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WATERLINES


PLACE OUT OF TIME. PHOTO: SCOTT SMITH


AROUND THE BEND T


URBAN WATERS GIVE AN UNEXPECTED DOSE OF OUTDOOR HAPPINESS MINUTES FROM HOME


here’s a river that crosses beneath the freeway on my drive to work. On its journey through the city it appears from place to place, in parks and major road crossings, but then vanishes for a long stretch into


a deep ravine behind tracts of monster suburban homes and the closeted greens of an exclusive golf club before emerging under my commute. I pass over this waterway almost daily, giving me the notion that I might like to paddle it someday, but I didn’t


approach the idea with sufficient determination to actually make it happen for several years. Going outside means overcoming the inertia of being inside; attending to the dirty dishes in the kitchen, the


dog that needs walking, the dust bunnies colonizing the stairs. There was never anything quite exciting enough about that muddy channel as seen from the highway—probably too polluted and boring, I told myself—to motivate me over the hurdle of actually getting there, to provide the inertia to cross the eddyline, as it were, out of the grind and into the unknown, where the water might be cold, or too shallow, or too swift, where something might waylay me and make me late for picking up the kids from daycare. Strangely, more far-off wildernesses are easier to get to. They loom larger in the imagination, distant targets


that you can build momentum towards by booking vacation, making lists and dehydrating food. Then, one day, I finally did it. It was this article assignment that finally got me out the door. Sometimes all


you need is an excuse. I set off alone on my usual traffic-clogged route to work, but this time with a kayak and a bike on board. I dropped off the car and took just 20 minutes to pedal back to where I’d conspicuously locked my kayak to a picnic table in a children’s playground.


166 KAYAKING || Annual 2015


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