Kayaks

Last year I got impulsive and bought two tandem kayaks. I asked the people at Dick's how most people transport them, and they said hanging out of the bed of the truck. I did that to get them home and hated it. I had so much anxiety the entire drive because the kayaks are so big. We took our first trip up to the Crooked River, which is only 5 miles, and again it sucked driving with these hanging out the back. We did 3 or 4 miles up and down the river. It was very scenic and shady but there were a couple big boats on the river. When we got to Lake Susan and Lake Lousia, we decided to stop there due to the fast boats and their wakes.

I did some research and decided to get a trailer. The trailers at Bass Pro were really pricey so I bought the same thing online for half the price and assembled it myself. Kim and I spent most of the day one weekend assembling the trailer which also serves as a good place to store them in the garage since you shouldn't leave them on their hull.

We took our first trip with the trailer to Kings Landing. Driving with it was a breeze and it's so light it doesn't affect my gas milage. However, backing up with and parking sucks. I found it easier to just disconnect the trailer and move it by hand. I did buy and attach a tongue stand with a wheel which makes it really easy to move.

Our second trip was to the Hillsborough River. Unfortunately, we went during the peak of the drought, so it was kind of a pain to get around. The water was so low in a lot of parts that I had to get out of my kayak, with alligators all around, and push both of our kayaks over the logs. Due to the recent hurricanes, we haven't given it another try yet.

We have taken out the kayaks several times on the lake behind us. We are the only ones ever out on that lake so it's a nice paddle without worry about anyone bumping into us. I want to get out there one of these days early in the morning when it's foggy for a paddle but so far I've been too lazy to get out that early.

Getting ready for our first trip.

At King's Landing.

Just the friendly neighborhood alligator.

Crooked River. This is out of order, but oh well. This was before King's Landing. We didn't see a single alligator. To this day I have never seen an alligator in Clermont.

Morris Bridge - Hillsborough River, Tampa

When trying to get the kayaks ready to launch this dumb lady was chumming the water bringing in this gator. There was a cop or fish and game (I can't remember which one) on the other side of the parking lot. I really should have told them what was going on. Some people really suck.

Here you can see how low the water is.

Baby alligator

Getting ready for a paddle on the lake behind us one afternoon and it decides to rain. It wasn't even the wet season anymore, as you can see by the Christmas decorations.

My neighbors dock got wrecked from Hurricane Milton.

One of the many large trees that Milton destroyed.