Expedition: Jeff’s why

“Deep thoughts”…

I kayak to reconnect with what I lose by being apart of the rat race.  Work dulls my senses.  I quickly travel isolated in a “box” to work.  I work in a different box.  I exist at work by seconds marked out on a clock.  To paddle is to leave the rat race, my car, my cubical at work, and my watch at home.  I am always amazed by some of the professional paddlers I have met and read about that actually turn an expedition into a rat race.  Paddling is all about reconnecting to nature.  And my wife always remarks at how relaxed I am when I get home.

(Guys…there are logical steps to keeping your wife happy and supportive of your adventures…I will elaborate on the things I have learned from wiser men in a future post)

This paddle for me is about reveling in the interesting landscapes along the historical Suwannee River.  I will be exploring every nook and cranny with the eyes of a toddler.  Sean and I are not planning on traveling fast.  Nor will we have a moment of boredom. To paraphrase “Forrest Gump” (1994) “when we get tired, we’ ll sleep, when we get hungry, we’ ll eat,  [when the water beckons] we’ ll go.”  We will be like the feather dancing with the wind.

Maybe I am odd in thinking like a “Soul Surfer” that riding the water is a gift that we are lucky to catch at that moment in time. But I am not alone in thinking that.  I have had the pleasure of meeting some professional paddlers that agree that “riding the water is a gift that we are lucky to catch at that moment in time”.  Moreover, they acknowledge how lucky they are to be able to make a modest living being a professional paddler.  It is easy to get into the trap of making a past-time into a rat race of a job.

I feel sorry for those people who turn paddling into a fast pace job.  And need a vacation to relax after they have finished paddling.

Thinking deeply – Jeff