Boat naming contest winners!

We held a boat naming contest on Facebook. Here are the results:

After much deliberation, Jay and I have decided on the names for the boats. We couldn't decide on just two, and so decided to have a name for when the boats "transform" into a catamaran.

Winners:
Sea Steak - Ryan Rau (Shannon's boat)
Moonstoner - David Rau (Jay's boat)
Boldy the Beluga Whale - David Rau (both boats put together as a catamaran)

Honorable Mentions:
Rainbow Peanut - Leah Tait
Testicles (pronounced Tes-ti-clees, similar to Hercules) & Scrotumus - Aaron Wooster
Kon Tiki and Lookfar - Joel Gohdes
Kick Back and Relax - Bernie Bedell

Winners of the contest will receive something "really cool" from our adventures (according to Jay. And David, you only get one thing despite having two winning names!). Honorable mentions will receive something "kinda cool". Thanks to all for the great submissions! We enjoyed reading through all of them.

~Shannon

Shannon's Dream

Shannon shared this dream with me today and I thought it was worthy of a posting...

"I had a crazy dream last night about the trip. It's all become a bit hazy, but what I remember is that we had our kayaks and were paddling upriver, or at least we thought we were going upriver. Somehow we managed to be going downriver and ended up in the same place that we started and we realized to go the direction we wanted to go we had to go upriver but then this huge storm blew in. I remember looking over this hill and seeing like...five tornadoes and so we ran into this building that had a bunch of other people in it, and we were all trying to find places to hide from the storm but then me and you remembered that we had left our boats just chilling in the river so we ran out into the storm to get them however, they were both gone... and for some reason had drifted upriver so we went running along either side of the river, looking for them I thought I found one of them and grabbed it...but then it turned out to be a blue plastic sled and I remembered I was supposed to be looking for a black boat, not a blue one so then I jumped in the water and started swimming. Mind you, the storm was still going on. There were boats and stuff everywhere, all pulled upriver by the storm (which makes no sense). Then I got out of the water just as a tornado whipped by and went across the river directly in front of me. It hit this lady but she was fine. She was standing on the water in the middle of the river somehow. So, I kept running along the bank, looking for our boats. Meanwhile, you were on the phone with Mom, who said that they had ordered six more boats for us and they were on their way. But I was pissed 'cause a bunch of our gear was in the boats that we had lost so, I kept running and looking for them. Then I came up on this town that was all medieval and stuff and they were having this festival. People were singing and dancing and it was really hot. I wasn't sure if it was just like a Renfest or if I had gone back in time. Some guy dressed in a jester's outfit tried to get me to stay, but I told him that I had to find our boats, so I ran off in the other direction, back down the bank the way I came. I met up with you (somehow I managed to jump over to the other side of the river), and we found this huge area where a bunch of boats that had been pushed there by the storm had collected. We found one of our boats, but it was all wrecked and all our gear was gone. I was so distressed that I woke up."

The only thing that I hope comes true is meeting a woman who can walk on water.

-Jay

Almost Ready To Go

I remember feeling like I was at the bottom of a mountain looking towards the peak just a few months ago. I was overwhelmed with the amount of planning this trip was going to take but now that we are only three weeks until our departure I cannot wait to start. Everything is coming together nicely and I can truly say that I am feeling almost prepared for this endeavor. Every new day brings something to my door step from UPS or FedEx and it is pretty amazing. My favorite so far is the fold out solar panel to charge the lithium batter which in turn will charge our phones, camera, and Ipad. I will be running all preliminary tests today to make sure everything is going to work according to plan. July 10th cannot come fast enough

-Jay

Less than a month from departure!

Whew, it's been a while! This spring has been pretty crazy, but as summer rolls in we're getting a lot closer to being ready to go. As such, we went and picked up our boats a few days ago with Ron at Unadilla Boatworks in Dexter! They're beautiful watercraft, and yesterday Jay and I took them out on Winans lake on a blustery day. The lake was pretty choppy, with whitecaps and strong winds, but the boats tracked beautifully in the waves. Even without the rudder down, they were easy to steer and quick to respond. Did I mention that they're extremely light and very fast? For me, who has only paddled with heavy plastic clunkers out on the west coast, it was a treat to paddle something that is light enough for me to carry on my own.

At 15', the boats are somewhat small, which means that we're going to have to pack light, but that's all the better for us so that we don't have to lug a bunch of gear through the portages on the Huron River. Though, that does mean that we'll have to have several drop points to send our food along the way.

Speaking of gear and food, we're definitely keeping REI in business! We bought a lot of our gear on the day that we picked up the boats. While we were in the store, pushing our cart piled high with such essentials as PFDs, sleeping bags, paddles, paddling gloves, a water filter, etc etc, employees were continually asking us if we were members of REI. Of course we are! That yearly dividend certainly came in handy for our purchase.

The only thing left to do for the boats is to attach the mast for the sail, and then they'll be ready to go! We do have pictures, and I'll get those up as soon as I figure out the picture slideshow function on the blog. Thanks for reading!

-Shannon