I paddled the K1 in the harbor for 60 minutes this morning. It might have been my last time in the boat this week: I'll be demonstrating bowl carving this weekend at the Pink Palace Crafts Fair here in Memphis, and I'll be busy getting ready for that from tomorrow on.
I might have mentioned in the past that I'm in the habit of picking up aluminum cans that I find floating in the water. The Memphis riverfront has a litter problem that is much too big for me to solve by myself, but by focusing on cans I can at least feel like I'm a tiny part of the solution. When I'm done paddling, I take the cans up to the grocery store near the marina and deposit them in a collection bin there; the proceeds benefit the Humane Society.
The trouble is, the K1 does not double as a garbage scow very well. Twice this morning I flipped while trying to pour the water out of a can with one hand and brace with my paddle with the other. The second flip provided some entertainment for some construction workers up on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.
Each time I managed to dump out my boat and get going again pretty quickly. But there was a north wind blowing that seemed to intensify as the hour went on, and it was not fun exposing myself to that while dripping wet.
Oh well... I came away none the worse for wear. And I made the water I paddle on a tiny smidgen cleaner, and I sent a few extra pennies in the Humane Society's direction. It really doesn't take much more than that to get me singing a happy tune.
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