Wednesday

 

Wednesday

 

Wednesday

 

The Osprey and the Buzzard

One day our family and some friends were kayaking on the Sacramento River. When we had stopped and were eating lunch we heard a bird scream. We looked across the river and we saw an osprey with a huge fish! There were some turkey vultures, sometimes called buzzards, trying to steal the fish from the osprey.

 

I jumped on the back of Shannon's kayak and we went across the river to get a closer look at the birds. As we were taking pictures, the vultures flew away. The osprey stayed there eating his fish as fast as he could.

 

 

We got so close we could almost touch him. Then he flew off but the fish was so heavy it weighed him down so much he could barely make it to his log! Lucky for him the vultures didn't follow.

 

Kayak Cart

If you can’t drive close to your launch and you don’t want to carry your boat the whole way, you might find yourself in want of a kayak cart.  

Properly balanced a kid can pick it up.

Kayak carts are a device you set your kayak on top of, strap it down, and pull it on wheels to your destination, like a kid with a little red wagon.  The average sit-inside plastic kayak’s weight starts at 50 lbs and the sit-on-top at 60 lbs. Add in your pdf, paddle, lunch and miscellaneous gear and you have one awkward stagger from the truck to the water.  

Scrap metal and purchased wheels.

When I started shopping for a cart, I was shocked at how much they cost.  Most of the time I don’t need a cart as I can drive right to the launch, so paying $100 to $200 dollars for an item of limited use was not in my budget.  Being cheap is the start of most do-it-yourself (DIY) projects.

DIY Kayak Cart

I made most of my cart from some scrap metal I had around the shop buying only the wheels from harbor freight.  The cart cost me around $10 out of pocket and an hour or two of time.

 Ready to roll.

Happy trails and happy paddling!

Wednesday

Paddling on clouds.