Getting It Right

Leaving before the Pres was up, this time I remembered to eat breakfast and so I arrived at Mansfield Hollow in record time.  It's only 6.5 miles from the house and it was going to be a beautiful day...sunny, low 80's, low humidity and very little wind (all things I take into consideration when kayaking).

Chatting with a Grandfather and his grand children, he told me to hug the shore, pass through the cove and find the entrance to the river.  Assuring me it was not going to be "white water, " they gave me quite a send~off, wishing me well and reassuring me that the water would be extremely shallow and to "stay in the middle."

As you can by the picture above, paddling the lake itself was as smooth as glass and the cove he spoke of was just as calm and serene.

Rounding the corner (where the tall reed~like grass is beneath the shoreline with the dead trees) in the photo above and seeing the fallen tree (in the photo below), I 

said, "Oh this is beautiful" aloud.  

Little did I know that there was an elderly couple making their return trip that were within hearing distance!  The man said, "Keep going until you can go no further.  Stay in the middle.  You'll see all kinds of critters."

And I did.

It was another day of exploration for me.  And yes, I took more pictures which you'll see soon but for now, what you need to know as I bring this post to a close is:

My set of wheels is making it up and down the gravel nicely.

Now I don't have to carry the kayak after three hours of paddling! 

 It just took the ingenuity of a total stranger...

a kayaking grandfather...

who told me how to get it right!