If we get any more toys, our name will be so long even I won't be able to remember it. Guess we'll just keep it the same.
The latest addition to our toy arsenal is a pair of kayaks. It didn't take us long in the camping life to realize that, at least in the southeast where we've spent most of our time, most of the campgrounds are on some kind of water. People like water. They're drawn to it, as any map of the population will tell you. So it seemed logical to get a boat. We knew it would need to be compact so it could fit in the trailer with our other toys, so we started looking at inflatable boats. When Amazon had a flash sale on an inflatable pontoon boat, we bought one and brought it along. Even though the pontoons were inflatable, the construction was steel and was heavier and bulkier than we thought it would be. It only seated one as well, and you had to row it backwards. I like going forwards - that way I might not run into so many things. We tried it out while we were at Open Pond this winter, and quickly realized it wasn't for us.
So we started looking at kayaks. Again, it would need to be inflatable, or... we found these folding ones called Oru Kayaks. They were pricey, but they promised to behave more like a "real" kayak than the inflatable ones and could be unfolded and ready to go in about five minutes and refolded in less than that. They're also lighter than inflatable kayaks. We were just ready to order a new Bay ST model from Oru when Check saw two of them for sale on the local Facebook Marketplace. They were the Bay +, which is a previous model, but they had only been used four times and had the backpacks and paddles that we would have had to buy separately. We bought them for a little less than the price of one new Bay ST.
When we got them, we were surprised to see they were made out of corrugated plastic. This is the same stuff that signs and mail tubs are made from. It's a little hard after 34 years in the Post Office to not feel like I'm floating in a giant mail tray
but we love them.
It takes more than five minutes for us to set one up, but we'll get faster as we get the hang of it and as they continue to break in and fold easier.
These are going to be a great addition. Flying has been limited so far, but I hope to get in the air as we work our way more westerly and have access to more open areas (and warmer weather!). We hike a lot, and bike when we can, and the kayaks will give us one more level of fun!