lake powell

Blog Cancelled

mikemjensen kayaks, lake powell, Road Trip, Shame on Me, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Hey Kids,

I know that the rule of thumb is to do it every day.

The true professional, or the person most wanting to succeed, must put in the time, put in the practice, or punch the clock as it were; every day whether you feel like or not. I’ve adopted this approach to writing and especially in writing this blog.

Every day I put effort into this blog to bring something thoughtful, humorous, or to share my own ideas, values, or personal achievements. But today I’m not going to do my blog. I’m sorry but I can’t. You see after traveling the two-thirds length of Utah and arriving for our maiden voyage on our houseboat, I did something really stupid.

We arrived at the lake, unpacked all of our equipment and loaded the boat docked in the slip, I returned to our vehicle to release the kayaks from their roost on the roof. Although the same wind that blew against us the entire road trip continued to howl, I removed the ties from one of the kayaks and turned to tend to the strap I had just removed.FHD1839

The kayak, carried in the wind, much like it would on the water, landed straight onto the top of my head and nearly knocked me down to the ground.

The blood flowed. My wife and her daughter came to save me from bleeding to death and we got the other kayaks unloaded and transported to the boat.

Since then, my head gash, my neck, and my pride are going to keep me from writing my blog tonight and sharing what could otherwise be seen as a rather stupid and embarrassing event.

Please accept my apology and continue to think I’m as cool as I try to portray within the posts of this blog and to believe that I never do the same things as stupid people do.

 

Post 3-134

So Far, So Fast

mikemjensen lake powell, Road Trip, Useless Observations, Utah Tags: , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

The lake calleth anew.

The weekend has come that we are about to head down to Lake Powell and get our boat training. At one point, this day seemed so far away and despite our numerous trips, I thought it would never come.

And now, the night before we leave, what have I packed? Nearly nothing.

By tomorrow morning, I’ll be rushing around trying to get ready, pushing the clock, and panicking that I’ll forget something.

But I’ll never wish I had more time to get ready.

 

Post 3-124

“What’s on Your Mind?”

mikemjensen lake powell, Road Trip, Utah, Vanity Tags: , , , Leave a comment

OK, this might seem more like a Facebook update than a blog post but here’s the story.

The day started out early, around 4:30. I got up did the morning routine, got me and my bike to the day job, did my full day there, got back home, packed the 4Runner, and got out of Dodge, er, Salt Lake.

Most of my pontificating will be done within the echos and cobwebs of mind as I watch the little dotted lines of the 300 miles of roadway fly past us. I’ll sing a little, cuss at other drivers a little more, and count down the miles as we roll through each town on the way.

In the morning, I’ll wake up floating atop 100′ of liquid happiness, other wise know as Lake Powell.

I love being where I belong.

Post 3-104

Wet and Dry in the West

mikemjensen lake powell, Useless Observations, Utah Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

For as long as recent memory serves, the warning sirens have been sounding. It’s a shortage here, water restrictions there, and “one good year does not a drought end” everywhere.

In the western US, water is always a concern; there’s more of us than there is of it. For most of my life, the threat of sudden death (exaggeration) has always been the water forecast it seems. The number of good years are few and far between and the memories faded by endless reports of dead fish, dry swimming pools, and brown lawns.

powell

Stolen from: Friends of Lake Powell

This year is a good year. The reservoirs are full or filling- big Lake Powell has added four feet already; the rivers are flowing to excess, and the snow is still falling in the mountains- nearly two feet of new snow this weekend alone.

There are no reporters talking about new city restrictions, low snow packs, or crops drying in the sun-dried and cracked fields. In fact it seems this year may be one of those years that not only erases a multiple year drought, but postpones the begining of another for a few seasons. My hope is that everyone remains in conservation mode, that we all learned how valuable water is and not to waste it anymore in a year of plenty than in a year of little.

It’s truly a year to savor, void of the water doom and gloom warnings and alarms.

Flooding excluded.

 

Post 3-099

Perfect-er

mikemjensen lake powell, Road Trip, Utah Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

Our last scheduled day at Lake Powell arrived and we spent the day kayaking and biking in this super beautiful day. The sun warmed the blue sky to a perfect temperature and kissed our skin red. If there are limits to the amount of perfect days in one’s life- we just used one.17796511_1412362068824577_7133037606732464184_n

Sitting on the back of the boat, eating sandwiches and enjoying the warmth, dangling out feet in the cool water, and watching the bass swim underneath and the ducks cruise by looking to see if we had any more bread offerings; we both bemoaned how sad it was that we would have to leave today.

And then one said to the other, “what do you have to be back for?”

And the other replied, “nothing specific.”

So the first one gave the look. And the second agreed.

A few phone messages later, both were set for another evening spent on our little floating happiness.

 

Post 3-092

Day Lake-ing

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NOTE- The WiFi wasn’t as good as I thought.

Hey Kids,

Amazingly enough there is Wi-Fi on the docks and here I am!

Rain accompanied us on our trip down to Lake Powell yesterday evening. Between traffic, a few potty breaks, and bad windshield wipers; we didn’t make it to our houseboat until just after midnight. But it was here and waiting for us to come aboard. We dumped all of our stuff inside and went straight to bed.

We slept in and woke to a cold 39° morning, plenty of dark clouds, and a breeze that could make one stay in bed even longer. Instead we explored the marina area and tried to get familiar with the layout of the facilities. Annette is a veteran of this place but I am not. We found all of the gift shops, the café, and the showers. Since the water services are not yet available on the boat, this last find was much celebrated.

We kayaked in the afternoon, once the sun decided to chase off the clouds. The air warmed into the 50’s but the sun had got its groove on and its rays felt hot on the skin when the two met. The new kayak proved to be as fast as I had feared. I lost the Mrs. several times as she sped off while I tended to a fishing line or lure. I’ll never be able to keep up with her now.

A flooded canyon just upstream from Bullfrog provided an incredible tour of narrowing cliff walls. My depth finder marked us at about 40 feet at the mouth. We followed it back until the elevation of the lake met the beginning of the sand. A few fish spotted us but never seemed to see my lure.

We watched the sunset during dinner at the Anasazi Café overlooking Bullfrog Bay. The water and surroundings adorned themselves in all the paints and colors of this desert oasis as we watched the sun melt into the red rock hills on the opposite side.

Back at the boat, I hope to make acquaintance with a number of the striped bass residents tonight. They’re why I came here. They’re why I wanted a houseboat here. Don’t act surprised, I never said that I was complicated.

Hopefully I’ll touch base again tomorrow.

 

Post 3-091

First Firsts

mikemjensen Fishing, lake powell, Road Trip, Vanity Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,bliss

During the next two months a few “firsts” will be accomplished. Tonight will be the first of the firsts.

Last October, I spent a couple days on Lake Powell and it was love at first sight/boat/fish. If you’ve never seen Lake Powell, look it up.

Following our trip, it became my mission to return, and to make it so we would return more than once. We investigated and invested into a houseboat. This weekend will be our first overnight visit. Although we won’t be able to take the boat out of the slip, we will be hanging out for a couple of nights. We do have the task to commission a new kayak and I have a few new rod and reels to baptize.

I hope to have enough Wi-Fi from the docks to post new updates. If I disappear for a few days, which wouldn’t be a first, I’ll catch you up on our return.

Wish us sunny skies and calm waters.

 

Post 3-090