Aug 27th, 2008
by vmichael.
To set the wheels in motion to ultimately become certified as a BCU 4 star and a level 4 instructor, I decided to start with Geneva Kayak Center’s level 2 course. The price isn’t bad at 90-some-dollars or if you want to save a few bucks, you can bring your own boat and pay 70-some-dollars, as I did. This is probably the only class in which they allow you to bring your own boat, as the other classes require a sea kayak with front and back dry hatches/bulkheads. As I did my self and T rescues, it was pretty apparent that with my rec kayak, I was having a little tougher time flipping my boat right-side up. The bow of the boat was holding water and made it difficult to break the vacuum seal around the cockpit and get the boat over to drain it
They day started at Big Quarrey about 9:00AM and we finished up around 4:00PM. Paul and John of GKC were both very knowledgeable and were great to have as instructors. They took their time explaining paddle strokes, wet exits, recovery, and were quick to cover any additional topic one (like me) were to ask about. I wanted to know about feathering my paddle, paddle length and also how to do what they do!
I recommend this class for anyone who is comfortable on the water and have at least a little paddling experience. I’ve been paddling for some time, so I didn’t take any beginner/level 1 course.
Posted in: Illinois, paddling.
Aug 25th, 2008
by vmichael.
Unlike the loose gun law state of Aizona, where it’s super easy to get out n shoot ‘em up, Illinois has some really POOR recreational shooting opportunities. There is one exception: Buffalo Range Shooting Park in Ottawa, IL.
For $25 per person, whether or not you have a FOID card, you can bring virtually anything you have to this park and shoot all day. There are several ranges - Rifle Target (50, 75 & 100 yards), Pistol Range, Clay Range, and a really cool Plinking Pit. The plinking pit is the favorite of most, I think - it certainly had the most shooters.
The scope on my .22 was WAY out, as evidenced by the 20 or so hits out of about 100 on the 100 yard range. Me ad Bruce shot only one 30 minute session there before heading over to the clay range to try out my new 12 gage! There are 3 manual clay launchers - 2 worked okay. After destroying half my case of clays, we decided to head over to plinking pit. I was able to accurately enough dial in my scope and then shoot off hundreds of .22 rounds. It was really fun to shoot a golf ball around down in the pit.
The range is a bit of drive and a bit pricey, but it’s pretty worth it. The people there are super nice, it’s kept clean and they are insistent on safety, which is comforting.
My next shooting outing should be in IL and might actually be hunting. We’ll see.
Posted in: Illinois, firearms, shooting.
Aug 21st, 2008
by vmichael.
I’m published (sort of). While in Arizona last winter, I was asked to photo/video the Upper Verde River from the air. This is the article published by the organization who makes the flights happen.
waypoint-august-2008.pdf
Posted in: Arizona, conservation, fishing, paddling.
Jul 26th, 2008
by vmichael.
I “Stumbled Upon” (literally) this Les Stroud video, whom I have admired ever since I started watching Survivorman. Now to further reinforce Les’ idol-ship in my esteem, he has done what I have deep in my heart to do.
This video is an hour long, but worth watching every minute. No matter what your nature-living tolerance level might be.
Enjoy!
Posted in: bushcraft, conservation, survival, sustainability.
Jun 12th, 2008
by vmichael.
This was a fine attempt at creating a co-meetup group outing to include the FYB: Chicago Area Kayaking and the Northwest Burbs Camping meetup groups. There seem to be plenty of members in common, I’m not one of them. The trip was great. It provided awesome scenery, great paddling and a few extra surprises. Sadly, the trip was not without the totally unnecessary drama.
The trip was scheduled to take place from Thursday through Sunday. Some were going up for all 4 days, like us, and others for 3 days. Thursday turned out to be quite rainy for our trip up. So much so, many backed out of the 4 days and skipped Thursday. Everyone but me and Rachael, Steve and Anita. We all met up near Madison. 
We went up early to stop in Madison so Rachael could take some family photos. It all worked pretty well actually. We all ended up west of Madison at about the same time.
We caravaned through rain toward Wyalusing State Park. The rains began flooding roads and causing detours. It had been coming down pretty hard. We ended up taking about 1/2 hour detour avoiding a few washed out roads. It was looking pretty scary and grim.
We eventually arrived and setup in the rain and mud. Not horrible, since there was grass. We set up pretty quickly, though! Once we did, we had a look around, checked out the water level on the Mississippi River side of the park at the boat ramp. It was very high. I was anxious to get out onto the water, though I wasn’t planning on heading out into the main flow of either the Wisconsin nor Mississippi Rivers. It was just too high and fast.
The rest of the days were spent paddling. This was loads of fun. We got people out on the water to experience kayaking. We all got a bonus sighting of an Eagle’s nest about 1/2 mile north of the launch. The views from the bluffs were pretty great. There was a star gazer event at the parks small observatory. We got to see Saturn and it’s moons and rings from a couple of different telescopes.
When we didn’t have anything to do or at night, the mood changed a bit. Turns out people were “annoying” other people with noise and loud voices. I think people were just very picky. It really pays to know who you are camping with and equally as important people should know YOU before deciding to camp with you! I wouldn’t have gone on the group camping half of this trip knowing some of the people that I met camping. Too different.
The paddling, short hikes, camping amongst friends was all terrific, though!
Posted in: Illinois, Wisconsin, camping, rivers.
