Yackity Yack Kayak

I went kayaking today for the first time and it was awesome! We went on the Niangua River, which is peaceful and calm and has a lot of wildlife. I think I liked it a lot better than canoeing because I got my own kayak, which means I got to do my own thing and learn my own way. Also, it has a different feel to it. But, a lot of the basic concepts are the same - back peddling, front peddling, direction, etc... I never really wanted to try it before because I thought your legs would be completely closed in. As it turns out, kayaks like that are designed for extreme rapids and sea kayaking. The kayaks we used today gave a lot of leg room. Really only my ankles were covered.

We went with a guy named River Jim, who is this cool retired river hippie who sells kayaks wholesale and takes people on float trips. He charged $10 to rent a kayak for the day, and even went with us to teach us how to do it. I thought that was super reasonable. One of the best parts is that he is the only one on that part of the river who takes people on float trips, so we didn't see anyone else the entire time we were out. Jim has a great philosophy on life so he's pretty cool to talk to. Plus he's a bit of an environmentalist, which was fun for me. He has a house right next to the river - and he built it completely by himself.

I decided that someday I would love to live by the river in an off-grid home and run some sort of home-business of some kind. A friend joked that I should start a worm-business because I do worm composting, but I don't think I know enough about worms. I suppose I could learn!

Anyways, the point of all of this is that we need to go kayaking on the Niangua sometime soon! I plan to go often this summer! Yay summer!