Photo of the Week – Kayaking in Maine

Many years ago, I visited friends who lived in Maine.  She was a high school classmate of mine and we decided one day that she took off work to do something adventurous because -alas- we had delusions of grandeur.  We decided to rent kayaks and do some exploring.  However, the kayak rental place was too busy to take us out so all they could do was rent us kayaks and point us to a place where we could hit a waterway that led to the open sea.  The plan was not to hit the open sea but we would be in saltwater, not a lake or river.

It was a really neat experience though we swapped kayaks halfway through as one of them was quite crappy so we took turns on it.  We had a great time laughing at our clumsiness and learning how to turn and move the kayak.  Columbus had NOTHING on us!

Yours truly showing how it is done

The fun really started once we packed up to go.  We hoped to tie the kayaks to the truck like the rental place had done; we had had the forethought to pay attention before we first untied the kayaks so we would know how to tie them back up.  Except neither of us really remembered nor knew how to tie a knot… I did multiple knots praying that the more knots, the more secure things would be… My friend was too nervous to drive so I got behind the wheel and drove slowly the short distance we had to go.  All of a sudden we heard a noise and realized the kayaks had shifted.  I came to a quick stop and so did the cars behind me, one of which honked (as if we were in NYC!).  We took a quick look and everything looked like it couldn’t go anywhere though the kayaks had shifted along the roof of the truck.

It was a nerve-wracking drive but, mercifully, without further noise or shifting – the knots did their job!   A Maine adventure for sure!