Longleaf Trace - USM to Sumrall

Apparently I spelled Sumrall wrong last time we went (Sumrall, not Summerall). It was 2006 - how did we go 3 years without riding the trace? Especially as much as I've been riding the bike lately. Dale and Tyler did great, putting in over 30 miles.

I did a couple of runs ahead for a few miles to see how it would be to ride 18-22 mph for a long way. I think it would be a nice ride. The pavement is a little bumpy, but not enough to be troublesome. The traffic crossings are few. We almost had the whole thing to ourselves today with it being a weekday. It was windy today but most of the time the trail is protected. Beautiful weather, overall, about 70 degrees and sunny.

I used the Garmin 705 as I always do these days on rides. I can look at the graphs for speed, heart rate, elevation, and cadence. For this ride, heart rate and speed are closely correlated, because there are no steep grades on this former railroad track. The elevation does change from 200 to almost 400 ft, but everything is gradual. I captured the track picture from Garmin Connect.

Saw three snakes - a black racer, a beautiful yellow and green specked king snake, and a baby grey rat snake. One turtle on the trail and many on the logs at the beaver pond (in the picture).

Oh yeah, and I mastered "riding with no hands" today! It's a great place to practice.

Must go back soon.

New fins for Hobie

The Hobie Revolution comes with a standard set of fins, but you can get turbo fins that replace them. Dale wanted more power in the pedal stroke to go faster at high power, or cruise with less movement when fishing. We tried them out today and he says they're exactly what he wanted.

Our dog loves riding in the back of the Hobie. My mom & stepdad's handsome lab Molly is waiting on the dock.

The morning was sunny and nice for a bike ride. Afternoon overcast and cool with a slight breeze, but nice for kayaking. Dale went in early because it was way too cool to be out there without a jacket (and you get splashed more in the sit-on-top than in mine with a cockpit), so I went across the bay and around the south side, then over to the otter home. Not much to see today except a crowd of Buffleheads. It was nice and quiet, just the tiny sound of water ripples from the breeze. Oh yeah, and dogs barking. I swear sometimes on that bay you can hear every dog in St. Andrews!

No really, it's January

Paddled the 7 or 8 miles to the gulf and back with Mom, short sleeves the whole time. Just a little breeze, nice sun, pleasant air. But the water temperature reminds you that it's winter.

Nice paddle, nothing spectacular to see, but it was nice to see summery clould such as this thunderhead north of us.

My pictures from today came out terrible. Turns out my lens was dirty, with a film over the entire thing that made the pictures hazy, and for some reason, colorless. These two are from Mom's new camera.

I love the way the Riot Regency looks in the water!

I had pain in my right shoulder trouble today, but it eased up a bit when I paddled as Paul taught me, with a paddler's box of keeping the arms straight and pulling with the torso, rather than pulling with the arms. Luckily there are a lot of different movements that get the job done.

We noted the southern position of the sun and how far it moves from summer to winter. 60 degrees? That would be 2 hours on a clock. It may even be more than that. Something to research...

December evening paddle

There is absolutely no better way to reset the brain and relax than solo kayaking. I did the 7-mile trip to the gulf and back this afternoon and timed it just right. The sun was low in the sky when I started out, and as I got to the gulf at the mouth of the bayou, it was just going down. A guy had come out on the beach on a 4-wheeler and was fishing from the beach. “Is this a good time to fish?” “Sometimes. Just came to watch the sunset.”

The winter birds are out now like they were in my previous post that had so many pictures of them in one day. They have a sense of entitlement in the winter that they don’t have in the summer. They rule, in the winter.

Concentrating on the paddle stroke engages different muscles. It’s like walking. There’s lazy walking, and disciplined, top-form walking. They use different muscles. Paddling in top form uses a larger group of muscles than idle paddling.

Although I feel very secure in the boat, I thought through scenarios of “What if I flipped out of this thing in the middle of the bay?” I can get out of it with no problem, flip the boat back over, get back in it, get the water out, and paddle back. Temperatures in the 60s – uncomfortable, but not dangerous. But then I thought more specifically about getting back in the boat. First of all, I realized I’ve never done it with THIS boat, and the cockpit is definitely smaller than the Millennium. I need to practice with this one in friendly water. I’d really love to learn to roll one. Second, I didn’t take a paddle float and haven’t been carrying one at all lately. When solo and not near any land, I depend on this to get back on and into the boat. Today I brought the bilge pump with me, but not the paddle float. When you go so long not using something, it begins to slip your mind after a while. But I need it. I need to make a basic checklist for both kayak and bike.

I’ve got the Riot Regency seat adjusted much better now but still have not put the thigh braces exactly where I want them. I need to fine-tune the thing for the optimum fit.

Coming back, although I got back before 6pm, it was dark and actually quite a while after sunset. There was no boat traffic. But the sky stays lit up for a long time. When that light started to face, I saw the planet twins Venus and Jupiter, who have been playing together lately, and caught sight of a white light whizzing along beside me off my left paddle, which turned out to be the moon directly overhead. I love how when the light is dim your eyes are wide open. So much of the time we spend squinting, shielding our eyes from too much input. At night there is so much space and so much light, the water reflects the deepening red-blue hues of the sky, and the eyes welcome all of it.

So, I got in some exercise today… but my legs are still fresh and ready for tomorrow’s bike ride.

Pascagoula River and an awesome weekend

OK I'm fiddling with Picasa and trying to post a dozen or so pictures because I can't pick my favorites from this AWESOME trip up the Pascagoula river on Saturday. But my son who is currently addicted to Roblox is pestering me for the computer and trying to be as annoying as possible so as to disrupt my concentration, not to mention the dog begging for a walk. I'm giving it up for now; here's a few pictures... I'll try again to post the other good ones. It was a great trip.

Sunday cycling -- the cycling doesn't seem to jive with photography as well as paddling, but just as fun.
I'd like to sum up my trips and progress lately on the bike. 42 mi, 53 mi, 62 mi, 66 mi, 62 mi, 45 mi, 33 mi. I like the regular GCBC weekend ride.

Yeah, it's gonna take me a little fiddling to update my capabilities to do all I want here on the blog -- upload the pictures, optimize the template, save the darn thing so it's not lost to never never land, and last but not least, get the GPS tracks going again. Google Earth -- a great and wonderful thing, but I need some lessons on how to get the tracks as I had them on Expert GPS.

Visiting Kaykers

Family visiting from AZ, NC, and OR went out for some Mississippi Kaying this morning. The day was beautiful! Low tide gave us plenty of mud to look at. Shrimp jumped and fish swirled. The water was clear enough to see crabs meandering around at the water's edge. The two new kayaks did well. It's nice to have a good fleet.

Saw two ibises which was a first for me. Peggy sees them all the time in Florida, but these are the first I've ever noticed here. They look like they could get some critters out of the mud.

The mullet were jumping today... they must have known the Mullet Festival was going on in Gautier! I spent some time there at a booth promoting the Gulf Coast Heritage Trails Partnership. The web site should be up soon: www. gulfcoasttrails.org. They promote hiking, cycling, horseback riding, kayaking, walking, etc. Hope to see more good stuff out of them in the near future.

Cycling

OK I'm a cyclist now.... I did a metric century (62.5 mi) last weekend. Although I've heard you're not a real cyclist until you do a centry (100 mi). I'll get there! This event was great. I could defintely get hooked on doing this type thing.

I'm enjoying the bike a lot, although the only problem is... its so time consuming.

Back to paddling, soon. Fall is the perfect season.

Maybe if I just quit work, I'll have more time for the fun stuff. The next elected U.S. President will take care of me. (ha!)