Tag: kayak

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Kayaking Adventures

Since our vacation plans were derailed this year (we were supposed to have been in Yellowstone last week……ug…..), we’ve tried coming up with some fun alternatives that will still be memorable for the kids. A few weeks ago, Brooke and I took our inflatable kayak that we got last summer down a stretch of the nearby Lamine River. It’s a little less than 6 miles and took us about 3 hours to do it, but three weeks ago, the river had more water in it and was moving a bit faster.

Brooke looked into getting a youth-size kayak for Meg to use, so Calvin and I could just use our inflatable, and Meg and Brooke could use traditional fiberglass versions. They checked around, thought there were some at Walmart in Sedalia, drove down….didn’t find any at the store….and essentially, it sounds like most places are out of kayaks. It sounds like everyone else is thinking the same thing we are: fewer vacation options, so find stuff to do closer to home, and kayaks are a relatively cheap option for that.

Well, once we figured that out, Brooke tried ordering another one of our inflatable kayaks from Amazon, but those were back-ordered (again, the aforementioned “everyone is buying them all the sudden,” but also “harder to get things shipped in from China). Thankfully, they over-estimated the back-order and a second kayak arrived on Friday. Yesterday’s weather was less pleasant, so we ended up going today.

Overall, the kids did pretty well! We tried to warn them that this was a pretty “lazy river,” so it wasn’t a particularly fast float. The novelty of kayaking wore off pretty quick, so Brooke and I ended up doing most of the paddling, though Meg and Calvin would have their moments where they wanted to actually help out a bit. We brought along some snacks and drinks, so we could slowly release those here and there to keep them occupied.

By the time we were done, it took about 3.5 hrs of paddling, and all things considered, the kids did alright in that period of time sans screens and other entertainment. Brooke and I were both pretty tired by the time we got to the end, so it’ll probably be an early bedtime tonight.

In the end, it was very tiring, but we’re still glad we did it! We may want to hold off on doing a “camp and float” trip, but now that the kids have a better understanding for just how long this can take, maybe they’ll have realistic expectations when we propose: ‘hey, wanna go on a float trip?’

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We Bought A Boat!

Let’s be honest: we only bought it to make the Subaru look cooler…

Brooke doesn’t get to exercise all that often.  It isn’t for lack of trying: she just doesn’t usually have the time to devote to it.  She’s taken her bike down to Sedalia multiple times and she goes hiking at Bothwell with some frequency, but neither of these activities really “speaks” to her.  And she totally doesn’t like jogging.

However, she’s been interested in getting into kayaking for the last few years.  We see folks with boats on their trucks and we know people like going fishing at various places around here.  That, and we know that there are some creeks and lakes within driving distance.  And, we have a few Subarus, so they really have to have a kayak on top of one, right?

Really though, for some reason, Brooke’s always enjoyed rowing as an exercise.  This goes back to the rec center at Truman State, where she’d use the rowing machine more than anything else.  You’d have to ask her why, exactly, that is the one exercise she seems to prefer…maybe it goes back to her days on the Mississippi River or something…

Anyway, I checked out Craigslist and found a decent deal on a single-person, sit-in kayak that came with a cartop mount.  It wasn’t the type of mount we wanted, but at least we could get it home.  We went to Columbia and met up with the young woman who was selling it (didn’t have room for it, didn’t use it enough, yadda, yadda, yadda) and picked it up for less than she was asking for.

We got it home safe and sound, but with that type of roof mount, it was a hassle to get it up on the top of the car.  It took two people, plus it was far easier to get the straps hooked up when you had someone else to toss them to.  Thus, if it really takes two people to get on the car, Brooke would never use it.

The rooftop carrier we’ll actually use…

Therefore, we’re going to try the “J hook”-style mount.  We picked them up at Amazon for less than $20 and hopefully they work as advertised.  They seem pretty sturdy (though I had to Dremel out the plastic holes to make the screws fit properly), and in theory, the hooks allow ratchet straps to simply cross from the top down to the bottom without requiring one to tie the kayak to the hood or trunk of the vehicle.

Of course, the high this week is barely crossing the 50 F mark, so Brooke probably isn’t actually going to get to test this thing out for a few weeks months.  I need to find a way to mount it in our garage, too, as sitting on the garage floor isn’t exactly ideal.

Hopefully it works out!  We figure that resale on a kayak is probably high enough that we won’t lose much money on it, if any.  Brooke can lift it down off the car, but she’ll probably want to get a little more practice lifting it up above her head.  The J-hook mount should make this easy, as she just needs to get underneath it and “roll” it over onto the roof of the car.  Practice will speed up that process, I’m sure.

After she actually tries this thing out (March?  April?), I’ll have to post a few more pictures. She’s excited!  I’m just happy to have my second roof bike mount back…