I always try to promote paddling as an excellent fitness tool and a great way to spend time outdoors. Too often I'm doubtful about the message getting through, but here's a guy who's been genuinely inspired by my example, and that's very humbling for me.
I met my friend Rob back in 1992 when we both taught at a school in Mamaroneck, New York. I don't think he'd ever paddled at that point, but when he found out I was a paddler he wanted to learn more. During that school year we took a couple of trips to easy rivers together--the Housatonic in Connecticut and the Delaware on the New York-Pennsylvania border.
I moved down South after that school year, and Rob decided to move out West for several years. I visited him out there a couple of times, and he watched me race slalom around Colorado one summer. After every run I took Rob was full of enthusiastic questions and comments about the various things that had happened.
Eventually Rob moved back to New York to pursue a career as a chiropractor, and he made up his mind to incorporate some paddling into his personal fitness routine. He now has a lake across the road from his home in Dutchess County, and whenever he can he paddles, both for exercise and to gaze at the blue sky or the full moon.
I took the photo above last week when we spent an afternoon paddling on the Hudson River at Peekskill. I enjoyed paddling with a friend who saw something special in the sport just like I had.
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