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January 25, 2019 Comments (0) journal

A Wild Hair

January is not in the books yet, but I am already tired of winter. Tired of the rain when it’s raining, and the way that everything is damp and oozing, even when it hasn’t been raining at all. Tired of the dark, ready for some evenings again.

I know there’s snow in the mountains but that does not move me the way that warm air and sunlight do. I ski, when I am expected to, but it is not my highest truth. Blue sky days interest me more. I know, I know, I’m living in the wrong state. “Quit complaining.” I hear you. I really do.

But you have to make your own sunshine, as they say, and it was with some surprise that I saw a 3-day gap in personal responsibilities coming up this weekend and I immediately had a plan. I’ve been too long under a roof; it’s time to head back where I belong, for a few days anyway.

The Seventy48 race is coming up again this year at the end of May. I’m planning on paddling the route from Tacoma up to Port Townsend over the weekend, not racing, just paddling. It seems like a good idea, play with the course a little, stop and familiarize myself with the route as I go. (I’ve paddled the entire distance before, but not in one go. Last year’s race ended for me in Kingston… that will not be happening this year.)

So I’m leaving in the morning. My phone will be off and I plan on just soaking in the exquisite Salish Sea greens and blues for a few days. Single burner cooking and living outside, sleeping on the ground and traveling silently. I don’t plan on a 48-hour pace – probably more like 54 or 56 – but I am so ready to go.

Pictures and tall tales to follow.