I finally got one of our kayaks in.  Still like pulling teeth with those guys at The Great Outdoors though.  Who would have thought it would be such a hassle just to get those fishing rod holders?  I called them up on Friday to check status on the rod holders which are apparently being delivered by camel from Pakistan or something.  One was in and installed, but the other one was "probably at their Enosburg store".  Whatever.  I went down to pick up at least the one.  

My fear is that I would get the kayaks after we have had all this nice weather and then it will suddenly turn constantly crappy.  I really wanted to try it out.  So I went down to the store which is like less than 1/4 mile from our house.  I had the Prius which ended up being good.  The kayak is pretty short, only 10.5 feet long.  I was able to open the hatch back on the prius, fold down the back seats and fold back the front passenger seat. Doing that, I could load the kayak into the Prius and just tie down the hatch.  It is nice to know that I can do that because that is infinitely easier than putting it up on the roof, especially for a short trip.

I took it up to the house and checked it out.  It has foot pegs in it that you can adjust to your leg length for comfort. Well, I must have messed around with them for 10 minutes and I couldn't get one to move.  Then the other one got stuck too and I couldn't move it.  I was like, "What the heck?!" Am I just an absolute idiot with this thing or what? I did a quick internet search to see if I could find anything that I was doing wrong, but that yielded no results.  So I picked up the phone and called the guys at the store.  They must hate me because I have been calling them like 3 times a week about the kayaks.  I don't care, we spent a lot of money on them. So the guy said he would just come over and take a look since we are so close.  He drove up and said it would be pretty simple to move them.  However, he had just as much as a struggle as I did.  He finally managed to force them back into place.  We are not sure if maybe they were installed wrong at the factory or something, but when they go all the way back, they get stuck.  The temporary solution is not to move them all the way back.  When the second one is ready, we will compare them and see if there is one part that was installed backward.  If so, he will fix it.  Not a show-stopper, but just goes to prove my theory that no matter what you buy these days, it always SUCKS. I cannot remember the last time I bought something and there wasn't some sort of issue.  Why can't anything ever be easy and work as advertised???

Anyway, I wanted test out the roof mounting system.  Although the kayak only weighs about 50 pounds, it is still pretty cumbersome to get on the roof of the car.  Then there are five straps to strap on there.  The Prius also annoyingly has its antenna on the roof, so I had to angle the kayak cockeyed to not hit the antenna. But I got it on there and figured everything out. However, it is still way easier to just put it in the back if possible.  I imagine putting it on the Corolla will be a little easier because the car is smaller, and there isn't any other option with that anyway.  

I drove out to Clyde Pond to test it out.  There were a lot of people fishing in Gardner Park, so I didn't want my first kayak experience to be in front of a bunch of people in case I embarassed myself.  I got in and paddled around the pond for a while. I really like it.  It actually goes a lot faster than I expected and is pretty easy to do.  The only hard part is going in a straight line.  That is the disadvantage of getting such a short kayak -- it doesn't go straight as easy, but it is more maneuverable.  Also, getting in and out is a little tricky.  It was very stable once I got in it, and I never thought I would tip it over or anything.  I am sure I will get better at paddling it around with practice.