Ring a ding!

As in let freedom…

Hey, hello, and Howdy! Life has been good at the Jankowski ranch up here in the wilds of Eastern Connecticut! So good, in fact, that I’ve been neglecting the blog, and, more importantly, the blogs of all of you. I’d like to blame work, but let’s not kid ourselves – the real fault lies with the absolutely, completely beautiful weather we’ve been having. I’m pecking out this little missive sitting on the deck waiting for Missy’s world-famous banana muffins to come out of the oven, having gotten up “early” (“early” being defined as “before the rest of the house, but clearly not before 0600”, as opposed to “at the crack of dawn”, which, as we all know, is defined as “so gawdaful late at night that the clock is confused and showing afternoon hours”) to take the newly re-finished kayak for a spin on the Mystic River.

Just a tip – as cool as the wooden kayaks look, I’m kind of wishing I’d sprung for a decent rotomolded one. Sure, it wouldn’t look as cool, and they’ve got issues of their own, but the cold hard fact of the matter is that for the plastic ‘yaks, maintenance consists of giving them a vigorous hosing out every couple of weeks, instead of mucking about with varnish and epoxy, and winding up on a rock isn’t excruciating for the whole rest of the paddle while you try to decide if you just scraped the varnish or if you actually broke some fiberglass (the thought that you’ve actually pierced the wood just doesn’t occur, as that requires MAJOR surgery to fix).

But that aside, it was great to have the boat back out on the water. I’d forgotten exactly how swift this one feels – within a couple of paddle strokes I was up at hull speed, which, for a 17’ boat isn’t anything to sneeze at. Did about 4 miles on the water – glass smooth, watching the cyclists and runners coming down River Road, which was a nice change in Point of View.

Oh, speaking of that – Sunday? While Nate took his nap, Jake and I headed down to River Road. I convinced him that he could ride his bike while I ran. He had doubts when I said that we were going to go at least 5 miles (it’s really, really flat), so I said “Hey, Jake – if you can make it for 20 minutes out, we’ll turn around and head back”. OK, says he. So, we go, and at 20 minutes, he begs to keep going until we get downtown. Rock on.