Frozen North & Merry Christmas

We drove up to the land of frozen, flat farmland yesterday.  Seventy-Six traveled well, as did his mother the Cautious One.  Stopped twice to refuel Thursday, and once to eat lunch.  Made it to our destination before nightfall.

This morning we’ve got to drive another 90 or so miles north and west to the home of the Cautious One’s maternal uncle and aunt.  We’ll take Thursday so that when it’s time to go, we can leave without waiting for anyone else.

12 degrees above zero

It’s cold here.  12 degrees Fahrenheit (have I spelled it right?), and windy.  Temperature’s expected to drop to around 4 degrees this evening.

I’d thought about bringing my drysuit and checking with an outfitter about 20 miles away to see if I could rent a canoe for a 10 or so mile paddle/float down a nearby river.  I kind of wish now that I’d found room for the gear, but that river might be kind of iced-up along the edges.

My left shoulder’s still bothering me, and I think I will get the name of that specialist at Franklin and schedule an office visit.  The fact that I’ve skipped days paddling and gone easy on the strength-training hasn’t done a thing to reduce the pain.

Ugh.

If I don’t have the chance to update this page before the 25th, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate this holiday; best wishes to those of you who don’t.

Shoulder, Boat Bag, & Some Photos

I’d planned to paddle yesterday, but was again awakened from sleep by my sore left shoulder.  I chose instead to remain home and disassemble my Pouch E-68, and put it away for awhile.  I don’t think I’ll have another chance to paddle until New Year’s Day, and reckon it’s best to store it out of the weather until then.  I’ve kept the boat assembled in the yard on sawhorses this past season, so there’s little likelihood the skin will shrink while in storage.  The boat’s frame is badly in need of stripping and revarnishing, and I need to find someplace to do the work.

Frame needs some maintenance work

Back during the summer, a gentleman from Louisiana met me at Chattanooga and gave me two Folbot lateen sailing rigs including an old vinyl Folbot hull bag with some Big Glider or Super seats and one rib.  If I had the power to create a skin on frame vessel from one rib, I’d probably make Folbot Super out of that rib and name it Eve.  Providentially, according to my theology, I lack that ability.  On the other hand, it is not good, in my time and space bound opinion, for a man to be without a boat.

That Folbot bag, covered with I-don’t-know-what grease, spider’s nests, dirt, saw-dust, once cleaned up and zipper rehabbed with a lot of parafin, makes a great hull and rib bag for the E-68.  The green canvas GDR duffel-sack I’d been using was always an annoyingly tight fit.  The Pouch hullskin fits easily into the Folbot bag.

Pouch E68 hullskin & ribs fit with plenty of room to spare

Finally, I drove out to Morris Ferry Landing with my camera to see what it looked like with all the holiday homes and campsites razed.  I took some photos – you can see all of them at my FLICKR account photostream at left.  I posted a couple below –