Nineteen years together – that seems like such a long time, but it’s passed far too quickly. I remember it being rainy and cold in Traveler’s Rest the night we were married. It was a Tuesday night, which is certainly out of the ordinary. But I wouldn’t have traded the past nineteen years for anything else. Tuesdays seem to have worked just fine.
Amy got a nice new kayak for Christmas, and we decided that we needed something to paddle, too. Against my better judgment, we decided to rent a tandem kayak. In most paddling circles, these are known as “divorce boats”, since the paddlers tend to argue over direction, paddling style, etc., etc. I wasn’t so sure this was the best way to celebrate an anniversary, but renting two boats for the weekend was a bit expensive.
Laura and I have mixed experiences with tandem paddling. She is an expert flat-water canoeist, having won medals for paddling. My background, however, is whitewater, so our styles and decisions are often in conflict, especially when we’re on a river. We had a disastrous trip down the Green, which led to our purchasing separate kayaks. But, we had a successful trip on the tricky Juniper Springs run in Florida. Mind you, these runs were in canoes, so I was hoping a kayak would be different.
Our first outing in the tandem went very smoothly. We could take turns paddling while the other looked at birds, etc. With both of us paddling, we easily outran Amy in her boat. It was actually quite comfortable, and a very pleasant ride. So far, we seem to have survived the divorce boat.