2014
No. 31: Texas! No. 31 was looking jinxed. I had aborted attempts in three other states (Utah, Colorado and New Mexico) due to weather. And we thought we were getting thunderstorms. But today was epic: almost 6 miles in downtown Austin where we got to meet SUP Gladiator in person, on the water. Cade from Austin Paddle Sports rented us awesome Whiskeyjack paddles and Ron House race boards, which are several steps up from what we normally get when we rent.
We paddled under the Congress Avenue bridge where the night before we saw the world's largest urban bat colony emerge. When we were downwind of the bridge it didn’t smell as good as upwind. We then paddled by a dog beach, topless (female) paddlers, awesome graffiti, the skyline by the sculpture of Stevie Ray Vaughn. My friend Michelle, who was my first paddler friend and is pictured below with SRV, paddled her eighth state today. She is an excellent enabler. We lucked into the Gelato World Tour and a place called Bourbon Girl after our paddle, so pretty much best. day. ever.
