Windy Ride

Today was a nice day so I decided to get the kayak out of the basement again and take a spin after running a few errands. I headed to Minnesota Point on Park Point peninsula. I parked next to the airport just like last time. To get there I take Lake Avenue downhill through town. My kayak is sticking out of the back of my car. I have it securely tied down with rope and a bungee cord. Lake Avenue is very steep in between blocks but flat as I cross other streets. This pattern of steep/flat/steep/flat makes for some serious bouncing of the kayak no matter how slow I descend. In his photo my paddle is pointing to the airport in the distance. The water is fairly calm in this little bay. A spit of land with a few scrubby trees on it blocks the wind and the waves from the Saint Louis River.

At one time I thought it would be nice to live on Park Point but now I have changed my mind. Traffic from the lift bridge backs up frequently for lakers and sail boats and tour boats. Today the back up was because of maintenance work being done on the bridge. There was a employee in a cherry picker parked on the lift bridge. Every time the bridge lifted for boat traffic the worker in the cherry picker had to descent, get in the truck, back it up off the lift bridge, wait for the bridge to come back down, drive back on the lift bridge, get into the cherry picker and get back to work. There is a job I would not care for.  I turn my car off but many cars sit idling for ten or minutes waiting for their chance to cross the bridge. Although it would be scenic to live near the bridge, I wouldn't want to be exposed to all the pollution and noise of idling cars. In this photo you care barely see my yellow car at about 11 o'clock.

Here is the spit of land protecting me from the wind and waves. There is a guy in this bay in a paddle board. He has a life jacket but is not wearing it. When not looking at his phone he is either paddling or napping. I try to make sure I don't bump into him accidentally.

This picture doesn't do it justice. Once I got past the spit of land the waves were white caps. My boat is bobbing up and down so severely water is splashing me in the face and breaking over my bow. Yee Haw! Yippie Kay Yay!  My kayak is taking on a little bit of water. This is like a mini roller coaster!  I paddle and I paddle but I'm not really moving forward. I try to keep my kayak pointed to cut into the waves. The more I paddle the more I am being pulled away from that spit of land but I'm not making any forward progress. Actually this is kind of fun. This is not the day to explore the rest of the peninsula. After 15 minutes of strenuous paddling, I quickly turn around and let the waves take me back to that spit of land where the calmer waters prevail. 

Golly, that was fun. Back in calmer waters I look back towards Wisconsin to see where I was. 15 mph winds really make a difference. Lucky for me this is a pleasure cruise. I don't have to actually get anywhere except back to my car. What a fun ride!