Name/Nickname: Jodi
Where are you from? Wisconsin
Family? Do they share your enthusiasm for paddling? My husband James enjoys kayaking when he has the time. Our three children are also aspiring "yakkers". Ethan is 9 years old and can paddle almost as well as I can; Tirzah is 5-1/2 and very small, so she has a hard time holding a paddle but likes to sit in my boat; Armin is 3 and sits in Daddy's boat and "helps" him with the paddling. :) I should also mention that my brother-in-law is a professional whitewater kayaker--hopefully he's going to take me out and teach me some of the ropes this spring!
Where do you work and how long have you been at it? I'm an at-home mom and homeschool teacher. I've been at the mom thing for 9 years and the school thing . . . well, really for the same length of time, but technically my oldest started formal schooling about 4 years ago.
Other than paddling, what hobbies do you enjoy? reading, stamping, photography
Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know (unusual skill, second language, ancestry, etc.) We haven't bought a loaf of bread from the store for almost two years--we grind our wheat, and I bake all of our bread.
Do you belong to any paddling clubs or associations? Just this one
When did you first try paddling, and who introduced you to the sport? When we moved back to Wisconsin from Minnesota, we bought a home on the Red Cedar River. I wanted a way to navigate the river, but it was too shallow for canoes. Then one of my husband's coworkers brought his kayaks over to our house for an afternoon, and I was hooked! When James totaled his motorcycle/scooter a few weeks later, he used the insurance money to buy our first two kayaks.
What kind of boat(s) do you own? I have two old Neckys and an Easky 15 from Venture Kayaks
What's the longest paddling trip you've ever been on? If you count canoeing, it was a Boundary Waters trip I took the summer of 1999 (one week). But kayaking would be just a day trip to the Lake Superior Sea Caves that my husband and I enjoyed for our 10th wedding anniversary.
What memorable places have you paddled? What did you enjoy most about it? The sea caves were beautiful. I enjoyed my trip to BWCA with Tammy this fall, despite the torrential rainfall . . . well, actually because of the rain. It was fun to see that we could meet the challenge and stay reasonably dry in the process.
What would you consider to be the ultimate paddling adventure? Well, I mostly kayak for quiet time and spiritual refreshment, so my goals are pretty tame (although I do want to give whitewater a try). I enjoy paddling "just a bit farther" up the creek near our home.
What has been your worst paddling experience? The evening Tammy and I took a group of women from her church paddling on Long Lake. We divided the group into two and each led one group. The weather was gorgeous, but that was the extent of my good luck that evening. About halfway through the evening, one of the ladies in my group tipped her kayak. She was in shallow water but refused to put her feet down because of the mucky bottom, so I had to get out of my boat and hold her boat steady with my thighs while I pulled her into the boat (the shoreline was lined with shrubs, so there was no place to land our boats)--it was an exhausting task! Then about half an hour later my group had a run-in with a boat full of drunk men who briefly had us trapped in a cove off of the main lake.
Do you have big paddling plans for 2008, or in years to come? James wants to do a several day kayak/camping trip in the Apostle Islands, but I'm not sure we'll get to that this year.
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