stripbuilder leaves tomorrow for the NC challenge's 100 mile race. i hope that his 20 yr. younger partner doesn't spoil him for our tandem race as "team geritol". i prefer to refer to our team as "lewis & clark kent". my g'g'grandmother was a clark related to wm. clark so this race has more meaning. now if i could have even a fraction of his fortitude.
revisiting times past with bro took us to the eighth tee at pine knolls.. now if i could just find that slice somewhere in the rough. i've been out of the fairway most of my life i'm afraid. always looking for a challenge. 
dark beginnings hopefully end in the light but today's run in the tandem from cordova to the dam and back terminated with wind and chilly dark weather. the two hour trip was a shakedown cruise for stripbuilder's NC challenge friday. 100 miles in less than 24 hours? the kiosk overlooking elk rock is well placed to see what is possible on red rock.
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.
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 
