Our first river run this year. The USGS river gage at K.C. read 15.75 feet which is about 5 feet higher than the river was most of last year, and 10' lower than last week- which would account for the debris and silt on the boat ramps.
It's interesting to get back on the river, carrying the boat down to the ramp at Kaw point reminded me of the MR340 last year, and about the wacky amount of gear we had started the race with last year. It was nice having so much tuned in already, having our race boxes, water jugs setup, long sleeves, shades, hats etc. all the stuff we were figuring out last year was already done.
The weather started out gloomy but cleared out nicely to be a partly sunny day in the low 80's a nice breeze at our back. It didn't take long to realize we have been out of the boat for way too long, shoulders were stiff and my lower back was sore (saturday spent moving motorcycles didn't help that). The river felt good and familiar, all the buoys seemed to have been washed away but we managed to navigate just fine without them. We thought we would shoot for Lexington but decided to exit at Ft. Osage, a nice 30 mile paddle to get back in the swing of things.
A few thoughts from the outing:
-get more comfortable, sporty sunglasses. the wayfarers look cool but when you are sweating and they are sliding down your greasy nose it's just not cool.
-rubber hose or noodle or something for the gunwales. this boat is much narrower than the grumman but all it takes is one sloppy stroke and it's instant hurt knuckles and a p.o'ed paddler...
- pack ibuprofen, paddling with a headache sucks.
It was a good day, it feels like we have most things in place now we just need to put some time in on the water. The difference from a year ago to now is almost comical, I can still see Sam and I unloading the Wasson led sled. with a couple of Dick's sporting goods paddles, zig-zagging our way up the Kaw with the kayaker (Doug?) watching us trying to give us pointers on how to paddle in a straight line. and how epic it felt to paddle " all the way" to Missouri City. The adventure is different this year but it is an adventure just the same. I always come off the Missouri river feeling this way and it sounds dorky but it really is a beautiful river, and i really love being out on it.
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| the boat. kaw point 8:30 am |
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| henry inspecting the boat while enjoying a chocolate milk. |
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| somewhere between la benite and mo. city. turned out to be a great day. |
