[Paddlewise] The Mission

Paddling kayak just to be paddling is nice, but if I'm going to spend  
all of this money on gear it sure would be nice to have 'a mission'.

For example, last time I was out I found a fishing boat that had run  
out of gas and I towed it 1 1/4 miles with my kayak. Up until I had  
met the luckless fisherman (he probably didn't even catch any fish  
that day) I was just another kayaker putzing around. But as soon as I  
saw someone in need, that became my mission and I tackled it will  
zealful delight. Me and my kayak saved the day!

This morning I was out early and all was quiet and the water was  
still. I paddled for about an hour and a half up the Sammamish Slough  
which the city fathers would like us all to call the Sammamish River.  
Whatever. I didn't bring a camera because at this point all of my  
kayak pictures look pretty much alike. So that couldn't be my  
mission. There were no other boaters around so obviously saving  
someone in distress was not going to be my mission today. I was  
actually pretty happy about that one. And exercise is NEVER my  
mission even though I may tell a different story once it's all done  
with.

Then when I was passing in the shallows next to a golf course I  
spotted 3 golf balls in about 10 inches of water. THAT would be my  
mission. I would scower the bank for lost balls. A humble but  
profitable mission since I would be able to use them myself -  
probably returning most of them to the water very soon.

Hunting (fishing?) for golf balls turned out to be a blast. There  
were all kinds of little tricks required to get them. Some of them I  
had to push up into shallower water with my paddle making sure they  
didn't roll down into darkness. I had to be careful not to stir up  
the bottom. Blackberry bushes along the shore made retrieval  
challenging on some of them. And of course tipping over was always a  
clear and present danger. In the end I found and collected 14 balls.  
Heck, I found 16 if you include the 2 that rolled off of my spray  
skirt and had to be retrieved again!

I heard several golf balls *kasploosh* while I was 'working'. Maybe I  
could go over and help out a fellow hack. That would definately be a  
good mission! But they landed in deep water and I never saw the  
golfers anyway. I paddled on past the golf course and further up the  
slough feeling pretty good about my profitable venture. On the way  
back I would hit the other shore and who knows how many more I would  
get! Until then I would just go back into putz mode for a while  
before I went back to work.

And then for some reason, it hit me. Out of the clear blue I suddenly  
remembered that I had forgotten to put my parking permit in my  
window. It would be a $66 dollar fine for something that I actually  
had paid for and had right there in the glove box of my truck! What  
would become of me?

Would I be able to contest this? Probably not. Probably wouldn't even  
be able to find out who or where to contest. Probably there would be  
some web site on the ticket I would have to go to in order to find  
out how to contest. And then the web site would be so cluttered with  
useless so called information that I wouldn't be able to even find an  
email address to write to. And even if I found one I doubt if I would  
ever get a reply. And that would probably get caught in my spam  
filter and never get read in time.

Now I had a REAL MISSION. I had to get back to the launch. NOW!

I turned on the juice and put everything I had into my little home  
built folding kayak. There were no breaks. No putzing. I passed the  
opposite shore of the golf course without so much as glancing into  
the water. Was I already too late? Probably. It was going to be noon  
soon. Did 'they' check the lot at noon? Maybe. I could probably get  
there before noon but I would really have to push the envelope.

My focus was on getting the most out of every stroke. I passed the  
'Speed Limit - 5 Knots' bouys TRYING to break the law. Damn their 'NO  
Wakes'! Damn the ducklings. I had a MISSION by god and nothing was  
going to keep me from pushing my 53 year old heart burn to the limit!  
I was in the zone.

Soon I could see the bridge, and then my truck. It was only then that  
I slowed down, fairly confident that if the fuzz was checking my  
front mirror hanger, I would be able to talk him down. And if the  
ticket was already there, then there really was no reason to kill  
myself at this point.

I coasted onto the beach. I had paddled 3 miles in 45 minutes - a  
steady 4 mph to get here. I got out of the boat and walked over to  
the truck and looked under the windshield wiper. No ticket. I had  
beat THE MAN.

Mission Accomplished.



Paul Montgomery
paul_at_paddleandoar.com
http://paddleandoar.com
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************