utenzi

I bought another used kayak off of Craig's List today. I'm going to have to stop looking at that site 'cause it ends up costing me too much money. As you can see, this one is bigger than my car. I bought it in Greensboro so it was an hours drive away. I'm signed up for a short paddle tomorrow morning so I'll get to use it right away. This kayak is a Prijon Seayak. It's a 16 foot long sea kayak, which is a very short length for that type of kayak. They sell for around $1,600 new but this one is 15 years old. Pretty damn old for a big piece of plastic. It's only 24" wide which gives it a nice sleek line to slip through water with less resistance. Or so they say! I hope that it works as well on the water as it does on top of my car. It didn't even shimmy at 75mph though I did try to keep it at 70mph or under. It'd have been really bad if it popped off!

I have another toy. This time it's a kayak. A pretty yellow one. I got it used off of Craig's List from Jeff, a guy who lives over in Burlington. I paid $550 for it which isn't a great deal but the yak is in good shape, almost new, and it is nearly $300 off what I'd pay for it in a store at retail. If you know much about kayaks, then you realize this is a very inexpensive boat 'cause 14 foot long kayaks usually go for a lot more than $750-800. However this one doesn't have much in the way of frills and it's plastic all the way. But it will float---or at least that's what Jeff told me. :-) I hope to find out for myself tomorrow night. If I can get out of work early enough I'm planning on going to a Meetup paddle on Lake Jordan. I sure do hope this thing floats. In case you're curious, the first picture is at Jeff's house after we loaded the boat on my car. And the second picture is the boat on my rear deck. And my deck starts to look quite s...

It's kinda spooky realizing just how much exists beneath the surface impressions that we readily perceive. In the case of the photo below, the revealed "lurkers" are the remnants of a forest that's been buried beneath the surface of Lake Hartwell for generations. This area of SC and GA was flooded back in the 1950s to provide the area with hydroelectric and nuclear power as well as a dependable source of water for drinking and recreation... but that's a different story. The drought that this area has been experiencing for well over a year now has caused the water level to drop as much as 21 feet below normal. Right now it's 15.5 feet below full pool. Having water levels this low means that things are revealed that haven't been seen in generations. This includes small things like arrowheads but also large things like house foundations, roads, and bridges--plus lots and lots of trees like the ones in the picture above. It's weird and more than a little ...

A picture from yesterday morning since I've not been out on the lake yet today. Feeling lazy, and all that sorta thing. The paddling helps my back feel better so I should get off my butt and get out there--but it's kinda cold out there and.... Today marks two weeks of not working. I could quite easily get used to this sorta thing. I just don't understand people that retire and can't get used to having so much free time. Of course money would be a problem for me...

The temperature overnight has been too warm lately. If it gets below freezing I can get great pictures of fog on the water. But since it's bottomed out around 40 the past two nights all I've had is gray skies and that's just boring! This picture I took today when I went out for a brief paddle. It was so damn windy that even 45f felt cold and between fighting the waves and wind, I just lost interest after a mile or so. I took this picture just before turning back. I'd used an island to help break the wind and waves by coming up on its lee side but once I was in the main channel I decided I just wasn't interested in paddling upwind. So home I went and it was one Hell of a lot faster paddling with the wind at my back! A number of waves broke over the kayak so I was quite soaked and that helped me decide to return. Paddling keeps your upper body pretty warm, even in windy conditions, but if you're sitting in several inches of cold water your legs and butt just get n...

I just bought Mission Impossible the other day from Barnes & Noble. They sent me a 25% off coupon and I couldn't resist. No, it's not the movie. It's the old TV series. At long last, the first season is being released on December 5th. I remember watching the Mission Impossible shows as a kid and really liking them. However I didn't see them until around the 4th season when I was 9. In 1966, when the first season aired, I was just 5 and much too young to watch the show. What's really weird to me is that Peter Graves wasn't on that first season--in my mind I identify the show strongly with him. Instead, the lead was held by Steven Hill better known now for his role in Law & Order. In keeping with the topic of Mission Impossible, here's your mission, should you choose to accept it: The picture above was taken without zooming. I went as far as I could up the steam with my kayak until it was grounded. As I gazed around me I realized I could see some mo...

I was walking in the woods near the shore of the lake and I came across this scene. Needless to say, I was a little shaken up. I hope they love each other...