Welcoming Mike Ryan
Every time I turn around it seems like we have a new employee. Mike Ryan has joined the ranks as our Marketing and Program Director. He is busy learning the business and working very hard. Mike is from Plano, Texas and has been living in Austin for 12 years. He really enjoys kayaking and spending time with his sons Jeffery and Michael. Mike will be writing a monthly tip for the newsletter.
Mikes Mishaps
The title says it
all, I hope by sharing with you my growing pains and bonehead moves that we can save a few bumps, scrapes and most
importantly a few yak's. For my first bit of
advice I am going way back to my first and shortest lived yak.
After working at the local grease pit all winter to save
enough for my first yak I
finally bought it in late February. I could not wait for
spring to come; a long wet mild spring that we in central Texas dream of. From the first ray of sun to the last rain of spring we hit every water-way within a
hundred miles of home my yak never came out of the back of my '74 Ford Pick Up.
Then Mother Nature
dried up as fast as my pocket book. It was time to go back to
work and retired the yak to the garage. After it smacked the
hood of dad's car one
too many time I was ordered to find a better location for my
"piece of molded plastic".
Like all good sons I jumped to it and after
rummaging through the garage I found what I thought was a great solution, a large eye
bolt, some rope and a very high ceiling. So there my yak hung, June, July, and
then in August the unthinkable. I get a call at the grease pit one very hot
Saturday afternoon from my dad which meant I was probably in trouble for something.
Sure enough I was, ¾ of my beloved kayak, my "piece of molded plastic" was lying
on top of my Mom's prized Cadillac Seville and the other ¼ was still securely
fashioned to the eye hook on the ceiling. The only thing connecting the two
pieces was what seemed like a mile of spaghetti that lead from the ceiling to the hood
of my mom's!
To prevent a long story from getting longer, always use the proper mounting brackets and remember the temperature of a closed garage under the Texas sun can exceed 150
degrees!
Please stop by
monthly and learn from my mistakes. If you would like to share a few of your own or in if you're in need of some advice drop
me a line.
