Days Twenty-seven to Twenty-nine - Still Alive

Didn't make it to the pool Thursday morning. Figured I go at night, but I guess swimming in a pool wasn't in the cards for that day. Instead, I went right after work with John Heinstein (auhor of The Cheap Red Wine Manifesto) to the Eel River to see if we could find his canoe. Never found it, but the trip down the river was like something out of Classical painter depicting paradise - and getting it right.

It was a narrow, rocky river (what river rats call "technical"). The banks were lined with a mixture of hard and softwood trees. I've never seen such a wide, closely packed mix of trees before, and with the all rain we've been getting, they were deep green. The banks were lined with huge purple flowers. The water was just high enough that we didn't have to walk. The early evening light gave everything an unearthly glow.

Unfortunately, we broached on a tooth-shaped rock toward the end of the trip and I finally got my swim. First though, I had to disloged myself from between the canoe and the white water before one crushed me and the other drowned me. I lost my spare digital camera and John lost his only digital camera.

Small price to pay for a beautiful canoeing experince like the Eel River.

The next day I had to drive all over the place getting my brother to his son's high school graduation. Hey world! Dylan Mitchell just graduated from Leo Hayes High School and he's comin' to getcha!

Today I did the bike route with my friend Duane Dunfield. I was on my mountain bike. Duane was on his Norco racing bike. We didn't stay together long. I did just one lap before my left quad started acting funny (it was banged pretty hard when the canoe broached). I ran the lake three times. I my timing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but you'd be amazed how fast you can run when you have a swarm of hungry horse flies on your tail.

Duane and I went to an patio bar for steak and eggs for breakfast (at 12:30). Later, I returned to the lake and swam about 2 K. It was 36 degrees (not sure what that is in real temperature). Hot. The first really hot day we're had this year. The beach was packed. I had to stick my head up straight every few minutes to avoid swimming into air mattresses and other floating objects.

Now it's time to drink a few beers and replenish those precious bodily fluids.