When we first took over half of the garage bay that we are converting into an outdoor gear consignment shop, there were two two-legged workbenches in the bay that were attached directly to the wall.
They were pure dirt and oil stained nastiness, but (since we are opening this store on a tight budget), what we lacked in money we hoped to make up for in creativity.
We asked the owner if we could use the benches and (after receiving the nod of approval) went to work on them.
The picture on the left is what they looked like after we added more legs to the tables so that they could be free-standing.
Tons of sanding, stain, clear coat, plywood, nails, screws and curse words later, and the picture on the right is what it looks like to this point.
It still needs work, but the rest of the work will be much more fun. We'll add some character to it in the form of rope and horse shoes and whatever else we can dig up that will fit, but HEY!! We have a counter!!
These pictures were taken of me kayaking last May at Buffalo Bill Reservoir here in Cody.
A kayak story from my adventure racing days. This took place while I was doing a 24 hour race as a solo team:
Late at night, and in the middle of summer 2007 (and after having raced for about 14 hours to that point) I found myself gearing up for the second water leg of the race.
I was kayaking and heading towards a small island on a lake in eastern Tennessee.
I had the checkpoint plotted on the south side of the island but I knew from talking with other teams that some had it plotted on the south and some had it plotted on the north side.
As I approached the island I saw headlamps dead center in the middle of the island.
I paddled around to the south side and as I was making my way around the shore looking for a place to stash my kayak ran into a fisherman in a power boat, fishing close to shore.
He yelled at me and asked me if I was looking for an orange and white flag.
"Yeah!! Have you seen it??"
"Nope"
Slightly cranky because he had raised my hopes up that it was close, I thanked him anyway. Best not to tick off the locals................
I paddled around to the north side of the island looking for a spot to ditch my boat so that I could make my way onto the island on foot.
After leaving the boat I climbed up the embankment and onto the island, zigged and zagged and bushwhacked my way through dense underbrush making my way to the center of the island, and did indeed find the checkpoint without incident.
And that is when I realized how much I had wandered and that most likely I was not going to be able to straight-shot my way directly back to my kayak so that I could continue on with the rest of the race.
I made my way back to the north side, looked down and............no boat.
I was fairly certain that it was located further down to my right and made my way along the side of the island, fighting soft dirt along the way that wanted to crumble underneath my feet.
Eventually the ground gave way under me for real and I started to slide uncontrollably, certain that I was going to take an uncontrolled fall down into the lake.
Thankfully a tree broke my fall (the second time that day that had happened and becoming a running theme with me as a racer).
"Yeah!! Have you seen it??"
"Nope"
Slightly cranky because he had raised my hopes up that it was close, I thanked him anyway. Best not to tick off the locals................
I paddled around to the north side of the island looking for a spot to ditch my boat so that I could make my way onto the island on foot.
After leaving the boat I climbed up the embankment and onto the island, zigged and zagged and bushwhacked my way through dense underbrush making my way to the center of the island, and did indeed find the checkpoint without incident.
And that is when I realized how much I had wandered and that most likely I was not going to be able to straight-shot my way directly back to my kayak so that I could continue on with the rest of the race.
I made my way back to the north side, looked down and............no boat.
I was fairly certain that it was located further down to my right and made my way along the side of the island, fighting soft dirt along the way that wanted to crumble underneath my feet.
Eventually the ground gave way under me for real and I started to slide uncontrollably, certain that I was going to take an uncontrolled fall down into the lake.
Thankfully a tree broke my fall (the second time that day that had happened and becoming a running theme with me as a racer).
Grateful for not falling six feet down into the water, and after catching my breath for a moment, I dropped down into the lake and swam the rest of the way to my boat................
