I have had the craziest last month for a couple reasons.
The first thing that has been going on is all the great boating because we have had so much rain in the southeast lately.
The runs I have been doing are mostly things I have already covered in the blog lately so I didn't do stories on them and it has been raining so much that I haven't been taking my camera on the river. We did Overflow a couple days. It was amazing. The river was running a great level and clear which means the runoff is over from big rain and the water table was super high. You don't get to run that with clear water very often it was beautiful. Did a trip on the Horsepasture and that was awesome as usual and yes of course we have been on the Green a ton lately. It has been running high all day long so I have been lucky enough to finish work around 6:00 pm and jump on the river for an evening run with who ever is around and available. I love being on the Green late in the day. Good wake up from a day at work, cool water, and a good adrenaline buzz is always good.
The other thing that has kept me busy lately is getting ready for the Outdoor Retail Show which is the Outdoor Indrusty gathering where gear dealers meet with manufacturers to talk alot of business and see what is in store for the coming year as far as new gear and gadgets and gizmos. I will spend 8 hours a day Thursday August 11th through Sunday the 14th talking boats, rivers, safety, performance, quality, dealerships, prices, sales, etc... It is crazy but standing around talking shop in an airconditioned building wears me out more than any day paddling. The other thing that happens is at night there are a lot of parties. Its a great place to catch up with folks that you might not have seen all season. Its fun but burns the candle on the other end a bit.
The Show is actually 5 days long and is in Salt Lake City, Utah. There are more manufacturers than I can even imagine. I don't have any idea but think of every outdoor product you can including clothing and shoes, glasses, everything you can imagine and more. There are thousands and thousands of people there from all over the world actually. There are several main focal points of the show. The kayak paddle tank is one of them. During the day most of the manufacturers do a demo in the pool and at times 2, or 300 people are hanging out watching people loop, roll, cartwheel, and freestyle canoe in the pool. There is a big climbing wall. There are demonstrations on everything from flyfishing to this guy that walks around the show all weekend carrying a kayak showing off his kayak backpack. Its pretty amazing.
Anyway we spend a lot of time getting ready for this show because its the introduction of all our newest toys, programs, and deals to the dealers so they can decide what they need to buy for the next year. The whole process started a few weeks ago when we finalized designs for boats, and outfitting for the coming year.
Woody, Whitney, Bryon and I just drove up to Pennsylvania to mold some of our newest toys. Thats a quick 10 hour drive with the big box truck and box trailer that we will fill with boats to go to the show. Right now we are here in Reading Pa. working on the molds and tricking out the boats. Getting them wrapped up and finalized. Things are looking really good.
We will be here for 4 days and then we start the long drive out to Utah.
I hope to get you guys in the loop on boats and how they are done soon.
Shane
Pictures and more coming tomorrow.
