Sick Days

May 18-19,2012
Well, we did not go kayaking. Missy got sick. She's got a cold and for some reason she refused to "paddle through it". Grrrr. I wasn't too sad to miss paddling on Thursday. It was overcast and windy all morning. We didn't even get to 50 degrees until mid-afternoon. Then we had 1 hour of glorious sunshine when I wished we were on the river.
Since she was still sick on Saturday, I went into town by myself. The whitewater festival was today. While there were lots of spectators, apparently there were only 3 competitors. The wave looked fun and easy to get on, so we definitely have to go back and try it. The weather was very nice…sunny with a warm breeze. I got to wear shorts again! I watched the competition for a little bit, and then I worked on my homework. I was tasked with looking up clearer directions to the takeout for the town run. Someone put a pretty good description on AW. This run sounds beautiful, so if it turns out to be lame (which Missy thinks will be the case since it's at low runnable), then at least we'll have some great scenery while we float. I drove a bit of the way to make sure we would be able to find the roads. Seems like it should be a straight shot. The shuttle is 45 minutes 1 way, so it will take Missy a while to set itif we ever do get to running it.
Oh, Missy did feel well enough for a short walk to check out a must-portage rapid near us. It has wood in 4 or 5 key spots. Odd that the book said that experts might enjoy the challenge. We didn't see any safe way through it. It was strange to be looking at an honest to goodness drop again. Makes your kayaking juices flow…Missy talked about going upriver from our campsite and just putting on. I'm more of a wimp. I don't think it's a good idea to run it blind without local beta. Who knows if there are riverwide strainers around blind corners…this river is FAST, with hardly any eddies.
That's about all I have to report for these days. Since I'm light on material, I'll take this opportunity to mention how awesome low humidity climates are! There are 2 clear benefits that we've been enjoying. First, the dogs do not get stinky! We have not needed to bathe them this whole trip! Love that! Second, food does not get stale. It's like a miracle: I've been working on the same bag of pretzels for over a month, and they are still crisp and fresh. And bread lasts for weeks as well. People who live in low humidity probably don't appreciate the value they get out of their groceries. :-)