Trying to settle in back home

I got in the boat Tuesday morning and paddled a calm 60 minutes.  I tried to focus on a good catch like I had done in our workouts at training camp late last week.

The Mississippi River was up to 16.5 feet on the Memphis gauge Tuesday, and of course it carried its usual sediment load and was nothing like the clear-as-a-bell spring-fed Rainbow River.  Oh well... I'm always preaching at people to paddle whatever water they've got.  They'll grow to love it and they'll have a keener appreciation for what's different about the waters they visit in their travels.

In fact, I'm very glad to be back home.  But of course, being back home means being back with all my real-world responsibilities and the attendant duties and chores.  Since getting home I've had a long to-do list to deal with, partly catching up on things I neglected while I was away, and partly rectifying problems I created during my trip--most notably the disabled driver's side door handle on my car.  Yesterday we had very un-January-like sunshine and Fahrenheit temperatures in the high 60s, and I felt like I needed to be out paddling or riding my bike or something like that, but I was simply too busy with nuisance stuff.  I kept reminding myself that this is supposed to be an easy week to recover from the stress of the training camp, but I hated not to take better advantage of such a nice day.

It was still in the high 60s this morning, but the voices on my radio told me that the temperature would be dropping throughout the day.  So I had the motivation to get on down to the riverfront as early as I could.  My car's temperature display told me it was 66 degrees when I got down there, but as I walked down to the dock there was a swirly breeze blowing, gradually shifting from south to north, and I could feel a chill in the air that would only get sharper as the day went on.  I did another 60-minute paddle, keeping things mostly easy but dialing up the power in a few short pieces to give my muscles a taste of what we worked on in Florida last week.

My car told me it was 62 degrees as I came back home.  Now it's the mid afternoon and we're down into the mid 40s with wind and rain.  The next couple of days promise to be more what one would expect here in January, but more unseasonably warm weather is forecast for next week.

My left arm continues to hurt.  I can paddle with no major pain, but the discomfort makes the rest of my life feel like a struggle.

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