I'm kayaking for the first time. I plop down into the water and float down the river about a mile, then turn around and paddle against the current to come back. Paddling up river is SO much harder than down, but I'm in this to try something new so I persevere. When I hit the shore again I am in a "trail town" where many hikers and boaters stop to spend the night and recharge. I'm not sure how far I am from home. I wonder if it could be done in a day - it's about a day's drive from home, so maybe going directly on the river (UPriver, I might add) would take about a day too.
I decide to go ahead and commit to traveling home by boat. I talk to Otis on the phone, who has agreed to pick me up from the boat ramp in our town as long as I get there when he's not at tennis or visiting his parents. If he's busy I'll just have to walk. I don't have a lot with me: a cell phone (no charger), a Visa card, the kayak, and two paddles. I figure if I need something I can buy it with the Visa card, and surely the kayak and paddles will be sufficient to get me a few hundred miles up river.
Exploring the town, I am still in the kayak - just pushing it along the pavement with the paddles as if I'm in the water. I see water up ahead and scoot towards it so I can get in the river. I look down from the bank to the water and see a 6 foot drop. That'll be tough. I look towards my left and see a really nicely sloping ramp tiled in shades of blue like a pool. That looks a lot better! I walk towards the ramp and see that it's a boating business. I recognize a woman there that I used to work with, she's a member of what I discover is the boat club. I ask her if I can put my boat in and she goes to find the owner and ask. Because it's a members only boating club, it's generally frowned upon for random people to put their boats in there. She comes back and says that I can "log in" as one of her son's guests. I'll need to enter my personal details and the registration info from the bottom of the kayak. A woman hands me an extensive form. I start filling it out but see a lot of info that I don't have, like the name and signature of the person who will be picking you up. After several minutes of struggling, I hand the form back, thank everyone, and say that I'm going to find some random place to get in the water.
I walk ahead and find a huge campground. In the water, campers have their gear strung together in long strands enclosing parts of the shore like buoys in a swimming area. I think that their stuff must be REALLY waterproof to just float it out in the river like that as the first-choice storage option. I meet some girls who are going to help me launch the boat. They are concerned that I don't have any stuff with me. I realize that my acquaintance at the boat club had snuck a red sweater and a thick, black pair of socks into my possessions. I was grateful because I thought it might get cold. I also thought I was really cool for being a minimalist traveler. The boat has a bunch of water in it, so I dump that out and I step into it. I realize the oars are missing. Shit - they've sunk in the shallow water by the shore, and one is slowly making its way into deeper water! I step into the water to get them and realize I'm getting drenched. I try to take off some of my clothes, a little concerned about how many people are standing around, but not concerned enough to want to wear wet clothes the whole trip. Suddenly the wayward paddle shoots through the water towards me and a big burly man comes out of the water laughing. He's laughing at his prank and laughing at my exposed breasts. I grab the oar and turn back to the girls who are helping me. They also have their tops off to help. As I get back in my boat, I turn back and say, "I never expected to see so many boobies today! Haha!"
