blackhawk down the river

last sunday's run from howell station below the dam to ottumwa was on a beautiful but windy day. the 8 hour trip included low water, suddenly appearing sandbars, and about 50,000 paddle strokes. solitude on the river ended at blackhawk access in ottumwa.

will the grand ol' party's deregulations increase this tragedy observed on more shorelines of the dsm? planting wall to wall will increase personal wealth but be loss for generations to come. this soil will soon be new land in louisiana i'm afraid.

native petroglyphs remind us that there were paddlers around here long before we called ourselves explorers and discoverers.

maiden voyage

stripbuilder's 23' tandem baidarka is almost finished and we took it out on rock creek for a trial run. now the only questions are, "can i keep his stroke cadence and can he tolerate me for 340 miles?"

"I simply believe that some part of the human Self or Soul is not subject to the laws of space and time." -- Carl Jung

rock & roll

last weekend our continuing trip took us from denison to storm lake and on to okoboji. life continues to be an adventure even for this rather wooden explorer.

the old roller coaster and ferris wheel at arnold's park, as seen from the water, reminded me of a high school weekend with bands at the "rooftop ballroom". a trip to the rock & roll hall of fame and museum there afterwards was nostalgic too. long live rock & roll!! now if i could apply that to my kayaking.. i can rock, but not roll well enough...

migration

in a trip down the lake stripbuilder and i revisited the "indian tree" or "peace tree" west of the mile long bridge. winter weather and flooding have sculpted the top off and shortened the stump considerably. one lone creature claimed this resting point even as we drew near. we all are migrating somewhere.... in our own manner.... in our own timeline.

more for loess

last weekend we ventured west to the loess hills parkway from council bluffs north and then on to denison and a nice B&B. the rolling hills and view of the receding flooded valley were spectacular and much better than my limited photography, but the serenity was special.

the sloughing hillsides resembled the terraced mountains of peru in minature. the term for this is commonly known as "catsteps" or terracettes. it is fascinating to see what nature has created in the millions of years past. our lives are like catsteps in that they seem forever, but are minute particles of loess making up the vast reaches of geography.

"in our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are." -- ovid

lazy days

"neither will the wave which has passed be called back; nor can the hour which has gone by return." -- ovid, ars amatoria
with warm water/air the time to play on the lake brought out all the "young" people and left us old paddlers to plod along. lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.... getting ready for a 340 mile race in october will require some serious training so guess i'll keep my head down and my paddle in the water.

last days of summer

with days cooling to fall these young adventurers made the most of a beautiful day, playing in the sand and swimming for hours. a last run off the whitebreast dock washed away the thoughts of obligations to come.

"the swallows are making them ready to fly, wheeling out on a windy sky: goodbye, summer, goodbye, goodbye. --george john whyte-melville, "goodbye, summer"