My husband loves river boats, and I love to kayak. This summer, the river boats have won by a landslide.My soon to retire in-laws recently bought a chunk of land only accessible by boat. In effect, they bought a new boat and gave this 35 year old one to us. It is a used and an abused gas-guzzler, an airboat converted to an inboard, the boat my husband grew up riding in.
It is nice that we have had a motorized boat all summer in addition to our tandem kayak; we do live on a river after all and it only makes sense to keep a boat parked out front. Potentially, our whole family could ride in it. And for as little as anyone that I know uses their boats, it is most definitely smart to have one that is free or almost free, reliable or not.
Still, I'm not always thrilled about this boat or any other boat. It's a time and a money sink from which I reap few benefits. Between this boat and 2 others, my husband has been on 3 long Tanana River Trips, bear-baiting, 2 Salcha River trips, and almost 10 Chena River trips. He's also been fishing in Chitna. I have been on 0 motorized boat trips. I did make it on the river 4 hours this summer in Alaska, 2 with friends on a raft and 2 on our kayak on a date with my husband. My parents spent 2 hours in our kayak when they came up to visit also. And when I visited my parents in Minnesota, I took a kayak trip with my mom down a river that was quite beautiful but we were challenged by 3 log jams along the way.
I'd really, really like to spend a half day or a day on the upper Chena River, the North Fork specifically, in our kayak, but my husband tells me it's not going to happen because no one will want to watch the kids. Today would have been a perfect morning to do it, but he is on the boat now, taking a short trip up to the landing to take it out of the water for the year. I asked him to keep the kayak out . . . just in case. The snow isn't here yet! And the river is calling my name.
There to me is not anything better than listening to the water trickle, the leaves rustle, and the paddles hit the water as the sun shines on my face.
