Often on those hot summer evenings out at the lake I just put all my paddles up on the deck and move through the water with my hands. Nah, I’m not trying to get anywhere. Like rolling, it’s just another way to touch the liquid world around me. Water we’re coming to learn, is the blood not only of our planet but is probably the blood of the universe as well. Hidden under a surface of ice, or seas beyond the boiling point frozen by immense pressure. Water connects us with the basic elements of life. From our own beginnings to the far reaches of space. Sometimes I feel as if I can sense it as I let my fingers run through the water building little wakes as my kayak slides across the surface.

Time, life passes. Soon we, and everything we know will end. We will again become part of the bigger picture. Our elements return to the earth to again be reconstituted as part of new life or water, sand or rock. As Moby once said, “we are all made of stars”.

Reading Silbs blog the other day made me think a bit more about the whys of expeditioning. Those “whys” are different for everyone. “because you can” is not a reason, just a fact of life. Of course anyone can if the truly want to. You don’t have to travel far from home, or spend a fortune, or chase sponsorships. . In the end you only need to find a place new to you, and have a thirst for discovery and a love of the natural world. Nothing more. Desire makes things happen.

For my part, I hear the clock. I feel time pass. I want to see and experience my moment in time. These passing days before I wink out. The kayak is a vessel and no different than the Jomon, the Tiano, Lief Erickson, Shackleton, Andrew McAuley and all the myriad people who’ve crossed a horizon, we are driven to discover. Discover the universe and discover ourselves. Even if the discovery is only ours alone. We learn about our place in time and how small we really are in the universe. Can anything make you feel smaller than floating on a black sea under a canopy of stars!? Modern society creates an illusion. The sea reminds you that this, the illusion, is just that. Beyond central heating, guns, governments and box stores there is something bigger out there. I want to touch the universe. Paddling is my way to do it. In my little lake, or in the sea. I need to experience this life, this moment in time. While I’m still here.