It's All About the Water

The plan for today was to spend a short time, maybe an hour, on yard work. Then the rest of the day packing things in drybags, fitting drybags into the kayak, taking said drybags back out and putting them in Ikea bags (really like the ones with zippers and chomping at the bit to see if everything fits into them), setting up the tent and shelter, practicing with the wood cook stove (Biolite), then heading out to Skamokawa to perform in an evening music program.

Then the load of laundry that should have been run two days ago called to me. Then the sink full of dirty dishes put its foot down (ran out of clean forks), and the grey water drain pipe broke so water was backing up into the washing machine drainage pipe (ugh), oh and then there’s the daily music practice. It feels great having a clean house, clean clothes, less of a jungle of grass with sneeze-inducing heads trying to choke out the flowering fruit trees, and a functioning drainpipe.

Tomorrow there will be time to play/practice with packing.

A few years ago, I researched VHF radios to find a single one that would work for this journey. The model I chose was on the more expensive side but it works in both the US and Canada, has GPS and a unique identification number/call sign where rescue services and other vessels can quickly and precisely find me. I now have my own call sign that I will put on all my kayaks, starting with BABS, along with the name of each kayak. There is a license application you have to fill out with the FCC to get the call sign and there is an agreement between the US and Canada where Canada will recognize my call sign and MMSI numbers so I only need use the one VHF everywhere I am on this journey.

Check off that communication/safety item! The day didn’t go how I originally saw it going but it still went well and I kept in balance.