Canoe Cruise (6/10)

'You're an intrepid soul'.

I was gulping a liter of water down, sitting at an enclosed picnic table as I tried to cool down. I laughed and said thank you to the older gentleman who was speaking to me. He was on the large row boat I had past as I had canoed up the channel, after having crossed the lake.

Cruisin'

This weekend, I went out to the lake to try my hand at scooting around on it. On Saturday, I made myself a peanut butter and jelly-strawberry, of course- sandwich and awkwardly hoisted the green one person canoe into the back of the Silverado. It was cumbersome and looked just a little ridiculous sticking out of the back of the truck, but I shrugged and drove down to Lake Drummond.

This weekend was warm, sunny,  clear, and beautiful. I was only out for an hour and a half on  Saturday, but I paddled a little ways into the lake and ate my lunch on the glassy surface, sitting with my paddle to one side, against my shoulder. Having been only the second time in a canoe, and the first time by myself, I didn't go very far. I didn't quite get my steering right that day, so I returned early in the afternoon.

Today was something  else. I packed some fruit, expecting to be back fairly early, but once I got into the water, I couldn't stop.

Isn't that just unreal?

It was bright out, and the glossy waters were flat, reflecting a crystal clear picture of the sky back at itself. The sight was mesmerizing, as if the world had been flipped upsidedown, I felt as though I were drifting along the empty night sky.

I was entranced by the tiny whirlpools my paddle sent spinning behind me with every slice through the water. I cruised along, the small bubbles that welled up behind me looked almost like eyes, with the way the sunlight bounced of them. Like my canoe, the occasional breeze sent wrinkles over the water, making it look more like satin than a lake. The texture was almost unreal.

Nearing the other side, after almost two hours!

As the white truck shrank in the distance, the air got quieter and quieter, until the only sounds that reached my ears where the noises of my breathing and the forced rush of the water as I cruised. It was so serene, and my first real moments of solitude since I've arrived.

The channel that leads to the
campgrounds on the Chesapeake Side.

I made it all the way across the lake today, one way was probably 2.5, 3 miles. I even saw the brown head of an otter coasting just under the water as I neared the other side. I paddled so far and for so long I left Suffolk and found myself in Chesapeake, where several groups of people were setting up tents, eating lunch, launching boats, and finishing up their own kayak trips.

I milled around and chit chatted with some of the peoeple I had passed when I found myself coming out of the lake and into a channel lined with green and brown.

I am a bit of a wanderer- and I am completely content to explore and spend time on my own. But I like it, I like my life. I like that the 3000 miles from my house to my school has become all but inconsequential. I like being able to shrug my shoulders, pack my bags, and go anywhere I please. However, I can't forget that the reason I can wander around is because I know that i'll always have a homebase. Home is just a plane ride or phone call away, which is what makes wandering so comfortable. Although, I will admit that not being able to call home at any given moment is tiring. My brother graduated from highschool this weekend, and my service is so splotchy that I could hardly call home.

Anyway, I spent almost three hours on the water today, and I am sunburned, exhausted, achey, but my head is as clear  and peaceful as the surface of the lake. I would have never labeled myself as intrepid, but as I mull it over, I agree, but who wouldn't? Who doesn't want to be resolute and fearless? I'm into it.