Good afternoon all:

“There is a road, no simple highway, between the dawn and the dark of night” —lyrics from ’Ripple’ The Grateful Dead

Good afternoon from my amazingly large, leather, easy chair. Marcia hates when I start brewing coffee in the afternoon so I’ll skip that part.

The reason I am sitting here is due to the fact that I look like, and feel like, a limp noodle. Slowly it’s all coming back – strength that is – but, it’s a long road I am lounging on.

Last week was a series of eighteen-plus hour days strung together by four hours of sleep—I just love this retirement thing. The finale to the week was waking up Saturday morning at 4:30 am. By 6:30 I was on a dark I-75 heading north. Marcia, with a worried look, welcomed me home shortly after 8:30 that evening.

The reason for my 14 hours of travel being a ‘quick’ stop to pick up my latest find on eBay – a Folbot kayak.

A week or so ago I spotted what I felt to be the end to a long search to find this specific brand of a folding kayak. These boats pack into two suitcase size bags and have been built in South Carolina continuously since the mid nineteen-thirties. For decades they have been used by expeditionary groups and various Special Forces. The specific model I just bought seats two, will hold over 700 pounds, and is virtually impossible to tip over.

Once understood, the assembly and take-down is about fifteen minutes – so the manual says (click to see a YouTube Folbot assembly video).

The seller had bought the kayak new, now, well into his eighties, was ready to sell it. He had not disassembled it for many a year. Translate the last part into “he didn’t have a clue how to proceed.

Earlier in the week I made contact and kindly asked for him to keep it assembled so that I could learn how to pack it.

Over two hours of struggle under an eighty degree sun had me totally drenched. All the while my erstwhile host (seller) shuffled about busily. At one point, he kindly returned with a portable vacuum cleaner to suck up leaves which had fallen into the boat.

I feel very confident that I can assemble the Foldbot in less than half an hour.

Marcia is buying new batteries for our stop watch.

Make it a great week. Paddle on!

Cheers,

Dirk