Bellingham or Bust Episode Six: The Final Ebb

The sixth and final episode recounting a summer skin-on-frame kayak build and solo 130 mile kayak journey. 

From the start - read the first, second, third, fourth and fifth episodes.

Morning brightened in the mist

Woke me with a misted kiss

Invisible ships sounded horns of

Loneliness  - "heyyyyyyyy"

Heyyyyyyy, I'm

Here too.

The frosted rainbow glimmered a bright

Constrast to the wistfulness of woebegotten ships -

Hovering just west, proudly purpled.

Completely conflicted - proof of a

Presence, and proof of it soon

Failing to exist.

Good morning Burrows Island,

Farewell to the mist.

30 June -to- 6 July of 2014 | Burrows Island, WA -to- Ketchikan, AK

Dreamt deeply on Burrows Island after an afternoon of reading on the cliff's edge.

Bellingham or Bust Episode Five: Further into the Future

The fifth episode recounting a summer skin-on-frame kayak build and solo 130 mile kayak journey. 
From the start - read the first, second, third, and fourth episodes.

it is a short journey

a brief race

we each one take

upon the planet's spinning face

though viewing each day

as blessing

or curse

the rain as dreary

or poetry

in liquid verse

the sun as wilting

or warming

glow

failures

as devastating end

or new routing

on which to begin:

a boat flipped

may yet be righted

and paddled again.

26 - 30 of June 2014 | Meadowdale State Park -to- Burrows Island

Early rise from my blue tarp tent and scurry through breakfast before slipping boat back into the waterway. Covered about 4 miles in the first hour, then pulled off the side of the watered highway. Sat on a sandbar for an hour watching waves build with the incoming flood tide, churned up by a waxing southwest wind. Spent the next hour portaging 1 to 2 miles up the beach, wandering through the waves and tidepools dragging boat behind like a toy trailer full of dreams.

Bellingham or Bust Episode Four: The First Two Days of Paddling

The fourth episode recounting a summer skin-on-frame kayak build and solo 130 mile kayak journey. 
From the start - read the first, second, and third episode.

wraiths ghosted in the mist

then burst forth into the light

shattered, laden with moisture

heavy and bright

the horizons widen

and the sun begins to glow

off in the distance,

some rain falling,

falling into the ocean below

the land is here

and time is here

and all is well

24 - 25 of June 2014 | Bainbridge Island -to- Meadowdale State Park, Washington

Set out upon the water early the morning of June 24, vessel loaded-to-capacity. Eight miles north, changed route to due west, and skidded up on the shore of Eagle Harbor. Boat tied fore and aft to a pier to prevent its meandering about as the tide rose, then a squishy-footed trot into town after slipping the drysuit skin to stow inside the boat. Picked up my passport at the post office, general delivery, had a snack and called a friend, then sloshed back to re-enter the boat and continue north.

Bellingham or Bust Episode Three: Construction and Capitulation

[The third episode recounting a summer skin-on-frame kayak build and solo 130 mile kayak journey. From the start - read the first and second episode.]

We cajole our craft,

my fellow builders and I,

In sight of our tents

pitched beneath steely skies,

to the tune of a minstrel

modulating ukulele highs.

11 - 23.June.2014 | Portland/Manzanita, Oregon; Bainbridge Island, Washington

South I flew, to Portland, Oregon, to join up with the eldest brother and shop for the remaining necessaries - food for the next week of construction in addition to the following three weeks of paddling; and some flares, just in case.

Wandered about town with brother and his girlfriend, spent some time with a friend from school; smiled at their queries and tried to reassure their worries, despite an absence of answers. Told them of all the preparations, of the fail-safes, communications equipment, and survival gear that should support me if I have need of them. 

Bellingham or Bust Episode Two: Dawns The Day Before

[This is the second episode in the Bainbridge to Bellingham or Bust series, edited from journals written prior to and during a solo kayak trip undertaken June 2014, from Bainbridge Island to Bellingham.]

who dreams, of

the fruition of dreams,

prepares,

perspiring over papyrus

accruing filthy lucre,

for the way

forward.

< : June 10, 2015 : Ketchikan, Alaska : >

Bellingham or Bust Episode One: Por Que Adventure?

[Though the Yukon series is already begun, and not yet finished, another series calls louder for explication. One year ago from tomorrow, construction of my kayak had just been completed and I was camped on Bainbridge Island, awaiting the rising sun to herald the start to a 130 mile solo paddle to Bellingham. 

In five parts (give or take a handful), please welcome Bainbridge to Bellingham or Bust - culled and edited from journals written in early-to-mid 2014, prior to and during the trip.]

14.May.2014 | Ketchikan, Alaska

​"When the great innovation appears, it will almost certainly be in a muddled, incomplete and confusing form. To the discoverer himself it will be only half-understood; to everybody else it will be a mystery. For any speculation which does not at first glance look crazy, there is no hope."

-Freeman Dyson​