Shakedown

It's true that time flies when you're having fun, and I've been having a lot of fun lately. Texas Independence Day looms, though, as does the official launch of the TSJ Kayak Safari.

Friday.

Friday my buddies Ken Larson and Dean Thomas will join me on the last beach in Texas and we'll push our boats into the sluggish current at the mouth of the Rio Grande, point our bows north and start paddling.

I'm looking forward to it. I'm also just a bit nervous.

This will be our shakedown cruise ... only about 60 miles -- a little less than 20 percent of the entire coastwise paddle -- but maybe the most important. It's the 60 miles that will tell me if this nutty idea I've been nurturing since the dawn of the millineum is truly crazy, or inspired.

It's the 60 miles that will let me know whether my daily mileage estimates were accurate, and whether a 16-foot sit-on-top kayak really can easily carry everything I need for a couple of unsupported days on the water.

It's also the 60 miles with -- potentially -- the best fishing.

We've had a warm week and the snook should be moving up onto the flats again. Trout and redfish will be feeding actively and there's always a chance we'll run across some of the Lower Laguna's resident tarpon even if the migratory schools of big fish are still vacationing in Mexico.

We'll catch up to them -- or they'll catch up to us -- toward the end of the trip, farther north on the coast.

Ken sent me the weather forecast yesterday and noted that winds this weekend are forecast to be blowing out of the north around 13. That's barely breezy for the Texas coast, but coming from the wrong direction. Highs in the mid-70s, lows in the mid-50s.

I think it will be pleasant, weather-wise. Aside from paddling into the wind. But, you know, if this was an entirely easy thing to do, I probably wouldn't be that interested in doing it.

Maybe I should be more wound-up about this -- everyone else seems to be -- for months I've been reassuring everyone from my editors to my paddling partners: "We can do this."

I've thought long and hard about why I'm not more concerned. I guess part of the reason is that I'm comfortable on this water; this, for me, is a return to my youth and dawn-to-dusk explorations in a 13-foot sailboat.

And we're well-equipped, if not for absolute comfort, at least for safety. A GPS unit will tell us where we are and VHF radios will allow us to tell the Coast Guard should we need to do that.

The first three nights we'll be in sight of the towering condos on South Padre Island. The last two nights we'll be almost within sniffing distance of Shirley Shuler's fantastic home cooking at Getaway Adventures Lodge in Port Mansfield. I probably won't be able to smell the cold beer in Cappy's cooler, but I can sure imagine it. That's powerful incentive to keep paddling.

The two friends who are joining me for this leg are experienced paddlers, fine anglers and -- importantly -- entertaining. It's going to be fun, and that, really, is the point.

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.