Friday, October 13, 2023
I Owe Y’all Some Pictures
There’s some unfinished business from KM1.
I promised I’d post some pictures of Kayak Mission 1. Here they are, exactly as Bob sent ‘em to me. Should be good enough to give you a general idea.
I’ve learnad that FlatPress formats articles differently than other blogging software I’ve used. I’ll add a narrative next to each picture and try to format the article so that everything stays aligned.
This first picture is an index of where each picture was taken. You may not be able to discern all of the numbered boxes in this thumbnail, if you click or tap in the image you’ll have the full-size image to look at..
This is me just after we portaged around the corner of Sylvan Island. That’s me in the wide-brim hat, preparing to drift ’round the bend to the right. After Bob took this picture he spent some time slowly floating along to send the pic to his brother that lives in Champaing, Illinois, I think..
Me again, we’re passing under the ‘bike trail bridge’ between Arsenal Island and the city of Rock Island. I’ve ridden across that clanky metal bridge more times than I can count. I’ll probably never do that again because the trike is probably too wide for the bridge across the Mississippi River..
The Mississippi was so low that the boulders were just below the surface in this part of the slough. You can see there was just enough turbulence to cause some swirls and a few bubbles, nothing more. I notice the back of my life vest is above the back of my seat. It looks goofy but is was comfortable.
I’ll have to check on that next time I put in.
.
We’re out of the slough and back on the Mississippi proper. Behind me is Lock and Dam 15.
I try to kayak color-coordinated, all orange is my style (if you call that a ’style’)
.
We’re on the small sandy strip of ‘beach’ on Willow Island. I’m lookin’ at Bob while I’m getting a snack from a dry bag. This little strip of sand would be under water if the Mississippi was at normal depth.
One more thing to note: Our target for finishing up KM1 is directly behind the top of of my hat on the other side of the Mississippi.
.
The kayaks are out and loaded but still need to be strapped in. I’m workin’ on a granola bar..
A successful mission. Bob and I have already agreed on where we’ll go for our second mission but that will have to wait until mext year unless there’s a enough of a stretch of unseasonably warmm weather this fall. The river water has become colder though, which would make recovery more difficult if a kayaker should end up in the water for some reason.
Kayak season seems to start on May 1 depending on weather. I’m already looking forward to it.
Add comment
Fill out the form below to add your own comments
Sunday, October 15, 2023 - 20:30:18
Thank you, Bob for the pics! They are so helpful. I can almost imagine myself being there with you. Maybe on a trip next year?