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[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“5712”] The PWR129 stripped down on top of the Bronco Sport. [/caption] First off, I did a test run of getting the kayak up on the Bronco Sport, getting it strapped in, and driving it around the neighborhood. It’s a little bit of work out (I have something on the way that should help with that, more on that in a later post), but I got it up. Once all the straps are tightened it doesn’t want to go anywhere. It will be interesting to take it on the highway. Also, this practice run allowed me to work out some ordering issues (for example, you can’t load anything through the tail gate once you tie down the back) and work through the packing checklist. I didn’t know how easy the loading and unloading process was going to be, but now I feel confident that I have it under control. ...

I’m in Boston for a few days for a work meeting. When I have traveled for work in the past it’s almost been exclusively overseas, so it was always at least 5 days if not seven or more. This trip is two nights… fly up, meet, come home. Not bad. I would like to make it back up here at some point as a tourist. When we were landing we swung over the Atlantic and came in from the east and while we were over the ocean the mist coming off the water was interacting with the setting sun in a crazy way. Just wanted to share that.

One big step taken this weekend which is I got the crossbars and cradles put on the Bronco Sport. These are the Yakima cross bars with their Big Catch cradles - the only kayak mount that is actually rated to hold modern fishing kayaks. It’s nice as well because it came with all the straps necessary to secure the kayak. I think I will have to adjust the cross bars a little to get as much distance as possible between them, but that’s an easy fix. I want to give a huge thanks to The Rack Shop. I showed up at 1:30, with them closing at 2, hoping to just make an appointment, and my man went ahead and stayed and got it installed on the spot. Amazing! If you need any sort of rack or accessories, go check them out! ...

Today I had some time to work on the kayak. Last week when I posted I was still trying to figure out where to put the circuit breaker for the main motor circuit. You want it close to the power source, but there really wasn’t a good spot. I looked into some options of trying to create something, but it wasn’t panning out. Then I discovered that you can buy battery boxes that have a circuit breaker installed in them. This concept was perfect. It was the right size to still fit in the battery well behind the seat, it put the breaker adjacent to the battery, and it gave the battery some protection from water. I ordered one of those and it showed up early in the week. I also had gotten my crimpers and wire strippers in the mail this week, so I had everything I needed. ...

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“4032”] The Bonafide PWR 129 right after I got it home. [/caption] After several years of planning, I have finally acquired my kayak! It’s a Bonafide PWR 129, and I am really excited about this boat. The above picture was right after I got it home. Huge shoutout to TG Canoes and Kayak down in San Marcos for hooking me up with this thing! ...

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“4032”] Me in front of a palace in Vienna, Austria. I was lucky enough to get to go on a quick trip to Austria for work this year. [/caption] While November of 2024 didn’t exactly pan out like I was hoping, I want to make sure that I set goals for 2025 to try to improve myself. I can’t control a lot of things in this world. But I can control me, and I want to end 2025 in a better state than I started it. ...

We’re on the plane heading back to the USA. 🇺🇸 It’s been fun, Europe, but it’s time to go see our cats!

Woke up this morning to our flights out of Zurich being cancelled. We had been rebooked, but since we were on separate reservations, the system had put us on separate itineraries. So I spent a while on the phone with United, but the guy I talked to was very helpful and got us all rebooked. I even got some of the miles I used on Carrie’s ticket back? Airline fare rules are so weird. ...

We’re waiting for the train to leave Chamonix, and I definitely have mixed feelings. I’m sad to leave this beautiful place with the amazing food, great wine, and just mind blowing natural beauty. But I’m also looking forward to getting back to our house, our cats, and our friends and family. We ended up hiking 7 miles yesterday, with a pretty steep climb that allowed us to skip the ladders. We had a rain storm come through (though we luckily dodged the thunderstorm that came through across the valley). We also used our water filter bottle for the first time to get water out of a mountain waterfall. But it was a good hike, and we topped it off taking a cable car down from the mountain. ...

Yesterday we crossed from Italy into Switzerland on foot, which is a crazy thing to say. I ate an energy bar on an international border, while staring down a valley where I could see another international border. Wild. It was a very pretty hike, but it was the first time my fear of heights kicked in. I had a panic on this one part where I had a hard time putting one foot in front of the next and moving my poles. It was something about the angle of the trail and the very steep we were on. But I pushed through and once we turned the corner up the switchback the feeling subsided. ...