Made it to the Ottawa!

49 hours after leaving Boulder, CO, I arrived at the Wilderness Tours resort on the Ottawa River. So far, the plans that I laid out in my New Year’s Resolutions have proceeding beautifully. I love the concept of combining separate goals into an intertwined super-goal so that each portion becomes dependent on the other and is therefore, that much more likely to be accomplished. Tying the EJ kayaking clinic to have a fully working new engine in my van is the example that I am currently fond of. The van performed beautifully with the new Zetec engine as well as the recently added air conditioning and ARB fridge. The very thought of driving close to 2000 miles across the country and into another country during the heat of summer is not something I would have entertained last year. But with the new engine and improvements that I managed to somehow sneak in during the past few weeks among my 50 days of kayaking this year, I was able to make it here in relative expediency and at relatively low cost. And because of the lower cost, attending the clinic was that much more attractive financially than if I had flown and stayed in a cabin all week. Intertwining the goals forced both to happen, rather than allowing either or both to slip away into becoming “almosts”. (I almost spent a week getting better at kayaking with personal instruction from EJ, or I almost fixed up my Westfalia into a road trip worthy vehicle.)

Anyhoo, I’m all set up in my van with the top popped, the chairs swiveled, tables deployed, and tarp hanging off the side in case of rain. And as I feared/wondered, dogs aren’t actually allowed at the resort, so River will be spending a bunch of time inside the van instead of following me around everywhere off leash.

I met with EJ and the other kayakers at 8pm tonight to oriented for the week. The great news is that our class is extremely small- only 4 of us! I know that it is going to be wonderful instruction and that our group is going develop a strong sense of camaraderie and wind up teaching each other almost as much as Eric can. Off to bed for a big week that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time!