I've made a couple of runs on the McKenzie River in Central Oregon. The first time I swam 4 times. Twice unexpectedly, and twice when I was pushing it. The second trip I only swam once, and I was pushing lots of things pretty hard. Going for a swim on any of the rapids on this run isn't a terrible experience. At worst you lose some time collecting your boat, your paddle, and your water bottle, and then you're on your way again. On other runs this isn't always the case. I met a kayaker today who went for a swim on a big rapid at high water on the Merced river. He struck a rock suffering a nasty puncture wound, and a hairline fracture of his pelvis. IT IS SAFER TO STAY IN THE BOAT! Did I mention that it was safer to stay in your boat and roll up?

I've been out to the pool at Juniper park to learn how to brace and roll, twice. Last time out I almost made it. The mechanics are pretty simple. Except that you're upside down and under water. This is the difficult part. You have to ignore this fact if you want to roll. Time on the water trying to roll is what eventually gets you coming up successfully. Getting to the pool whenever I wanted to practice would be ideal, but the pool isn't always available. The river is though, and today I borrowed a Jackson Rocker creek boat from Alder Creek and headed towards the little beach on the Deschutes river at Farewell Bend Park. The river is wide, the current is slow (I thought), and the bottom is flat and sandy. It's a good place to practice your roll.

First thing I did when I got to the beach was to go out and get wet. The water's pretty cool. Going for a swim before even getting in the boat prepared my body for the shock to come. I also wanted to scout out the best place to practice. The water needed to be deep enough, but not too deep. If I needed to punch out I didn't want to have to swim very far before I could put my feet down. The river is really wide here. I was about 3/4 of the way across with the water being only about chest high. That'll do. The place where I actually made my attempts was only about 4 feet deep.

Gearing up and shoving off I decided to paddle around a little bit to get a feel for Jackson's Rocker. This kayak has been described as a cylinder with a cockpit. There aren't really any edges on it which makes it quite stable. It spins easily without the worry of a hard edge accidentally flipping you over. Perfect for rolling practice I thought.

The current was moving faster than I had anticipated. Not a torrent, but this obviously wasn't a swimming pool either. Paddling upstream of the beach a little ways I set up for my first attempt, and over I went. Upside down and underwater. Sweep the paddle, hip snap, keep your head down, uh-oh! Time to punch out. That first attempt was a little confusing, and the water's cold, and the current is fast. So I emptied the boat and tried again. After paddling around some more and working up the courage again. Same results.

Twice over and twice swimming. Getting a little gun shy so I decided to paddle upstream to play in the rapids. That's a good idea. Sneaking up the left bank I made it to the boulders and began eddy hopping across the river to the main flow. Love the way the Rocker is handling. This might be my new favorite boat. Once I peeled out into the main flow I turned sideways to paddle across the river. Where the Mamba would have been really tippy because of its edges, the Rocker was nice and stable. Caught some eddies on the far side of the river and headed downstream back to the beach, back to my practice ground water.

It took me some time to go over again. I paddled in circles, I did some extreme low bracing and sculling, I did some pivots, and tried to do a stern squirt. I did a lot of stuff while building up the courage to try another roll. In my head I was reviewing the mechanics of the roll. Tuck forward, paddle alongside the hull and in the air, sweep, hip snap, and that should do it. Over I went. Got the tuck, got the sweep, got the hip snap, and lifted my head enough to grab a mouthful of air. Then I was under again. Tried once more then punched out.

As I was draining the water out of the Rocker a family came up with several air mattresses, an inner tube, and a sea kayak. The Mom asked me if I was practicing my roll. My answer of course was yes. She was encouraging and I launched out once more. It was beginning to seem as if the amount of time that I fooled around before flipping over was getting longer and longer. This time though, once I got back to my spot, I went over the sequence in my head and then flipped the boat over. At first when I tried to sweep the paddle wasn't set up right and I felt it dive to the bottom. I set up again with both paddle blades out of the water alongside the capsized hull. Sweep, hip snap, and suddenly I was right side up. I'd done it! I had done a successful eskimo roll! What a rush. As I was coming up and realized that I'd made it I yelled out as loud as I could YEAH BABY! Everyone in Bend new that I'd done something amazing. I knew that I'd done something amazing.

The coolest thing was, that roll seemed effortless. It felt like it was easier rolling up from upside down than flipping over from right side up. How cool is THAT? The Mom that I'd been talking too didn't see it, but the girls laying out across the river did. They thought it was cool. The Mom thought it was cool to, she just wanted to see it.

I tried again about half a dozen times. Each time I'd go over I try to roll, wouldn't make it the first time. Still under I'd kip up enough to grab a mouthful of air and try again. So a few more times going swimming and I decided to call it a day. If you roll correctly it takes almost no effort. If you're not doing it right you wear yourself out.

I'm totally stoked though. I did an eskimo roll. Now I have a roll. It's not bomber, it's not a combat roll, but it's a beginning.

Wednesday August 5th was my 2nd run down the McKenzie river in central Oregon. We ended up being a flotilla of 3 canoes and 6 kayaks. John and Christy in John's We-No-Nah Rogue Tandem White Water Touring canoe, Ben and Celia in an Old Town tandem white water canoe, Zak in an Esquif Raven solo white water canoe. Ed and Toni Ford where there with their son and daughter Kyle, and Taylor. Ed has a Dagger Mamba 8.5. Toni was paddling a Liquidlogic Jefe Chico. Kyle was in a Jackson Punk Rocker, and Taylor paddled a little Wavesport. Finally Linda was paddling a Jackson 2Fun.

Once we were on the water the little flotilla reminded me of a Navy Task force. A couple of heavies, a cruiser, and a whole bunch of frigates and destroyers. Another way to look at it with all the different colors we looked like a bunch of skittles skipping around on the clear cold water of the McKenzie.

The Mamba is a very different boat from the Jackson 4Fun that I paddled on the last trip. Dagger says it's a creekboat, but the kayakers I know say it's a river runner. It's got some fairly hard edges which help it to carve nicely. It can also catch one of those edges and flip you over if you're not careful. Just something to think about in the current. It's a pretty stable boat compared to the 4Fun. I found that it tracked much better, but still had wonderful maneuverability.

The first mile or so I was a bit skittish. Took me a while to push things over. To find the edge just where my boat would go over. On this trip I only went over once. As we went down river I was looking for opportunities to grab every eddy possible. In particular I was looking forward to the eddy at Fin Rock which sent me swimming on my last trip. Coming up to Fin Rock I knew that John would have Ben and Celia catch it, and just about everyone else would crowd into it. The Fin Rock eddy is BIG and has a very strong eddyline. This was what threw me over on the previous trip. Today I eddied out about 200 yards upstream to let everyone else have fun at Fin Rock. The little boulder I chose had its own powerful eddy behind it, and when I stuck the Mamba's nose into it, it grabbed hold like nothing I'd experienced before. I was really locked in. Then when everything settled down at Fin Rock I carved out of my little eddy and headed in.

Things were still crowded in the Fin Rock eddy so I came in from downstream. No dramatic eddy turn this time. And no swimming. Taking the opportunity to rest up for a bit. John had Ben and Celia peel out, then he followed. Ed tried and went for a swim as the strong current grabbed the wrong edge of his Mamba. When I peeled out I leaned way downstream with a high brace. The current whipped the bow of my kayak around so fast that the stern hadn't cleared the rock. The bump almost flipped me, and it would have if I hadn't been so far over. I had so much fun that I decided to go back and do it again. What a rush. The second time I was prepared for the stern to bump. I think that was one of the things that caught Ed.

As we continued downstream leapfrogging past each other John and Christy leading Ben and Celia into eddies. Zak feeling out the edges of the Esquif's envelope. Linda attempting to surf just about every standing wave on the river. The Ford clan spread out amongst everyone, and I was catching eddies. After that little boulder, and Fin Rock I was really into it. It was fun going in leaned out into the river with the Mamba carving into the eddy. Something else I was doing was paddling more aggressively across the current. It's a bit tricky because you've got to watch your edges. There's a balancing point, and I'm learning to find it.

Coming up was the one place where I went swimming on this trip. River right was a really big boulder with a smaller one just upstream and to the left. I thought to shoot through the slot between these two boulders and eddy out behind the big one. This looked like a good plan until I got into the slot and realized that the currents were extra squirrelly. Perhaps this wasn't a good choice. In spite of a quick brace and a solid lean I ended upside down. This time instead of punching out right away I made an attempt to roll up. However the roll attempt went I didn't make it up, so I ended up swimming out.

I lost my paddle, and my water bottle. Linda recovered both of these for me and I swam the boat to shore where I found out that the Mamba isn't as easy to drain as the Jackson 4Fun. It holds more water. Linda loaned me a little carabiner to keep my water bottle in the boat, and we continued downstream to the boulder garden.

The last time John challenged me to catch 20 eddies in the boulder garden. This trip my goal was 50 eddies, and no swimming. I'm getting pretty good at catching eddies of all kinds. Little bitty ones formed by a fist sized rock sticking up out of the water. Eddies made by rocks just below the water. Eddies where a cluster of boulders makes a lot of swirling and upwelling currents.

To be fair I didn't catch all the eddies that I aimed for. Some of them were a bit two far across the river and I was carried downstream by the current before I could get to them. One thing I had figured out though. I was much more aggressive paddling after my swim than before. I think I'll just have to play around in the put in rapid until I go over next time. Get the swim done early and paddle hard the whole trip. By the end of the boulder garden I had managed to catch 40 eddies. I was short of my goal by 10, but I had been falling behind the main group so I had passed up quite a few. Next time I'll get 50.

By this time all the kayakers had gone swimming except for Linda. She owned the river in her little Jackson 2Fun. Ed had gone swimming in the boulder garden and I waited in an eddy for him to drain his boat and get back on the river. While I was waiting my boat did a couple of unexpected stern squirts. This would happen when the stern of the boat would drift into the eddyline behind me. The current would roll over the stern deck pushing it down into the water and forward. Sort of like pinching a watermelon seed between your thumb and forefinger.

As my skills improve I'm sure that this stern squirting thing will be a lot of fun. Today it was a bit unsettling as I tried not to get thrown over.

Next rapid down was Screamer, marked by a home flying a big American Flag on the right river bank. The first wave has a nice size hole followed by a long wave train. The canoes were dropping in, and then the kayaks. I watched from the rear as all the colorful little skittles seemed to disappear. The mamba made nice work of the hole and the standing waves even if they did look HUGE! I remember last time in the 4Fun these waves didn't seem all that fun, but that's just me learning. Everyone made it through Screamer upright.

The next exciting thing happened just before our lunch break. Taylor flipped over and went swimming. Then while Toni was helping her she got caught under a tree branch and went over. Linda and I eddied out in a wicked swirling eddy just on the side of the river. I'm not even sure what was making the current work this way, but we managed to rescue Toni's paddle. Toni and Taylor made to the riverbank safely and spent some time getting their boats drained. Linda peeled out, and made it to our lunch break. Then Taylor peeled out. She went into the current and ran the rapid like she'd been doing this for years. Now it was my turn. I peeled out, and almost immediately got pushed into another eddy just downstream. Toni followed, but she got a little nervous and ended up swimming again. Once again we tried and made it through the rapid just above our lunch break. Wow! I'll remember this one for a long time.

The next two rapids before the take out went pretty easily. At Eagle Rock Zak went swimming because he tried to surf the wave. He almost made it, but forgot that he was in a canoe. I watched him try to brace with a paddle blade that wasn't there just before going into the river. I paddled through the meat of Eagle Rock and Manny's run with no trouble at all. The mamba just makes river running fun.

We began the class by just working on low and high braces, and hip snaps. After Tuesday on the McKenzie I was really pretty good at this part of the class. Maybe too good, I got a little cocky and went over while doing a high brace. My gut reaction was to grab the loop on the skirt punching out into a wet exit. That is exactly what I did everytime I went swimming last Tuesday. Just as I was about to pull the skirt I had another idea. There were six people in kayaks around me all paying attention, and we had just seen a video demonstrating eskimo rescues.

I let go of the loop and began patting the sides of my boat to signal that I could use some help. Christina put the bow of her LiquidLogic Biscuit 45 against the side of my boat and I was able to pull myself upright.

This was a great set up for the remainder of the class. Geoff Frank came in to help and Christina demonstrated a roll several times while Geoff gave commentary on the process. He told us what to look for while Christina was turning turtle then popping right back up. She makes this look so easy. Of course she's been kayaking for 10 years. Watching Christina demonstrate the roll was very helpful. I was seeing some things that weren't obvious from the video. Like exactly how she was sweeping her paddle to facilitate the hip snap.

We broke off into groups with Christina working with the family, and Geoff working with me and Cody. I watched as Geoff had Cody flip over. He held Cody's shoulders and walked him through the mechanics of the paddle sweep and hip snap. Then he let Cody go all the way over while he guided the paddle through the sweep. I could see Cody pulling everything together, and gaining confidence each time.

When it was my turn everything seemed very disconnected while. Geoff said that I had a good hip snap and it was just a matter of time. At first putting everything together is very confusing. I'm upside down, under water, my paddle needs to go where? Don't forget to tuck forward. The hip snap is the key. Keep your head down, it comes up last. With Geoff's guidance I was learning how all of this worked together. Then Geoff suggested that I give it a try on my own, and if I didn't make it to set up again and he would guide the paddle. A few times like this coming close each time was really helping me gain confidence.

The last time over I ended up punching out so it was time to let Cody work with Geoff some more while I emptied the water out of my boat. Once I was back in I let Geoff know that I was going to try on my own, and if I didn't get it I'd just punch out. Punching out was becoming very easy.

First time over, set up, and I almost made it. Grabbed a mouthful of air, and I tried again, twice before punching out. Got the boat emptied and tried again with the same results. Geoff told me that I was lifting my head up first which was preventing me from coming up. Deciding that I had made good progress today I tried once more then called it a day.

I'm feeling much more comfortable in the boat, and I'm sure that a good roll is just within my grasp. Next time on the river I'll be sure to try to roll up when I go over instead of just punching out. I can hardly wait until next time.

Kayaking is one of the primary reasons that I moved to Oregon. My Dad taught me how to canoe when I was still wearing diapers, and we were always going on great weekend canoe trips in Louisiana and Mississippi. Sometimes we'd go a bit farther out. These were great beautiful rivers with swift currents, and big sandy beaches. Sometimes there was a ripple, but no serious whitewater. That was to come later when I was in high school.

At the McKenzie River Put In

Since coming to Bend I've made a lot of friends at Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe shop. Figured it was the best way to find some kayaking buddies here, and turns out it was a good idea. John Hise manages the shop for Geoff Frank, and he's probably got more Oregon river water under his keel than anyone else in Central Oregon.

John Hise and his friend Christy

Hank Hill sells boats at Alder Creek, and he's in a situation kind of like me. He's done a lot of paddling in Sea Kayaks, but is pretty new to whitewater. We're both pretty excited about getting some water time, so we planned to make this run on our own.

Hank Hill

The drive out to Blue River is beautiful. You're traveling through thick evergreen forests and mountains. Some of the most stunning views in the United States. The drive is 85 miles from Bend, and takes about two hours. We left Bend at about noon. Once we got to Blue River, Oregon we unloaded, geared up, and Hank and John ran the car shuttle while Christy and I waited at the put in.

John says the McKenzie is the second coldest river in Oregon with the coldest being the Metolius. In mid summer the water felt perfect. It was crystal clear and running 2460 cfs. About normal for this time of year according to John.

The McKenzie River in Central Oregon

We headed down river. John and Christy in John's We-No-Nah Rogue Tandem White Water Touring canoe, Hank in a Dagger Mamba 8.0, and I was running a Jackson Kayak 4Fun. John likes to say that these little whitewater boats are made for spinnin and flippin.
Right at the put in there's a little class I rapid. Just some nice ripples coming down a little rock bar, and John started out by leading Christy through a peel out where you come out of an eddy into the main flow of the river. John's all about good eddy turns.

The river flows through a green velvet carpet of tall mountain hemlock. The sun was shining, and the water felt cool as we glided silently towards the first rapids. It didn't take too long and we were going through some small ripples. I was finding the Jackson a bit fidgety in the cross waves of the rapid. My paddling was a bit tentative while I concentrated on keeping upright through the waves.

The Jackson 4Fun that I used on this trip

I ended up swimming four times during this trip. The first time happened as I followed John and Christy into a really strong eddy at Fin Rock. No ripples here just a fast current, an old bridge abutment, a wicked eddyline. The bow of my kayak crossed over the eddy line, my downstream edge caught, I flipped, and punched out. Wow! This water feels great!

This turned out to be a great place to swim like I did. I was in a protected eddy near some big rocks with easy footing. Got the Jackson emptied out, and was back on the water in about two seconds. I peeled out of the eddy, and we were on our way downstream again.

More ripples and rapids and John told me about a boulder garden coming up. He challenged me to try and catch 20 eddies going through the boulder garden. This was one of those things that made having John on the trip very fortuitous. Had it just been Hank and me we would have enjoyed the river, but wouldn't have spent so much effort catching the eddies in the boulder garden. With each eddy turn my confidence and ability was increasing, and then going into eddy 17 I went swimming again.

Once again I simply punched out of the kayak, grabbed the stern handle of the boat, and swam downstream to a protected eddy. This swim was considerably longer, maybe 200 yards. The current was moving, but not really too fast. John and Hank used their boats to help me get mine into the eddy where I could empty water out of the boat and get going again. John said that I had plenty of boulders left to get my twenty eddies. I exited the boulder garden having captured 25 eddies and only swimming once.

We took a short break just downstream from the boulder garden, and there was a little play wave that John said was the perfect place to practice surfing. After the break I paddled over and started playing on the wave with the little Jackson playboat making it fun. Of course that's why it's called the Fun. The blunt bow dropped into the water and I did a couple of bow stalls, shot out, and paddled back into the wave. Just as I thought I was being swept downstream again the boat would surge forward and I was surfing. Once more, and then I got a little bit cocky. Over I go again. This time the water was shallow enough that I was almost able to brace myself back up. Not quite, I was swimming again.

The rest of the trip took us through the big rapids of this run. Screamer which John said was the big one. An easy series of standing waves 2, 3, maybe four foot high. Nice roller coaster ride in the Jackson with lots of water splashing my face. Next up was Eagle Rock, not as big as Screamer, but big enough. After my run through the boulder garden I was catching all the eddies I could. It was good practice, and lots of fun. A few times my little boat did some squirrely stuff that showed its playboat design. I was really getting stoked.

At the Takeout

Just above the take out point I went swimming again. I'd found a nice rock with a good powerful eddy that I was playing with. After catching this one a couple of times I ended up going over the fourth and final time of this trip. I swam the capsized kayak into the take out. My body was sun kissed, and I could feel the soreness of the exertion coming on. We loaded up, and headed home. Back before dark. What a rush. I love living in Oregon!

Here is a list of the work and upgrades that have been performed on this fantastic bike.

South Bay Triumph
904 Big Bore Kit
Stay Tuned Stainless Steel PeaShooter Exhaust
Imported English Stainless Headers
OHLINS Rear Shocks
Front Up Graded Brake Rotor
Billet Front Fork Brace
New CAM Bolts
New Exhaust Valves
New Alternator Cover
New Front Rotor Bolts
Hyper Pro Fork Springs
YSS Gold Front Fork Valves
New Oil Seals
Ported Head and Valve Job at M-Tech
Chrome Mirrors
Cafe Style Bar Risers
Adjustable clutch and brake levers
Billet running turn signals
Bobbed front fender
Airbox removal kit
halogen headlites
Hand Polished side covers
Drilled and polished sproket cover
additional clear dress sprocket cover
two sets of triumph tank badges
new set of thruxton side covers
matched painted set of side covers
norman hyde stearing dampner
oil temperature guage
Drilled billet chain guard
Renthal Gold Chain
Aviation Fuel Cap
Upgraded coil
Factory gell seat
Rear racing sets
C&R Racing Carbs
K&N Air Filter System
Hot Plugs & upgraded Spark plug wires
Rear Wheel Display/work stand

Historical paint scheme from 1966 Triumph Factory Bike

Original paint, original factory matching by Tom Wilkinson possessor of Triumph formulas, painted by Don Roe, Alpine White & Grenadier Red. Hand painted gold pin stripping and triumph decal on front headlight spoiler finished with 3 coats of clear.

If you're interested in buying great Triumph you can contact Deno Pulos at denostriumph@gmail.com .

If you're not looking for the sweetest Triumph out there check out these bikes for sale on Ebay.

Custom Built Motorcycles Pro Street NO RESERVE NO RESERVE 05 WILD WEST GUNFIRE PROSTREET 117 44K NEW

28 Bids

US $10,800.00

14h 54m

Custom Built Motorcycles Chopper Orange County Choppers OCC NEW Custom Built The WEB

27 Bids

US $22,600.00

1d 13h 54m

Other Makes AUTO GLIDE TT MODEL RIDLEY MOTORCYCLE 2007 AUTO GLIDE

25 Bids

US $5,800.00

10h 51m

Powered by phpBay Pro

If you've read my previous post on riding motorcycles, then you know that I had a great time putting this video together. Let me know what you think, leave me a comment.

Finally, after almost two years, I'm getting some time in the cockpit of a whitewater kayak. This past Thursday I participated in Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe Shop's "Brace and Roll" class. Taught by members of Alder Creeks staff at Bend's Juniper Park Pool, the Brace and Roll class is the perfect place for newbie kayakers like myself to learn how to do an eskimo roll. It's also a place for seasoned kayakers to improve their technique.

After a short introduction by Geoff Franks, we watched How to Roll by Ken Whiting to go over the principles and ideas of rolling down.

Then we hit the water. The pool is heated at Juniper Park which is nice. It's hard to concentrate when you're cold.
First Geoff went over bracing. The low brace using the back of the paddle, and the high brace using the power side of the paddle. The main part of the discussion was how to avoid the most common kayaking injury, the dislocated shoulder. Keep your elbows down and in front. The brace is used to avoid having to do a roll in the first place. Using the force of the paddle combined with a quick hip snap should usually be enough to keep you from flipping over. Of course "should" is always a dangerous word. Things don't always happen as they "should."

After practicing braces for a bit we moved onto the mechanics of the roll. Ideally all of the roll happens from the hip snap. Keep your head down (in the water), and use your inside knee and hips to snap the kayak upright. Sounds easy in theory, but I discovered that it wasn't so easy in practice. When my hands were supported, either on the bow of a partner's boat or the side of the pool, I could turn my kayak almost completely upside down and back up with no problem. Put the paddle into the equation and suddenly it just wasn't working. I worked with Bo for a little bit, and just wasn't getting it. Finally, between being cold and tired I decided to get out of the pool and shoot some video.

So while I learned the concepts of rolling, I didn't quite get over this time. Not to worry. I've gained enough confidence to begin paddling some baby white water with the guys at Alder Creek while working towards getting my roll down. If I do end up flipping in the river I know two things for certain. Adrenaline is an amazing force, and I can always do a wet exit. Rolling takes time and effort to learn as my older brother David explains in his comment here.

This past weekend I was out with the crew from Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe shop in Bend, and Geoff Franks busted this great seal launch just below Tetherow Logjam on the Deschutes River.

I did my own seal launch just a few feet downstream from here where the bank of the river was only about two feet high. I was really nervous about the drop and flipping over because I can't do that fancy eskimo roll just yet. That's something that I'm going to learn tomorrow during the Brace and Roll class offered by Alder Creek and taught by the amazing Christina Russel.

Meanwhile if you're visiting Bend on the last Wednesday of the month in July and August come by Alder Creek for "Pickin & Paddling", an afternoon of free demos, music, and refreshments.

Here's the post on the Brace and Roll Class.

Kayaking the Deschutes River in Bend

Last weekend my niece Joanna Ridgeway came to town for a visit, and we went kayaking on the Deschutes River. No white water on this trip, just a pleasant paddle upstream from Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe Shop to the Bill Healy bridge. This section of the Deschutes is backed up by a low damn which was built to create a pond where logs were stored for the local saw mill. Well the saw mill is now called the Old Mill District and it has been renovated into a shopping and entertainment district in Bend.

Joanna enjoying a beautiful day.

The guys over at Alder Creek have a great location right on the water in Bend. It's so easy to rent kayaks, canoes, and gear and get right on the river for a fun afternoon. I'm really looking forward to attending their whitewater classes so I can get a good combat roll down. Then it's time to get into the gnarly stuff.

Joanna making Bend look even more beautiful.

Dad was coming into the kitchen. I could hear his footsteps behind me, and I quietly said, "Dad look out in the driveway." Just as I spoke the little vixen trotted towards the edge of the bushes, but stopped in the middle of the drive to look back. She stood there in the sunshine letting us get a good look at her.

Dad's camera was on the dining room table, but neither one of us wanted to move. I was certain that as soon as I did the fox would dash off into the underbrush never to be seen again. Later Dad told me that he was thinking the same thing.

This is why you should have a window behind your kitchen sink.

Tomorrow morning I'll keep the camera closer and see if this friendly little fox comes calling again.

Yesterday I got into a kayak for the first time in over twenty-five years. What a difference in the sport. Last time I was in a kayak they were all made of fiberglass and the short ones were about 14 feet long. Now they're made of plastic, carbon fiber, fiberglass, wood, abs, and other materials. The kayaks that I'm interested in learning how to paddle are playboats and creekboats which are primarily made of plastic and are considerably shorter than 14 feet. Here's an example of a playboat in action. Don Grail on the Colorado river last May paddling a Jackson Fun kayak

The boats that I tried out were a Dagger Mamba creekboat
which has a rounded bottom for sliding over rocks easily, a Jackson 4Fun playboat
, a Liquidlogic Biscuit 65 playboat
, and a Tempest sea kayak.

After paddling the different kayaks I decided to try out a paddle board. A paddle board is a large stable surfboard that you stand up on and paddle with a long paddle. It takes a lot of balance, but they're quite fun. I was doing really well until I went over a log in the river. I didn't expect it. It wasn't sticking up enough to make a ripple in the surface of the water and it just barely bumped the surfboard's fin. I lost my balance and went for a cool spring swim.