Day 2 (Monday)

Once again I got a late start. Yesterday and today I got under way about 8:15 am. While Deb made breakfast I made a removable ‘kickstand’ for my kayak cart. It was too difficult to load it. Now it is real easy to use.

The water when I took off today was like glass and actually was until I got near my destination. Then the wind picked up and my trip back home was more like work as I had a headwind. Today I planned to go until I could see the bridge (county road C) and then turn around and head back. I followed the plan.

Highlights of the day:

1) I used the rudder. Even slowly meandering around the shoreline its nice. Up ahead I had spotted 2 ducks sitting on a log facing the same direction I was. I wanted to get right up to them. I build up speed and then coasted using my rudder to guide me. Making virtually no noise as I approached I got to within 10 feet of them before they nonchalantly left the log and swam away.

2) I rounded a peninsula as I was slowly meandering and came upon a duck and her ducklings. It was actually a sharp point at the end of the peninsula. I was maybe 5 ft away from the ducks when we startled each other. What happened next amazed me.

The ducklings and mother took off away from me with the mother trailing flapping her wings to splash the water. After maybe 15 or 20 feet she took off at a 90 degree angle and continued to ridiculously splash the water as she circled me from a distance. It was obvious to me that she was trying to attract my attention so that her ducklings could escape unharmed. It truly was beautiful to see.

3) As I was heading home I saw 4 bald eagles flying around very low above the water. A few minutes later 1 of them landed on a log by the shore and I probably got within 200 feet of him before he took off into a tree with another one.

All in all it was a great day. The difference between a head wind in a kayak and a head wind in a canoe is substantial. My trip back would have been daunting in canoe but was just a bit was basically easy in the kayak.

Am relaxing and not getting much done on the cabin. Tomorrow I am going fishing (thanks Mike and Lindsay) and will probably start the tile work on the sink cabinet. I probably have worked a total of 5 hours thus far (of course it is only Monday).



It was incredibly beautiful on the water