlier post, we had no car to get our kayaks to this point. Luckily, this area is only a couple of blocks from my house, so we were able to carry the boats to the launch site. B.I.L. had a nifty set of wheels that strapped to his boat. We made a little kayak train down the road with one of us at the bow of my boat, the other carrying the stern with one hand and dragging the larger yellow boat on its wheels. When the person acting as the coupling between the two kayaks became too exhausted to hold the boats, we would switch positions. Most of the injuries for the entire trip occurred during this carrying phase. It really sucked big nuts.

At one point on our way to the river, a young Hispanic couple stopped and asked me for directions. But, they didn't "ask". Instead, they handed me a map that had a star marking their intended destination. I asked if they spoke English, to which the woman replied, "poquito"(sp?). "Shit" was my reply. Then B.I.L., who like I have said earlier, always comes through in any situation, came over and started speaking nearly fluent Spanish to the people! I forgot he used to live in South America and together, we got them turned in the right direction. While we were talking to them, some guy came out of his house and said, "You guys lost?" Then he looked at the two heavily loaded kayaks laying on the ground and said, "The rivers that way" and pointed in the same direction the kayaks were facing. No shit? Gee Willikers, thanks Mister!

Here are some pictures that help explain why it sucked so bad to carry the boats by hand to the river. On the bow of my boat, seen in this picture, is a dry bag with all the food I will have for the trip (minus a bag of M&Ms and a Dr. Pepper that I will acquire later on). Inside the bow, between my knees, sit three gallons of water. The stern storage area is covered by my PFD in the picture, but that is where my sleeping bag rode, along with a pair of flip-flops and assorted odds and ends that I tossed in there along the way. The next photo details the cockpit area.

One of the three gallons of water is visible in this picture. The red thing behind the seat is my backpack with the rainfly pulled over it. The backpack carried dry clothes, a rain coat, one fleece pull-over, duct tape (an essential item), extra batteries, a compass that I completely forgot about until the last day, a cigarette lighter, and all the charts that we would cover(a total of 8 charts were covered on this trip). This backpack has been with me since I lived in Juneau, AK. I have taken it on all of my hiking and mt. biking trips, and it has served as my carry-on when flying. Now it has ridden with me in the kayak. Tucked behind the seat with the backpack is a diving flashlight(extremely bright and water proof), sun block, and something else that I can't recall at the moment. To the left of the seat is a diving knife and my sleeping pad(rolled up blue thing). On the right is my GPS (Thanks, Mom!) and a bag filled with snack food because I eat a lot. The black pole on the right of the seat is my paddle and I have no idea what the blue thing is behind the cockpit.

Here is B.I.L.s boat, the workhorse of C.R.A.K. He is carrying everything I am, plus more water, the tent, stove, even the wheels that we rolled it to the river on! The kayak was very nearly loaded to its limit. With B.I.L. sitting in it, the boat only had about two inches of freeboard! But it lost weight everyday as we drank more water and ate more food.

I got home from work at about 7:45 Monday morning. By the time we loaded our boats and carried them the distance to the river, it was 11:30ish before we finally departed. The Rivanna River was flowing very well. Even with the yellow boat as heavy as it was, we never had to get out and carry the boats. Only in one area did we get out to scout a route through some rocks.

We had a nice route picked out to river right that looked shallow, but the flow was an even, straight line. River left hosted a wild looking spill over some rocks that took an abrupt left turn through a small rock garden. It was definitely passable, but not what we were looking for with the amount of weight we were carrying on our boats. B.I.L. went first down the right side without any hitches. I began to follow when I heard a voice hollering, "Red boat!" I looked around and saw an older gentleman standing on the left bank. Puzzled, I paddled closer to him to see what he wanted to say. We hadn't seen anybody, not even other boaters, all day. Now out of nowhere, an old man shows up and starts telling me to take the route on the left. I was shaking my head "no" and pointing to the right when he challenged me with, "I did it the other day in my canoe." Oh, it's on, old man!

I steered my boat to the spill and paddled off it, bouncing off the rocks at the end. No harm done, I looked back and waved with a smile to the man on the bank. When I looked back in front of me, that's when I noticed the next drop that couldn't be seen from our scouting area up stream. My kayak fell off the drop in perfect form, bow first. I paddled like mad to keep from tipping as the standing wave at the bottom of the short drop gushed into the cockpit and gave me a good soaking from my neck to my toes.

B.I.L. was already at the bottom laughing at me as I spilled down the rocks into the more calm water where he was waiting. "What the hell are you doing?" was his greeting. "That old man on the bank said he did it the other day in his canoe; I had to do it. I think he's full of shit, though," I said, sponging the water out of my boat.

The rest of the day was fairly calm. There were a few areas on the map that we were a little nervous about. Some dams were marked that we had never seen before, but they had all been breached long ago and posed no threat to us.

At about 16 miles from our put in, two public camping areas were marked on the map. The first one was on an island and the second was on the right bank, past the island after a large "S" bend in the river. We stopped at the island, which had obviously been camped on, and stayed the night, although it wasn't marked as a campsite. The next day we looked for the camping area on the right bank and never found it. Neither of the public camping areas on the Rivanna River are marked. That made a couple of tired kayakers pretty pissed on their first day, but all worked out fine in the end.

Fair winds and following seas...

Done!!

2006-09-21T17:20:00.000-05:00

We made it to Richmond a couple of hours ago. The GPS is showing 89.8 miles, but the batteries began dying at the end of the trip and it shut down a couple of times. Actual mileage is closer to 95. The Rivanna was gorgeous and treated us fairly well. There were a few spots of small rapids called riffles, but they didn't give us too much trouble. Day 2 put us on the James. The first part of the James was extremely boring. It was wide and the current was slow, so it felt like we weren't moving. For all the effort it takes to paddle a loaded kayak, it was a little disheartening. Day 3 was filled with excursions through scenic islands where the river split into several smaller bubbling brooks. Day 4 (today) started out foggy on the water and cool enough to warrant B.I.L. and I to sport our fleeces. By noon we shucked the long sleeves and enjoyed another boring paddle in the wide, slow moving James River. We had to portage around 2 dams as we migrated into the last map of the trip. The day of boring and slow paddling ended with cockpit filling class III and IV rapids.

The trip went extremely well-by that I mean we are both alive and neither of us took a spill, quite a feat for nearly 100 miles in a kayak. We took a few pictures, but not as many as I had hoped. Turns out, it is unbelievably hard to hold a camera, read a map, and paddle a kayak, all at the same time. After I get some rest and a very large dinner and breakfast, I will post the day-by-day events and explain why I didn't blog during the trip. More to come over the weekend.

Fair winds and following seas...

T Minus 6 Hours...

2006-09-18T02:20:00.000-05:00

I am at work right now. It is 3:17 am according to the computer I am on. In 4 hours and 13 minutes I get off work and will ride my Vespa home, where B.I.L. is comfortably asleep at the moment, and we will somehow get the yaks down to the river and begin the most anticipated event of the season.

C.R.A.K. is getting off to a rough start, thus far. With all the planning, charting, checking and rechecking of gear, practice and scouting trips, we forgot one minor detail. We don't have a car. My wife has to be at work at 7:00 am; taking our only car. When 4 hours and 13 minutes is added to 3:17, the sum is 7:30. B.I.L.s wife had to go back to Richmond yesterday because she, too, has to be at work this morning. Uh-oh.

Never to fear! B.I.L. is here! B.I.L. is one of those people you can always count on to pull through in any situation. That is why I am so pleased he is going on this trip. At the last moment, he whipped out a nifty set of wheels that strap onto the kayak so it can be pulled around, rather than carried. We may have to do this in two trips, but we are going to be able to wheel the kayaks down to the river-no car needed! Our put in is only a couple of blocks from my house, farther than we want to carry the yaks, but close enough to wheel them down there with his contraption.

As I was getting ready for work, B.I.L. made the last run for food, water and hopefully, beer. On my way out the door I bid my wife goodbye and goodnight, being as I won't see her again until our return. Everything is set. B.I.L. has his camera packed (mine is still lost), and all the gear we need including food, water and shelter. What a swell guy that B.I.L. is.

Just as predicted, I didn't get much sleep yesterday, so the first day should be a pretty good grump fest on my part. We hope to make it to the James in one day, we'll see how I fare throughout the first leg of our journey. A public campground is conveniently located at the halfway point of the Rivanna to the James. We intend on going all the way to the James today, but we do have the option of stopping short at this campground if I can't hack it.

I will be keeping a daily log and calling home when we have cell service so my wife can update the blog. B.I.L. might include his two cents as well, so that should add an interesting two person perspective on the daily events. Check in every evening or morning for updates. Also, keep an eye out for sound bites from the field. I have set up a system on the blog that will allow me to call and leave voice mail type messages for you to listen to. That should work out really well with my non-Ted Coppell voice. It'll probably sound more like Don Gay or Willie Shoemaker. No offense to either of these extraordinary gentlemen, they just happen to be short Texans, such as myself, with no voice for commentary.

Weather: Weather.com is predicting partly sunny skies all week with the exception of Tuesday, when thunderstorms are expected. Highs today will be 89! Dropping to the mid 70s for the rest of the week. Looks like the nights will be a little brisk, dipping into the low 50s and 48 on Wednesday. That'll be nice after a day of rain...

Rain is ok, but lightning is a show stopper. If the rain becomes torrential or lightning strikes, we will have to stop and set up camp. That weather is just too dangerous to be on the water. We'd like to survive this trip, if at all possible.

River Conditions: The Rivanna River, leg one, is at 2.85 ft. That is pretty good, we should be able to paddle the length of the Rivanna without bottoming out and having to walk. The Cartersville gage on the James river, leg 2, has dropped drastically over the weekend. This morning, it is standing at 2.04 ft, which is fairly low for that area of the river. The James River at Richmond Westham is at 4.61 ft this morning. Again, another area with good flow. We should be able to make up for any lost time with that amount of water under us. And finally, the last gage on our route, which is in an area of locks known as Richmond Locks, is reading 2.21 ft right now. This gage is constantly changing as the locks empty and fill, so it is a good estimate of the river through this area, not a reading of actual conditions.

With the exception of predicted thunderstorms for Tuesday, the weather and river look promising for the coming week. The low water at Cartersville should fill up from Tuesday's showers before we get there, so that should not pose a problem. Now the only threats we face are snakes in sleeping bags (my worst fear), and getting shot at for camping in the wrong spot. All in all, it should be a good trip!

Fair winds and following seas...

2 Days To Go!

2006-09-16T07:07:00.000-05:00

News from the C.R.A.K. Still no freakin camera and no money to buy one. Hopefully BIL's not-so-reliable camera will decide to behave itself and take at least two pictures during the trip. Then again, he still hasn't emailed me the pictures he took three weeks ago*. It rained last night, but on the way home this morning the sun was out. It was a beautiful morning for a ride on the Vespa. I passed three people walking and one person riding a bike and got a smile from each of them. The biker even waved as I passed. At first, I thought it was because I looked so good, but then I remembered I was wearing a full faced helmet. So I have to give credit to the "cute" scooter. The wave and smiles really made up for the asshole in the S.U.V. riding my ass for most of the commute. I was doing the speed limit...P.S. I can call people in S.U.V.s assholes because I don't have one anymore. An S.U.V. I mean. I still have an asshole, and like those S.U.V. drivers, it stinks.

After a wonderful morning of scootering, I logged on to check my email and stumbled across this story on AOL. Had I been the one writing it, I would have called it "White Flight Hits All Time Low". I have a feeling some of the people that read this blog won't agree when I say so, but this is really sick:

Here is the link so you can read it as published on AOL with pictures.

Immigration Raid Makes a Ghost Town

By RUSS BYNUM, AP

STILLMORE, Ga. (Sept. 15) - Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago.

This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants.

The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.

More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the woods, camping out for days. They worry some are still hiding without food.

At least one child, born a U.S. citizen, was left behind by his Mexican parents: 2-year-old Victor Perez-Lopez. The toddler's mother, Rosa Lopez, left her son with Julie Rodas when the raids began and fled the state. The boy's father was deported to Mexico.

"When his momma brought this baby here and left him, tears rolled down her face and mine too," Rodas said. "She said, `Julie, will you please take care of my son because I have no money, no way of paying rent?"'

For five years, Rodas has made a living watching the children of workers at the Crider Inc. poultry plant, where the vast majority of employees were Mexican immigrants. She learned Spanish, and considered many immigrants among her closest friends. She threw parties for their children's birthdays and baptisms.

The only child in Rodas' care now, besides her own son, is Victor. Her customers have disappeared.

Federal agents also swarmed into a trailer park operated by David Robinson. Illegal immigrants were handcuffed and taken away. Almost none have returned. Robinson bought an American flag and posted it by the pond out front - upside down, in protest.

"These people might not have American rights, but they've damn sure got human rights," Robinson said. "There ain't no reason to treat them like animals."

The raids came during a fall election season in which immigration is a top issue.

Last month, the federal government reported that Georgia had the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population in the country. The number more than doubled from an estimated 220,000 in 2000 to 470,000 last year. This year, state lawmakers passed some of the nation's toughest measures targeting illegal immigrants, and Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue last week vowed a statewide crackdown on document fraud.

Other than the Crider plant, there isn't much in Stillmore. Four small stores, a coin laundry and a Baptist church share downtown with City Hall, the fire department and a post office. "We're poor but proud," Mayor Marilyn Slater said, as if that is the town motto.

The 2000 Census put Stillmore's population at 730, but Slater said uncounted immigrants probably made it more than 1,000. Not anymore, with so many homes abandoned and the streets practically empty.

"This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo coming in and yanking people up," Slater said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Marc Raimondi would not discuss details of the raids. "We can't lose sight of the fact that these people were here illegally," Raimondi said.

At Sucursal Salina No. 2, a store stocked with Mexican fruit sodas and snacks, cashier Alberto Gonzalez said Wednesday that the owner may shutter the place. By midday, Gonzalez has had only six customers. Normally, he would see 100.

The B&S convenience store, owned by Keith and Regan Slater, the mayor's son and grandson, has lost about 80 percent of its business.

"These people come over here to make a better way of life, not to blow us up," complained Keith Slater, who keeps a portrait of Ronald Reagan on the wall. "I'm a die-hard Republican, but I think we missed the boat with this one."

Since the mid-1990s, Stillmore has grown dependent on the paychecks of Mexican workers who originally came for seasonal farm labor, picking the area's famous Vidalia onions. Many then took year-round jobs at the Crider plant, with a workforce of about 900.

Crider President David Purtle said the agents began inspecting the company's employment records in May. They found 700 suspected illegal immigrants, and supervisors handed out letters over the summer ordering them to prove they came to the U.S. legally or be fired. Only about 100 kept their jobs.

The arrests started at the plant Sept. 1. Over the Labor Day weekend, agents with guns and bulletproof vests converged on workers' homes after getting the addresses from Crider's files.

Antonio Lopez, who came here two years ago from Chiapas, Mexico, and worked at the Crider plant, said agents kicked in his front door. Lopez, 32, and his 15-year-old son were handcuffed and taken by bus to Atlanta with 30 others. Because of the boy, Lopez said, both were allowed to return. In his back pocket, he carries an order to return to Atlanta for a court hearing Feb. 2.

But now, "there's no people here and I don't have any work," he said.

The poultry plant has limped along with half its normal workforce. Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit new workers.

Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago. She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro. Still, Bell said she felt bad about the raids.

"If they knew eventually that they were going to have to do that, they should have never let them come over here," she said.

*BIL, I'm just busting your balls, dude. Take your time with those pictures.

Fair winds and following seas, illegal immigrants...

Edge of Your Seat Suspense...

2006-09-13T03:02:00.000-05:00

So this is what has been up lately. I went to Richmond last Saturday to get some more time on the James River with B.I.L. The kayak never left its perch on the roof of the car. We both decided we were too tired for all that business, and we have seen it before. So we took a walk along the river and watched some rafters and a couple of kayaks take on the flooded conditions around Belle Isle. From an observation point at Washington cemetery, where we saw an ex-presidents final resting place, we watched the torrential James as millions of gallons of water poured over the rocks. We looked for lines that seemed safe enough for us to follow with our kayaks loaded down with four days of trash and doo-doo only to have those plans change once again when we stood on the banks and watched 4 to 6 foot standing waves alter the routes. Eventually, we did decide on a safe route where the water wasn't flirting with class 5 action. Hopefully, we will be ok. The recent rains have really swelled the river like an anaphylactic bee sting.

We took some leisure time to drink beer and finish the chart work. Assuming the beer did not hinder my charting skills, we figure it will be almost 90 miles from Charlottesville to Richmond. After a passive look at each other with a brief pause and a couple chugs of beer, we said, "Let's do it".

Our plan right now is to leave on Monday morning of the 18th after I get off work. Keep in mind I work 12 hour night shifts. I also work Saturday night, and Friday night. I'm hardy though. We can do this. B.I.L. has all the gear we need. He even scored a sleeping bag and a mat for me! A couple more dry bags and some food and water and we should be set to go. Oh, except I lost my camera! Still haven't found that pesky thing. I am starting to wonder if Jeepyak has it at its new home...

The river levels are holding steady and are only up a few feet. Perfect conditions for a trip like this. The faster water will mean more miles covered in a day of paddling. We need to cover lots of miles every day in order to do this before my anniversary on the 21st. Also, the hurricanes, that's right, hurricanes, don't seem to be a threat to C.R.A.K. Weather.com is predicting sunny, warm days and clear, cool nights during the trip. Good camping weather.

We now have the plot, and the antagonists are being introduced. I don't have a camera. We are leaving after a long weekend of work and no sleep for me, and my anniversary is the deadline, only three days from the day we leave. And we think it will take four days to complete. Ooooo, I love a good story with loads of suspense. Will Riveryak be able to make the required mileage the first day? Will his camera be found before they leave? Will he make it home before his anniversary so he doesn't end up divorced? Will Riveryak crash his kayak on the last day and be covered in his own buckets of doo-doo? Stay tuned for these and other exciting adventures with Riveryak and B.I.L.!

I Thought JeepYak Was Good!

2006-09-08T18:21:00.000-05:00

Hello everybody and welcome back to Riveryak, my favorite place on the internet. I always thought I would never find a replacement for hauling kayaks once JeepYak was gone. The flexibility of the soft top molded perfectly to every hull ever strapped to it, virtually eliminating the need for lateral tie downs or a rack. And the windshield tie down loop on the hood made a perfect anchor for bow straps. This method was tried and true and never failed me. I thought it was the perfect way to haul kayaks, until I got this:

Holy crap can this thing haul a yak! That is a Yakima roof rack with Yakima's Hull Raiser kayak carrying system. Here is a better view of the J-hook design Hull Raiser:

The straps on the bow and stern are really not necessary. When the J-hooks' straps are cinched down, they hold the kayak like Hulk Hogan holding an opponent in the Rolling Crucifix Armbar. Without the bow and stern tied down, I shook the kayak hard and it moved the whole car! Yakima recommends securing the bow and stern, so I do.

I'll leave you today with a couple of more pictures of the kayak secured to the car. I took closer pictures of the J-hooks, but they didn't turn out. My camera is in here somewhere, but I don't know where. I borrowed my brother in laws camera to take these photos. It's one of those tiny creations that is designed to fit in your pocket. It's also the right size for my fingers to be in the lens if I hold it like a normal sized camera.

Fair winds and following seas!

OK, God, Enough is Enough

2006-09-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

It has been raining since Friday. The Charlottesville area is reporting .9" in the last 24 hours. I haven't seen a definite figure for the amount of precipitation for the last 120 hours, but I'm guessing we have had about 3". The Rivanna flood gage is reading 6.24' right now and climbing with a rise of over 3' just yesterday! The predicted rise is to 10.5' before tomorrow. Uh-oh. The river doesn't reach "action stage" until 15', but a prediction of 10.5' leaves a narrow margin for error. And there is more rain to come.

The James River seems to be taking this rain in strides and doesn't really care that it's raining. A flood gage in Cartersville is reading 3.51' with a predicted rise to 6.8'. Not a big deal since that area reaches action stage at 16' and doesn't flood until 20'. But still, a little too much water for a couple of amateur kayakers loaded down with camping gear.

Further downstream and closer to Richmond, the James is showing 5.46'. That is down from 8.6' on Sunday with a prediction to rise back up to 8.2' on Thursday. The James River Locks gage is reading -.24'. That is down from 3.74' Saturday afternoon. NOAA is avoiding predicting the rise of this one like a hooker avoids panties, and I don't blame them. The graph looks more like a stereo equalizer playing Metallica at full blast than a calm river lazily passing through the capital city. By the way, permits are required to be on the river at 9'. That's how bad it gets before action stage.

What's this mean for C.R.A.K.? (Charlottesville to Richmond Abetted by Kayaks) A tropical depression is on a strong dose of Zoloft and when it clears its head, TD 6 will become tropical storm Florence. Flo will most likely reach hurricane status and travel west-the same path as Ernesto, which is the cause of my current state of water animosity. By the time the rivers recuperate from this bender, Flo will come in and disrupt the river/kayaker harmony with her sweet nectar of life. This will occur on the weekend before we leave. That sucks.

Why is it that there has not been a storm all season and now that I plan on playing in the water, we get two hurricanes in a month?

Ummm, fair winds and following seas??

Crocodile Hunter Dies

2006-09-04T02:22:00.000-05:00

Today Steve Irwin, commonly known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed after being stung in the chest by a stingray. His death is going to be felt hard by the Australian conservation effort. It was Steve Irwin that made us begin to realize that we can interfere with nature in order to save a creature because it is us, as humans, that are causing so many animals to die. Irwin also successfully stopped the Australian Government from allowing wealthy tourists to hunt crocodiles (Damn wealthy tourists and their big guns). Without his intervention, who will step up to the plate?

Read the story from The New York Times (Reuters) and MSN (AP).

Personal Crocodile Hunter moment:
Sitting up at night when stationed in Juneau, AK (Coast Guard moment) watching Croc Hunter marathons and saying "Crikey" all the time.

Personal Crocodile Hunter bullshit moment:
The flack he caught for carrying his infant son into a croc cage during feeding time (the croc's feeding time, not the baby's). It's his kid. As far as I'm concerned, it's none of my concern. This little Kodak moment earned his show a cancellation from Animal Planet, by the way.

Fair winds and following seas, Crocodile Hunter. Crikey!

News from the Hook

2006-08-31T23:41:00.000-05:00

FACETIME- Water man: Rivanna
is Schuyler's mission

Published August 24, 2006 in issue 0534 of the HooK.

By Danielle Unger Danielle@readthehook.com

We drink water, clean with water, and bathe in water-- but Ridge Schuyler is immersed in it. The 45-year-old Nature Conservancy executive has been on a mission to save the water.

He was a key player in the Conservancy's collaboration with the Dave Matthews Band to plant over 900 trees at the forks of the Rivanna River to offset the pollution caused by their tour busses around the country. He led the charge to solve Central Virginia's water shortage with an inter-reservoir pipeline.

The rest of the story...

Hahaha, the pollution caused by the Dave Mathews Band tour busses! Remember when they dumped shit all over that dude fishing under the bridge? Dave Mathews is from Charlottesville. This particular paper really, really, really loves him for being from here. I normally can't stand the Hook because they are so in love with the snoby side of Charlottesville, but they pulled this one off pretty well and published a good article. Well worth the read.

Jeep+Boat+Nerf Football=75MPG

2006-08-31T23:33:00.000-05:00

You probably noticed I haven't written anything in a while and you have probably given up on me by now. Some pretty drastic changes have taken place around the Riveryak Compound lately. We lost two members of the congregation, almost three, and gained a brand new one!

First of all, the losses. I am near tears as I write this. There is no more JeepYak. JeepYak was sold and will probably waste away in the dude's driveway as his weekend toy. Wish I could blow that much money on a toy. I made a pretty cool slideshow of JeepYak, but am not able to post it on here. The link to see it is here . If that doesn't work, try this one. In the area that says 'Member Name', type riveryak. Click the little picture at the bottom that says 'Goodbye Jeep'. This is Emmy material.

Next to go was my sailboat. A cool guy came by the house tonight and gave me cash for it. I felt bad because I had the cover off gettting ready to clean when it began raining. The stupid white pine in our yard dumped its worthless needles all over the boat, making a huge mess. But the guy bought it anyways. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the guy is cool. I'll miss the sailboat, but not nearly as much as JeepYak. If you feel sorry for me, as you should for my losses, use the link on the right called 'buy me a boat' to, well, buy me a boat. Any of them will do, but I prefer to sail.

The near miss. My dog had a cyst the size of a Nerf football inside his abdomen. It couldn't be seen from the outside, so we had no idea how long this thing had been in there. The vet recommended surgery, because it could be a tumor. So, being the good pet owner's we are, we went with it. Doggy ate the money from JeepYak and the sailboat. You think you're getting ahead by selling your prized possessions, and WHAM! Life smacks you right in the burrito. The cyst turned out to be his left kidney. I'm no veterinarian(even though I gave a half ass attempt at it for two semesters), but I doubt they are supposed to be that big. The doc said it was most likely congenital and it may or may not have caused him any harm. But thanks for giving me thousands of dollars to see it! The irony of this story; our cat has the same condition and will most likely need the same operation some day.

Now for the addition. Drum roll...wait for it...wait forrrr ittttt...I bought a Vespa! I went from $75 a month in gas to 75mpg over night. Here's my secret that I will fill you in on for FREE! I sold JeepYak and bought a Vespa LX50. That's 50cc's of pure adrenaline pumping fury that does about 20mph up hill. Sure, there are bigger and faster models, but mine doesn't have to be registered, I don't have to carry insurance, and best of all...no waiting in line at the DMV for a motorcycle license! Anybody over 16 with a valid driver's license (they check) and $3000 can buy one and drive it home from the shop without knowing anything at all about riding motorcycles! Uninsured! What a hell of a deal, huh!?

Without JeepYak around, I don't know how I am going to get my kayak to the river. Last weekend I strapped it to the top of my wife's Honda and took off to Richmond-an hour and a half away at 70 mph. I bought some foam blocks that protect the car from the kayak and also stabilize the hull. They actually worked extremely well, but I am still buying a roofrack this week. Even on the blocks, the kayak actually moves when a truck passes. If you want to see what the air around your car is doing while travelling at 65 behind a truck, strap a kayak to your roof via the foam block method. I stopped at a rest area to check the tie downs and the seat made a sucking 'POP' sound when I got out of it.

Speaking of driving to Richmond with the kayak strapped to the car. I went kayaking on the James River in Richmond with BIL last weekend. Our purpose was to check out the dams that will impede our forward motion in September. Bosher Dam, the largest dam that we were really scared of, turns out to have a thoughtful little portage built around it. Dam #1, checked off the list without any worries.

The next dam is a "Z" dam that zigs rather than zags across the river like a "Z". This dam is rather small and easy to portage. We portaged it in order to reach our final destination for the day, Pony Pasture. BIL was on top of the dam handing my boat down to me; who was below the dam with a Northern Water Snake. AKA, not my best friend. The snake is non-venomous and doesn't care. Nor do I. Several times I told BIL about the snake. BIL knew what I was saying because he acknowledged it, yet he kept feeding the boat down to me. "No dude, he's right where I need to put the boat!" I said frantically trying to stop the boat from blocking my sight of the enormous snake that now had plans to constrict me. The snake caught the current from the dam and let itself get washed away. That was actually really cool. A bit of relief swept over my body until I realized I couldn't see where it was anymore. "Oh my God," I thought to myself. "He is going to lunge out of the water at any moment and kill me." As I took the weight of my kayak from BIL and lowered it into the water, Mr. Snake popped his head out of the water back in another area where my boat needed to go. I waited a little bit and made some noise in the water and finally he went back under. BIL walked right in the exact spot, where only moments before, the snake disappeared under water. "That's where he was!" I warned, but BIL didn't seem to care. Being the wise and snake respecting kayaker I am, I pushed my boat far off to the edge where the snake couldn't possibly be. As I readied my boat and paddle for boarding, the snake slithered on top of the water around the bow of my boat and at me before making a last minute turn into an eddy and under some foliage. It's a good thing he turned, becuase one of us was about to piss himself. I wish I had it on film because it had to be some kind of speed record for boarding a kayak without tipping over.

The rest of the trip was a lazy float down to Pony Pasture. This is the area where we ran out of water and ate the last of the food. We were hot, burned, tired, thirsty and hungry. A great recipe for making kayakers ill tempered. Pony Pasture has a reputation for killer rapids when the water level is high. The day we were there, the water was low and the infamous killer Pony Pasture was full of babies and small children swimming. But, by God, we made it through without so much as a roll! We believe we can make it all the way to our intended take out downstream from Belle Isle on river left. We have been without rain for a long time, but yesterday and today has been making up for that. I haven't checked the river levels, but I'm not very concerned. As dry as it has been, the ground should be soaking up most of the water, not leaving much for runoff. With the dams no longer a threat, the only thing to worry about is flood conditions. The James gets really angry when it floods. With Ernesto on its way to this area, the James River might get really pissed off. That would not be condusive to kayakers carrying five nights worth of camping gear.

Ernesto's projected route. Courtesy of University of Hawaii. I'm kinda glad they figure it is going directly over our kayak route, because they are ALWAYS wrong when trying to predict a storms path.

Fair winds and Following Seas, JeepYak. I had fun building and driving you. Good luck...

A New Boat!

2006-08-13T09:55:00.000-05:00

B-I-L is brother-in-law for now on because I am tired of typing it. He really got lucky on this boat. It is in excellent condition and came from a woman that knows paddling like Bo knows baseball. It has two dry storage compartments and tons of deck space for strapping things onto. This kayak looks like a freighter cutting through the water. As an ex-coastie, I had to check his compartments to make sure he wasn't smuggling any Haitians*. We took turns paddling the thing around and both really enjoyed it. My shorter boat is more responsive, but his longer yak cuts through the water with minimal effort. The only concern we have is the fixed skeg on that 14' beast. We are a little worried about faster water taking over his stern and not allowing him to control the boat very precisely. If that turns out to be the case, we may not paddle through the sections of the James in Richmond around Belle Isle. That is to be determined.

My sister-in-law with B-I-L that is going on the trip with me. Here they are putting together a folding kayak for her. It's a great looking boat and extremely light weight, but us plastic yakers are standing around twiddling our thumbs thinking, "What can I do...hmmmm? I know, I'll snap my paddle together...Ok, that's done." More thumb twiddling...Put on lifejacket...Drink most of water...Take some pictures...Watch them ratchet the longitudinals in place...Talk to other kayakers who are arriving and leaving in the time this thing is being put together...Re-apply sunblock...Play in the dirt with a stick.."Oh, your finished?"

The completed boat is really nice and fairly stable. "Now that you got that thing together, let's go paddle!"

Here's a good picture of our boats drinking from the reservoir. A picture of three or more colorful kayaks always turns out well. They really are graceful and photogenic.

Swampy. In this area I usually see galloping deer and dancing butterflies but we were being much too loud for any wildlife viewing. "Hey B-I-L, how's that boat doin'?" "Not bad," he would answer. I would call back, "You still like it?" His wife asked if he loved it, yet. He replied, "We don't know each other enough to be in love. We're still courting." Hmmm, ooootay.

A quick break on top of the dam. Call me a chicken, but I HATE dams. This really was a quick break. "Hey, where's the other kayak?"

A quick shot down the length of the dam. B-I-L is on the other end taking a stroll.

Downstream of the dam. Rt 29 can be seen in the distance.

Upstream of the dam. Ooohh, pretty. Ok, back in the boat.

The new kayak is going to work well on our trip down the Rivanna to the James River. The cockpit is a little tight, but we figured out ways to adjust the seat and foot pedals to make it more comfortable. We also agreed to switch boats for a while if his feet became too cramped. We now have the boats, gear, and time. All we need are six more charts (in the mail) and some luck in order for the trip to be successful. Wish us luck...

Fair winds and following seas.

*That was purely a joke. Any immigrant, but especially Haitians, deal with extremely horrible conditions to get into our wonderful country. People just don't realize.

Blogs Pot

2006-08-08T18:19:00.000-05:00

Something I didn't think about when I ordered the charts directly from the USGS; they are coming from the U.S. Government. After working for that outfit for five years, you'd think I would have learned my lesson about dealing with them if I wanted something done in a timely fashion. Still no freakin charts. The confirmation email said they were shipped on the 3rd. I guess I missed the part about them being sent Pony Express. If you haven't figured this out for yourself, let me enlighten you. The federal government drags their heels on everything they do. Nothing gets rushed, even if it is marked "rush".

The weather looked pretty frightening all day, to say the least. Needless to say, I didn't go kayaking. Again. It's been so long since I've been in the water, my butt has almost quit hurting from the last trip. Instead, I went out today to find some quality paper to print stickers on. There is no such thing. I haven't searched for any paper on the internet, but I think I am going to break down and have a shop print the stickers. Might as well get it done right.

Since I couldn't find any sticker paper that was worth wiping my butt with, I made an impulse buy and got those crappy black letters that never go on straight. You know what I'm talking about...The "customize your cars back window with your name, Oklahoma style," stickers. Yeah, there you go! Those!

I customized my kayak real good today with those stickers. I wrote the riveryak URL on the starboard bow with them. It actually looks ok. An observer on the river bank might not even notice how crappy it is. After I completed the job, I was standing back admiring my handiwork and thinking about how much money I saved by doing it myself and my brother-in-law, make that my wife's smart ass brother-in-law asked, "What is blogs pot?" I may have left a slightly larger gap between the S and P, but it is only slightly and does not say "blogs pot". See for yourself:

Now the secret behind those letters. Remember, you heard it here, first. The first W is actually an upside down M because there were only two Ws in the kit. Assholes. The first O is a 0(zero) because there were only two Os in the kit. I used Elmer's Stix-All to coat over the letter's to give them a waterproof seal (hopefully). The Elmer's should work. It isn't that white stuff you used to eat as a kid. This stuff made me sneeze when I opened it. Clear finger nail polish is supposed to work, but haven't you seen how that stuff flakes off women's fingernails? I was looking for something a little more permanent. Plus, Stix-All says it is dishwasher safe, you know, just in case.

Fair winds and following seas,
I'll let you know when the charts come in.

More Planning and a Logo!

2006-08-08T00:51:00.000-05:00

Brother-in-Law is definitely on the Charlottesville to Richmond Kayak trip! We are still in the market for the boat that will carry him on the trip, but we have a few possible candidates and will probably have one picked out by this weekend. The gear is mostly in order. By mostly I mean we have to gather it all in one location. He has most of the stuff we need, but it is strung out all over the state like a freakin scavenger hunt.

After careful study of my Rivanna Trail Guide, I have come to the realization that the Rivanna River is much longer than I anticipated. It looks like it is about 35 miles from Woolen Mills dam to the James River. If my calculations are wrong, someone please correct me! As of now, we are going to paddle to Pettit Island where a public campground is conveniently located. Day two will take us on a 21 mile journey to the James. Depending on how we feel, we will probably make camp at the put-in on the James across from Columbia. My USGS charts have not arrived yet, so I don't have a clue yet as to how long we will be on the mighty Jim. Or where we will camp. I still have a month and a half to figure that kind of stuff out though. Details, smetails.

Since I haven't been doing much kayaking the last few days, I have come up with some nifty ideas for stickers and a logo for riveryak. The first one is a bumper sticker concept with a slogan that I haven't researched too heavily to make sure it's not already in use. Oops! If you've heard this somewhere, let me know. I like to think I am original, but there are millions of like minded people in this world that probably beat me to it. Google searches have turned up nothing so I think I'm pretty safe using it. Is it copyright infringement if I don't make money off it? Hmm...

This is the bumper sticker prototype. The slogan across the top says "Conservation Through Participation". That's the one I'm worried that somebody else is already using, even though, as I said earlier, a Google search didn't bring up anything (that's a legal search, right?). I like it because I believe the best way to practice conservation is to participate in it. Every time I go to the river I pick up trash and I am publishing this blog to try to get the word out that our river needs help. Conservation through participation. That's me.

This is the logo I came up with. As you can see, it is a stick figure wearing a bandana paddling a kayak over the riveryak url. I like these smaller stickers because they can be printed on any type of paper and will look good on any surface, not just a bumper. The colors are easily customized, so it can be a very diverse sticker that hopefully will appease to most kayakers. The paddler can be customized as well, for example, by placing a pony tale on the head. Now you have a girl yaker. I haven't made any like that yet. But I would if anybody ever wanted one. I tried to put a PFD on the figure, but it didn't look right. Always paddle with your PFD on your body, not on the boat! A PFD is useless unless you are properly wearing it. I used to be in the Coast Guard, I know these things.<--That last part was sarcasm.

If you are interested in any of the stickers let me know by responding to this post. For now I am printing them on my computer at home on adhesive printer paper. There is a product out there somewhere that sprays onto stuff like this to water proof them. When I find that stuff, aww man, watch out Cville...Every flat surface I see will be a blank cavas for riveryak stickers!

Fair winds and following seas

Charlottesville to Richmond

2006-08-05T00:49:00.000-05:00

This is something I have thought of doing for a while and it finally looks like it is going to happen. I am going to kayak from Charlottesville to Richmond with my brother-in-law. The trip is still in the early stages of planning, but it is basically going to start on the downstream side of the Woolen Mills dam in the Rivanna and end in the James River in Richmond. USGS charts are in the mail on their way to my house for the James leg and I purchased a nice little map of the Rivanna from the Rivanna Conservation Society for five dollars at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports. My job has let me off work for a week in September and my wife, with her undying support of my craziness, will bid me farewell from the banks as the sound of "Kaching" rings in her ears from the life insurance policy.

The only hitch in the whole process is my bro's kayak is not fit for a trip of this caliber. He has a nice, light weight, extremely fast canvass skinned boat that we are afraid will be ripped to shreds before reaching the Jim. We are in the market for a well cared for plastic kayak in the range of 10 feet in length. If you know of anything, please let me know! I really need him on this trip because he has all the gear we need and the experience to get me through it in one piece. For the love of me, find us another boat. I'm dumb enough to attempt this alone...

Departure date has yet to be set, as well as arrival time in Richmond. As planning progresses, I will keep the blog updated. I foresee future blog entries curtailing trial and error runs in the Rivanna until I figure out the best way to pack my luggage. My minds eye also forecasts at least one kayak sinking from being overloaded and several dunkings of yours truly until I get the whole balance-the-load thing down pat. I'm so excited my balls tingle.

Until next time,
Fair winds and following seas.

Rivanna hippos

2006-07-31T14:03:00.000-05:00

Sunday, July 30. I decided to paddle on the reservoir today. The reservoir is a huge lake created by a dam so that the county and city can have something to drink. I love the reservoir because there are no motor boats. Fishing boats with electric trolling motors are allowed, but no internal combustion engines. That means no jet ski's, no dumbasses towing skiers or tubes and that guy that likes to speed up and down the lake at full throttle is nowhere in sight (or to be heard). Sometimes a paddler likes to drop the skeg and paddle. The Rivanna Reservoir is an open-water-loving paddler's dream come true. This is "my upper body hurts" paddling. There is a crew club based on the reservoir, taking advantage of the long, uninterrupted straight stretch of paddling delight. For reasons I can't understand, the crew people are allowed to have outboard engines on the reservoir. Does anybody know why?

The bad thing about this trip: I forgot my camera. No pictures. Remember what I said about turtles being camera shy, here? Not at the reservoir. I had about 67,145 chances to take an award winning photo of a turtle. Horrible luck. A little, tiny baby even surfaced and let me paddle close enough to catch him. I didn't catch him, but being so close started me thinking about Charles Darwins account of the tameness of animals on the Galapagos and other islands he visited. He wrote about birds landing on their hats and one even landed on a canteen as a fella was drinking from it. The animals weren't even startled by a gunshot. Darwin referred to them as stupid, in reality, the animals had never seen humans and the islands lacked predators. Therefore, the animals had no predator, prey instincts and allowed themselves to be knocked out of the air with a hat or hit with the butt of a rifle to be killed. A lot of animals were killed in the name of science until fairly recently. Some countries still practice this sort of "research". (Japan is doing it as you read this to the Right whale, they are probably going to "research" the Right whale into extinction.)

Back to kayaking. I put in at the boat ramp on rt 659 and took off to the left-away from the bridge. A fisherman noted to me how high the water level was as I was preparing my kayak for departure. The water was up, way up. I got really excited knowing I was going to be able to paddle into areas I have never been able to before. This turned into a little exploring expedition for me. The pond area was chopped up by a stiff breeze. The sailor in me was chomping at the bit wishing for a sailboat. After paddling around a couple of bends, I entered territory that was reserved for kayaks only. No other boat could make it back there. With only inches of water between my keel and the muddy bottom, I paddled for hours deep into the woods and further from the fishing boats.

At one point, a wide creek fed into the river. Being a curious paddler, I had to see where it went. I was able to paddle up the creek for about thirty minutes before reaching an area that I would have to walk. I came to paddle, not hike, so I turned around and made my way back to the river. The water in there was amazing. There were very convenient kayak shaped channels that ran the whole way, allowing me to navigate the area like a ship in a channel. It took both of my navigation skills to keep enough water under me to keep from grounding. I love this kind of stuff.

In the creek I saw a duck with three or four babies. They jumped out of the bank behind me after I passed; I never would have seen them if they would have stayed put. And I wish they had stayed. The babies frantically flapped their useless wings and tried to run across the water. Momma just quacked and bravely stayed between me and them, following them out of harms way obviously terrified herself. I felt so bad. They were so scared, even though I hadn't done anything on purpose, it just goes to show even our presence in the wild is enough to disrupt the harmony of things. I also saw a large water snake and a dead turtle. I didn't recognize the turtle carcass at first, so I moved in closer for a better look. It was floating upside down and had apparently been in the water for some time. Looking at the thing through watery eyes and between gags, I finally recognized it as a turtle. I have a weak stomach.

Back in the river I saw a fawn on the banks. It was alone, but still had spots on its sides. We watched each other for a while before she figured it was time to get the hell out of there. I guess a log that paddles itself upstream is pretty scary. Later on in an area I would call a swamp, I came across a large whitetail doe standing in the murky water. She was up to her knees in the green encrusted water looking at me with her left side broad to me. Another awesome photo moment that I totally wasted by NOT BRINGING MY CAMERA.

I headed back to the boat ramp and rested for a while. A lady came down the ramp with a large touring kayak on top of her car. When she asked me for help getting it down, I gladly obliged. I won't tell you about allowing her to fall nearly to her death while carrying the heavy boat. Seriously, I didn't see the hole. I would have warned her! That was some scary shit, carrying a boat then seeing the person on the other side disappear. The boat hung in the air for a second like a cartoon before crashing into the pavement, just missing her head. If you ever read this, ma'am, I know I said it a thousand times yesterday, but I really am sorry! I didn't see the hole.

After I was assured she was OK, I headed back out on the water, this time under the bridge and up towards the crew club. It was in this area I saw my second most favorite thing to see on the water, other paddlers! One guy was paddling a beautiful wooden kayak that he probably built himself. Even his paddle was wood. I really wanted to check it out, but he was smoking in the opposite direction of me and I don't approach strangers very well. I am cool with people approaching me and I will talk to a stranger all day if they will let me. Usually they walk away after a little bit though. But, for some reason, I am always a little leery about approaching people myself. Especially on the water. The way I see, dude is kayaking alone, he probably wants to be left alone. I kayak alone because nobody will kayak with me. I'm very sad. Will you be my friend?

This area of the reservoir is probably perfect for sailing a small boat like a laser or sunfish. I don't know much about the contour of the bottom, but it seems to be pretty sandy, so hitting the ground here wouldn't be too much of an ordeal. I paddled a long way up the res, stopping in marshy places to look for snakes. I don't look to hard for snakes, because they really freak me out. But it is exciting to see them swim. I paddled into an area that must have been a nice hangout for the Rivanna Hippo. You may know them better as cows. I grew up with cows and couldn't resist a little conversation with them. It went like this: "Hi cows!" That's pretty much it. They chewed their cud and looked at me with about as much curiosity as a cow can muster.

The wind was blowing at my back on the way back, making it pretty easy to drift, keeping me from having to paddle too much. The bad thing about following seas, though, is that I feel like I'm not moving even though I was going faster on the way back then previously on the way out. I stayed close to the shore line to assure myself I was moving.

This day of paddling completely made up for the depressing paddle from the day before. I picked up a Big Lots shopping bag from the water and an old soda can. Other than that, I didn't see much garbage. I really love paddling the reservoir. Wish I could sail on it.

Fair winds and following seas.

Shadwell and Back

2006-07-31T12:22:00.000-05:00

I had a great weekend of kayaking. I was on the water so much the last three days, I haven't had time to post anything. So I'm doing a weekend's worth of posts in one day. This is from Saturday, July 29. I went to the Woolen Mills dam to take a few pictures and met two other people who were putting in with intentions to paddle to Shadwell. My yak was strapped on top of JeepYak as usual, so I decided to tag along.

This was the first time I had ventured downstream of the dam. Let me tell you, if you have never been on this trip, you should. The Rivanna is a totally different river on that end of the dam. There is more of everything down there. More rocks, more birds, more fish. When I crossed under I-64, there was noticeably less trash. The only river booty I came back with was some fishing line I cut from a tree limb. Don't underestimate the destructive force of those who want to see our river turned into a landfill, though. I did run into large items that won't fit in my kayak. Things like tires, ice chest's, and a large metal box held against some rocks by the current dotted the river bottom the whole way down.

The two people that turned into my inspiration for this trip headed out a few minutes before me. I caught up to them at one point while they were resting in the eddy of some rocks. They told me to continue on in front of them because there was a couple of blue herons and a green ahead of us. The birds were flying further downstream every time the paddlers caught up to them, and the nice people wanted to make sure I had a chance to see them. Paddler's are so thoughtful, most of the time. Thanks! The birds were beautiful, even though I didn't get any pictures of them.

Crossing under I-64 into the unknown. I have never been downstream of I-64, so it really is the unknown. The bridge here is kinda like an entry way into the less spoiled and untamed portion of the Rivanna. Crossing under it, I was a little worried some piece of trash from the road high above me would crash into my head. I'm always a little nervous going under bridges because people love to chunk things out of their windows while crossing a bridge. I don't like the idea of being some weird headline about a kayaker getting beamed in the head by a bottle under a bridge.

See what I mean by more rocks? This area was a lot of fun to wriggle through. Down stream from this area was a large, relatively deep pool in which I encountered a fish I have never seen above the dam...Gar. I was able to get a picture of one, but it looks like a dark colored dart in the water, so I'm not going to bother posting it. The further downstream I went, the more gar I saw. Sometimes I would see one facing upstream but not moving. The large fish was just idling in the stream looking pretty freakin cool. If I looked as cool as a gar in the water, I'd have chicks all over the place.

I stopped just short of reaching the bridge in Shadwell. A large group of geese were being disturbed by my thrashing about in the water (I prefer to call it paddling) and knowing I was turning around anyway, I decided to let them rest and began my trip back upstream. A number of places warranted a refreshing walk in the warm water since I don't paddle up whitewater very well. I stepped in a few holes that left me submerged to the bottom of my PFD. My cell phone was in a pocket on my vest, so in the best interest of keeping it dry I placed it in the watertight (riiiight) enclosure at the back of my boat along with my camera and keys. I thought I was doing the right thing, even though I never got more than my waist wet.

On the trip back upriver, I once again crossed paths with the two kayakers that let me pass earlier to see the birds. They were enjoying ice cold and refreshing water (something I didn't have since I wasn't planning on going out) on the bank. I paddled close to the edge and confirmed with them it was, in deed, gar I was seeing and we talked a little about the birds and the conditions of the river further downstream (where I had already been). I said goodbye to them then paddled to the next shallow and fast area where I got out and walked. Thank God for amphibious shoes!

Toting my boat behind me over the rocks I reflected on the reason I love plastic boats so much. It was cheap and extremely durable. Since most of my trips are out and back, I do a fair amount of walking and dragging my kayak over sharp rocks. The only downside of a plastic boat is at the end of a full day of paddling, I have to lug it on top of JeepYak. Not very easy with confetti arms.

Crossing under I-64 was actually a happy moment for me since I was so thirsty and my arms felt like spaghetti. But curiosity caught the better of me, as it usually does, and I took a short trip to the left (river right) just before entering the pool at the base of the dam. This little area was full of very cold water and enough trash to keep Oscar the Grouch happy. As I paddled up this little creek I realized it was runoff from the city. After seeing all the trash behind me throughout the day, I became rather depressed and sad. That is the first time I have ever left the water feeling worse than when I went in.

I got out of the water and hauled my boat across the rocks up the steep hill at the end of Market Street. When I finally arrived at the top I opened the watertight hatch to find a pool of water in the so called watertight compartment. At the bottom of that pool was my cell phone. The camera was fine, but my cell phone was toasted. What a way to end a shit filled day on the river. Oh well. You know what they say, "A bad day on the river, beats a good day licking your own ass."

Fair winds and following seas.

Another Rainy Day

2006-07-29T04:02:00.000-05:00

I had to work Wednesday and Thursday so I wasn't able to get in the water on those days. While I was at work Thursday night thinking about getting in the water early Friday morning, my boss came to me and said I would be working late. 16 hours I ended up working. Overnight. When I finally got home I was exhausted and afraid I wouldn't make it to the river. I tried to sleep but it wasn't working out very well. So I did the only thing I know to do when I'm so tired I can't think straight...I went kayaking. And boy am I glad I did. Rain pushed me out of the water, but before that, I got a few pretty good pictures of our scenic river. I didn't see much as far as animals go, but I was able to get some more New Castle 40s out of the water.

Close Call

I really feel bad for whoever cleans this guys underwear. This is a port-a-potty in the parking lot at the park. I had to poo really bad, but at the sight of this, my butt shut so tightly I burped. No need to poo anymore, let's go kayaking. By the way, to who ever did this, thanks for not wasting any TP cleaning it up. (Note: Notice the near full roll of shit tickets on the toilet.)

A Nice Scenic View
In this photo you can see The Woolen Mills dam to the left of the water tower. The dam was used to provide power for the Woolen Mills, a multi-industrial facility that cut wood, ground flour and most notably, made fabric for Confederate soldiers uniforms. There are plans to breach the dam. More on that later. The water tower is in the area of the mill, not sure if it is part of the mill or not, but probably is. That bare spot on the hill directly above the river is Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson(Charlottesville is in love with this guy. If a city could masturbate, Jefferson is who C-ville would think of and don't even think about calling him TJ).

An excellent tree to jump from

Many area residents have discovered this tree in Riverview Park. It is the best platform for jumping I have seen on the river. Be careful though, this is a river and river bottoms are always changing. I recommend getting in the water and checking it for obstacles before jumping!

The river as a playground
This is between Riverview Park and Free Bridge (Rt250 at Pantops). A nice little beach lines both banks in this area just downstream from a lazy bend and upstream from faster moving shallow water that qualifies as whitewater on really good days. There is a trash can on this beach, but some people are just too lazy to put their stuff in it. An unfortunate aspect of this perfect beach is the large amounts of litter (mostly beer paraphernalia) despite the extremely convenient location of the trash can. The water is in good shape and few people cross the river to the even better beach on the opposite bank. There you will find litter free sand and lots of room to spread out on. No trash can on the left bank though. To get to this area, start in Riverview Park and trek along the trail from the back of the parking lot(as opposed to the trail that follows the river through the playground, both will get you there, but the back way is faster). Go to the left at the junction where the two trails from the park meet. Another 1/4 to no more than 1/2 a mile the beach will be on your right. If you get to a foot bridge crossing a riffle, you have gone too far.

Strange Bubbles
I noticed these bubbles forming in the wake from my kayak and paddle. They were very strange and I have to admit that I immediately thought, "Oh my God! Foam!" A mysterious foam has been plaguing the James River lately. With that on most people's minds in this area, including mine, I got freaked out when I saw this. It was just silt and pollen on the surface though. I don't think we have any foam epidemics in our beloved Rivannna.

Really scary bubbles
These bubbles freaked me out. Even after closer examination, I was still a little freaked by this. My camera isn't very good on detail, but the white stuff is bubbles caught by the vegetation. The water here was not moving so it was fairly easy for me to get close and take some pictures without disturbing it. You can't see it in the photo, but there are tiny black "pills" stuck in the viscous type sheen that the bubbles are stuck to. The "pills" are in the water and appear to be eggs. Being no biologist, I have no idea what it is. I hope it's not some kind of shit.

River Filter
In my last post I briefly mentioned fallen trees acting as fish habitats and filters for the river. Both are good, and even the stuff that is filtered can be beneficial to the fish. Click on the above picture and you can see how sediment and sticks have been trapped by this tree. Some of the stuff in sediment is very tasty to a fish. Then comes a human. Dopey, dumb humans. If you look closely after clicking on the picture to view it larger, you will see trash that has been filtered by this little habitat. This poses a great threat to all marine animals. Remember hearing how sea turtles get caught in those plastic things that hold soda bottles together? This is how it happens. There are several soda bottles in this tree along with little bits of trash that can be mistaken as food by a fish or turtle. Would you eat plastic or foil wrappers from a candybar? No, because it can't be good for you, right? It's not good for little animals, either. This stuff gets caught in their digestive system or hangs around a body part. Depending on how stuck they are in your garbage, an animal may not be able to swim properly and drown or open its mouth to eat. An unfortunate thing I have noticed in the Rivanna is large quantities of trash.

A body for Rush
I once heard Rush Limbaugh tell a caller from Virginia that if factories and pollution in rivers are killing fish, where are the bodies? Here's a body for you Rushy. I don't have any idea how this fish died, but isn't it strange a dead animal is not being eaten by anything? Rush went on to say that fish aren't being killed by pollution from things like mercury because nobody had ever seen hordes of dead fish lining the banks of the river. The only evidence scientists had was the lack of fish in an area around a factory. In Rush's words, the fish realized something was wrong with the water and moved upstream, they didn't die. This is what he said to a lady from Virginia who was unsure as to believe scientists on the issue of pollution or not. She bought it. You idiot. He also said man cannot destroy what God has created. One of his metaphor's to this analogy was that we as humans, cannot move mountains. I guess Rush Limbaugh has never been to West Virginia.

Auhhgggg!! More Rain!
I wasn't going to outrun it, so before hiding the camera under my PFD, I snapped this photo of the rain running at me from up river. I had a good day on the river. I was tired, but I got to think a lot and I had the chance to see a few things nobody else saw. Depending on the weather today, I am hoping to go to a new spot and do some exploring. I promise the next post will be more fun and not so crabby.

Until next time,

Fair winds and following seas.

Not Much to Post

2006-07-26T17:07:00.000-05:00

<--There's a little woodchuck up there somewhere.

This isn't a very good picture, but that is a tree

that has fallen in the water after the bank
eroded from under it. I saw a number of these
yesterday, for some reason. The fallen trees
serve as excellent habitats for fish. They also
act as natural filters, catching piles of garbage
as it floats down stream.

Jeep Yak

I have found no other vehicle that can carry a stack of kayaks as well as a Jeep. Jeep Yak has taken me into some extremely remote places that I never would have been able to see without it. I love my Heep. P.S. If it pisses you off that I'm a Jeep driving 'tree hugger', leave me a message.

Fair winds and following seas.

From Patagonia.com

2006-07-26T03:37:00.000-05:00


This is an email I just received from Patagonia.


From Sea to Rising Sea

Across the country and around the globe, concern about global warming is on the rise. Research shows that polar bears must swim farther than ever to find food because Arctic ice is melting at an accelerated rate. The longer swims are even causing some bears to drown. While the issue may feel as vast as the rising seas, making a difference depends on individuals taking action one by one. If you’re concerned about the effects of climate change, we invite you to join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March. The March is a non-political effort to bring all Americans together in one place – proving there is a vast consensus that global warming is here now and it’s time for our country to start addressing the problem. Nearly 4,000 friends of Patagonia have already joined the March. For those already signed up, we thank you. Please spread the word and forward this email so your friends can follow your lead. If you haven’t joined the 400,000+ marchers yet, the time is now. Learn more and join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March Following is an excerpt from the IUCN (The World Conservation Union). This is the organization that puts out the 'Red List', commonly referred to as the endangered species list. Polar Bears have recently recieved the vulnerable slot in the threatened species catagory. This means Polar bears face a "high risk of extintion in the wild." Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are set to become one of the most notable casualties of global warming. The impact of climate change is increasingly felt in polar regions, where summer sea ice is expected to decrease by 50-100% over the next 50-100 years. Dependent upon Arctic ice-floes for hunting seals and highly specialized for life in the Arctic marine environment, polar bears are predicted to suffer more than a 30% population decline in the next 45 years. Previously listed by IUCN as a conservation dependent species, the polar bear moves into the threatened categories and has been classified as Vulnerable. (Clarifications on the IUCN Red List threat categories can be found in the Notes to Editors). This is taken directly from www.iucn.org. ---According the article, "Experts Predict Polar Bear Decline" published Thursday, July 7, 2005 in the Washington Post written by Blaine Harden, Polar bear numbers are now in the range of 2o,ooo to 25,000. A 30% decline in this number is expected in the next 35 to 50 years. I'm no mathmetician, but that leaves us with 14,000 to 17,500 bears in less than half a century. That may not sound like much of a problem to some people, but look at it this way. With their habitat already shrinking (causing their population decline, and that alone is going to eventually do them in) factor in some sort of epidemic that takes its toll on the bears. Then, add the fact that some bears are drowning in the search of ice to hitch a ride on. On top of that, they happen to live in a major shipping area, so let's run a tanker into an iceberg and spill oil on the already diminishing habitat. Even if the spill doesn't directly kill a bear, their food supply will be lessened by the pollution. Now how many bears are we left with? Let's hope they are an equally divided group of breeding age males and females. Remember, Polar bear cubs stay with mommy for two years and she only has one or two. Extinction occurs when a series of events like this happen, thus leaving only a few females and a bunch of males (or vice versa). The few females that are breeding are nearing their barren years and end up having a bunch of male babies. Doesn't do a population a whole lotta good, huh? Granted this is all hypothetical, but it has happened before. My appologies to David Quammen for using his model of explaining population decline and extinction. Fair winds and following seas, Polar bears.

Rainy Day

2006-07-25T13:31:00.000-05:00

I'm back from the river a little earlier than expected. About two hours after I splashed into the water, the sky threatened to open up and unleash it's relentless furry upon my head. Although my grandmother swears shit doesn't melt in the rain and I would be fine, my camera doesn't like water. So in my defense, I decided to turn in early and spare my electronics.

I had to wait a few minutes to get into the water because some state biologists were SCUBA diving in the area. Talking to a friendly lady on the bank who described herself as a "Biologist Assistant" when I asked her profession, she told me they were looking for rare freshwater clams. My blog being so new, I didn't ask for an interview or even to take some pictures, so that is all I know.

Lucky devils, those guys. I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up but at the moment I have decided on Marine Ecology. Evidenced by this blog, I love the water and would love to get paid to do pretty much what I am doing now. Playing in the water.

Every time I go kayaking on the Rivanna, I come back with a boatload of trash. Enjoy your 40s people, but don't toss them in the river! For June, the trash theme was PBR 40 ounce bottles. It seems Old English is the choice for July. Still 40s. Why is it always bad beer? Maybe that's why they are in the river...Still, that is no excuse. No matter how bad the beer tastes, don't pitch it in the river. There are trash cans placed conveniently all along the river. It dumbfounds me that people can't hold on to their empties until they stumble across one of these. Seems these guys are following the logic of my Company Commander in bootcamp. "What do you do when you finish a 40? Get another 40!"

The fish are growing and I saw several big uns swimming around. Fish are very camera shy, so unfortunately I didn't get their pictures today. Nothing compares to the photophobia of turtles, though. Bigfoot is easier to get a picture of than any turtle. Even the smallest babies that shouldn't know yet not to have their photo taken dive to the depths just before I snap the picture, leaving me with a shot of an empty log or bare rock. At least they let me get the camera to my eye. Adults are gone before I can get into range and start thinking of picking up the camera. I have theorized they have some sort of telepathetic powers that I refer to as Turtlepathy. They have electromagnetic sensory nerves in their noses that enable them to hone in on the camera. Sneaky, very sneaky indeed.

Sometimes I get so consumed with looking under the water that I forget there is a whole different world to pay attention to above the water line. As I was paddling under a low tree branch to pick up a soda bottle from the shore line a young red-shouldered hawk startled me as it launched from the branch just over my head and dropped a small clam it was eating. The bird landed on another branch further up the bank before taking off and fleeing deeper into the woods and out of sight. None of the frantic pictures I snapped turned out. I've got to get a better camera!

That's really all I can say about today's trip. The water level was low, but not too bad and extremely calm in most parts. Visibility was incredible, allowing me to see the bottom in places I have never been able to before. Must have been good diving for those biologists.

I took some pictures today, but for some reason I can't open the link to post them. Hopefully that will get fixed soon and I will be able to show you what I'm talking about. Maybe it won't be so confusing then.

Fair winds and following seas.

River Right

2006-07-25T07:02:00.000-05:00

This is a two-fer blog. The first part, and main theme of the blog, is me and my kayak on the Rivanna River. Being that the Rivanna is not the only river in the world, I hope to visit others and write about them, as well. But I live just a few short blocks from the Rivanna. With easy access being a virtue, I will mainly be writing about the Rivanna.
The second part is to keep my family and friends updated on what I am doing. According to Mapquest it is 1269.55 miles from my house to my parents house. For reasons unknown to me, they seem to miss me and I hope this blog will sufficiently replace phone calls. (That's a joke, Mom)
With the intro out of the way, I'm logging off and going to the river. More on that later, hopefully with pictures.

Fair winds and following seas.