Our first time on the water

our first time on the water

Rhonda received a kayak as a gift from her friends in the "Bunco" club. For those that don't know, she was diagnosed with cancer in November 2012, had surgery on Dec. 6 to remove a basketball sized cyst that turned out to be non-cancerous (she just got the biopsy results today!) Many women in the community came to the cafe to show their support of her during that scary time, and at a holiday party they found out she wanted a kayak. They got together and gifted her one! (Rhonda have you sent that thank-you yet?)

Of course I wanted to go paddling with her, so I've been searching on craigslist for something we could afford (the cafe paid us our first dividend check last week, $300 ea., the first monies we've paid ourselves since we opened July 21, 2012). After missing out on a couple of seemingly good deals we made the trip to Pensacola this past Saturday after we closed. The Mohawk brand solo rodeo canoe was what I bought, something I've never tried, although I grew up canoeing in Michigan. It is very responsive, but doesn't track straight easily, it is going to take much practice to master. Fortunately Rhonda's kayak is only 8' long and she has alot of practice ahead of her to master it so we are equally matched for now.

1. 

We put in at the canoe launch just 100 yds from our trailer, headed east for about a mile and turned around at Waterfront Park. We went ashore, looked around the beach and found a half pint milk bottle from the 1950's, (Victory Dairy) and a large piece of broken crockery (Homer Laughlin) dated 1919! We also spotted a dolphin and saw a very large osprey hit the water but came up empty taloned.
Rhonda was exhausted when we got back and still feels sore muscled today..I had stiff legs (my canoe has a saddle seat which has me kneeling) but my back felt great, a nice change from my previous kayak trips.