I took a "mental health" day from the craziness of work yesterday to "go to church" so to speak... my religion being paddling, and my denomination being seventh day canoeist. The local parish I visited is the Neuse River, which flows through Raleigh. This wasn't a trip so much as a rec paddle. A couple of hours upstream form the Buffalo Rd put-in, and then wafting back down again. The touring kayaks were of course much faster than me, but I had the cooler and the room to pick up any garbage along the banks that I didn't want to see on the way back downstream.
We capped the church service with hot dogs and shots of homemade Serbian plum brandy (which, I must say, was stronger and more flavorful than any moonshine I've had from North Carolina).
The Next is kind of a love/hate boat for me. She's a small boat, but absurdly heavy for her size (the specs are misleading; this is a 64 lb boat). She's a little wide, very slow. The kayakers were barely paddling and always pretty far ahead of me, while I was working pretty hard to keep moving. But she has plenty of room for a couple of weeks of camping gear. I had a full size cooler behind the seat, filled with ice and cold drinks. I had a pack in front of my feet that had too much free space (I imagine a portage pack would work up there pretty nicely). Still, if one had the $1,000 budget to buy one, I imagine there are better options on the used market.
We capped the church service with hot dogs and shots of homemade Serbian plum brandy (which, I must say, was stronger and more flavorful than any moonshine I've had from North Carolina).
The Next is kind of a love/hate boat for me. She's a small boat, but absurdly heavy for her size (the specs are misleading; this is a 64 lb boat). She's a little wide, very slow. The kayakers were barely paddling and always pretty far ahead of me, while I was working pretty hard to keep moving. But she has plenty of room for a couple of weeks of camping gear. I had a full size cooler behind the seat, filled with ice and cold drinks. I had a pack in front of my feet that had too much free space (I imagine a portage pack would work up there pretty nicely). Still, if one had the $1,000 budget to buy one, I imagine there are better options on the used market.
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