The Colorado River Ramble

Mike and Letha were in Austin over the weekend for a wedding reception. We went down to visit them while they were in town, and it just so happened that there was a kayak race on Sunday morning. Mike and Letha are both pretty adventurous type people. And even though they had never paddled a kayak before, they agreed to enter the race with me. We loaded up the truck with three kayaks on Saturday afternoon and headed south.

We stayed Saturday night with Josh and Sara. That worked our really well because we were able to watch the kids while they went to the wedding reception, and didn't have to pay for a hotel room. Avery and little Miss Riley were two very well behaved kiddos, and Gavin was pretty good too. Here is Miranda reading to G and Avery before bedtime. The next morning we woke up early, packed up, and headed to the race to register. Miranda went to get breakfast tacos while Gavin sized up the competition.

Gavin likes Rudy's breakfast taco's just a little bit....After a quick breakfast, it was race time! The stand up paddleboards were the first to leave. These guys have to have crazy good balance just to stay upright.

Then it was Mike and Letha's turn in the 5 mile race. It took both of them a few minutes to get the hang of this paddling thing, but at the starting gun, they were off and running. Mike shows some pretty good form, and had a pretty good finish in spite of the short and slow 10' boat that he was paddling.

This is a picture of me on my second lap in the 10 mile race. I had just passed a girl on a stand up paddleboard who had their dog along for a ride with her.

Here is Letha pulling into the finish after a strong five mile race. Here I am finishing the 10 mile race. I did pretty well in spite of being nowhere near racing shape. Another girl in the same boat that I was paddling was on my tail the entire race. I wasn't about to let here beat me despite the fact that she looked to be a very good paddler. I hit it as hard as I could for the last three miles and came in 5th or 6th overall in the solo division. I think that I finished 2nd in my boat division (long recreational kayak), but we will have to wait till the results are posted online to see the actual finishing order for all the racers.Here is the racing crew after the race. Everyone had a fun time, and I was happy that Mike and Letha both were able to have a little bit of fun doing something that I have a passion for. Who knows, maybe they have a new hobby too....