Paddle Love
Published August 8, 2011 | 
We all have gear that we love; A favorite paddling jacket or PFD, favorite shoes, camera, GPS, kayak and of course our favorite paddle. Athough not high on the outline, I think it’s fair to say that you can’t fully concentrate on your paddling skills until you’ve got your gear love sorted. If you’re still wrestling with an uncomfortable drysuit or a javelin-length paddle , you just can’t put 100% focus into your skill development. Sound silly? Well, maybe.. but I’ve watched plenty of paddlers spend most of their time on the water complaining or fiddling with some errant bit of gear while missing everything going on around them. Gear that is too short, too tight, too this or too that.. or simply doesn’t jibe with you’re soul is nothing but distraction. Continue reading
Kayaking? Whatever…
Published August 6, 2011 | OK, Kayaking.. Yeah, Whatever, Whatever… Time for Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows… I’m really liking the strange and interesting work from Andrew over at ”Songs To Wear Pants To” who will write a quick tune based on anything you can come up with. Pretty impressive, and often pretty funny as well! For a more serious introduction check out his band Your Heart… Freaking Canadians anyway!
Fates
Published August 5, 2011 | 
Same old song / just a drop of water / in the endless see
all we do
crumbles to the ground /though we refuse to see
dust in the wind – kansas
I was out biking on the Military Ridge trail between Dodgeville & Madison, Wisconsin. On this Day, 10-year-old in tow, we road as far as a small (below 700ppl) town of Ridgeway. While everyone else went under the shelter to eat lunch, I wandered. I came across this beat, white canoe leaned up behind an old concrete block building. The canoe was part of a menagerie of toss-away items, like you seem to find behind every old brick building. (Why is that??) In the small island strip of sickly grass and even sicker saplings caught between gravel and concrete, rested trail signs, pallets, windows, windblown garbage and of course the canoe.. Continue reading
The Immortal Coil
Published August 4, 2011 | 
Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I’m half crazy,
All for the love of you!
You’d think it was an insult, but it’s just a fact. Sometimes, the most amazingly simple things elude me. Take daisy chains for instance. Creating a daisy chain is the most common and dare I say, simplest way to manage the length of your tow rope. Put simply, a daisy chained tow rope is the perfect ”short tow” length. You can then quickly unravel your chain for a “long tow” length. The problem for me was that I simply never could work out how a daisy chain actually came together! Stupid? Well, if you’re stupid like me.. today I’ll do my best to show you how to do it… Continue reading
The Buzz
Published August 3, 2011 | 
You don’t need money, don’t take fame
Don’t need no credit card to ride this train
It’s strong and it’s sudden and it’s cruel sometimes
but it might just save your life
That’s the power of love – HL
The Outdoor Retailer Summer Market kicks off today at the Salt Lake Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is giant event where people in the “biz” get together to exhibit or shop new products, take in seminars and generally gather in one spot and get the “vibe” for the upcoming months in outdoor industry. Or as John Rogers, the owner of the Maine Running Company in Portland, ME., put it, “Outdoor Retailer is the show to find the legitimization of products and new brands for the outdoor specially channel.. “ OK. Well, I wouldn’t have put it that way… Continue reading
Posted in Camping & Camping Gear, Events & Symposia, Kayaks, Outdoor Recreation, Paddle Gear, Paddling | 
OR, Outdoor Retailer | 
1 CommentNight talk
Published August 2, 2011 | 
Stay in bed why waste my time
Open your eyes but only if you can
Office in a sidestreet is no place for you
Night talk and romance like beat the clock.
- gary numan
Just as the last of the day’s light was fading into the north-west, and just as the last two rec boats were coming off the water, I was backing my Jeep up to the shoreline. In the mix of black and blue shadows I managed to find a thin strip of grass where I could put my 3 piece Rockpool Alaw Bach together. It’s not that the broken stones and gravel that surrounded the little island of grass could have punished my boat anymore, but I do try, sometimes, to lessen the scars. Continue reading
The Rain King
Published August 1, 2011 | 
I love the rain, any foul weather in fact. Sure, you get wet. Sometimes you get cold. Sometimes you can hardly hold your eyes open. Still, that’s the price of often dream-like landscapes and what can be a very sensual connection to our planet. Rain, wind, and even snowstorms are often like fire alarms for me to get outside either on the trails or on the water. What truly amazed me recently is when we were experiencing our first real rain after days and days of hot muggy weather and the trails… were empty. Continue reading
Posted in Nature & Wildlife, Outdoor Recreation, Quixotica, Random Thoughts | devils lake, wisconsin | 3 Comments
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