The new OYB mobile is up’n’running. Well, it’s been in action awhile now. Reliable and packed with features, 25mpg: cool.
I really like the sunroof—not only for the sky-view, but I realized that I can also admire a bike while I drive while it’s on the rack, so I put my favorite one on the side away from where I’m sitting. There’s not much better to look at on the road than a nice bike!
That’s the main thing that gives the Volvo the edge over the old Buick. –That and it runs. : )
But here’s the clincher: Guess what the whole new rig pictured cost? I mean Car, Boat and Bike together. —$1000!
Our friends had the old car to unload for $500. A friend had his first homebuilt Super-Kayak to unload for $300. And I paid $200 for the classy vintage Paramount. (Of course that makes an exactly proper Gear Price = Car Price ratio.)
The Boat is worth highlighting—it’s a woodstrip built by my kayak-guru pal Karl and based on one of the fastest kayaks, the Seda Glider—19 feet of smooth glide. It’s fully expedition-equipped. You don’t have to race to appreciate easy speed. Just cruising along I go twice as fast as most other kayaks. So that if you see a little harbor in the distance from where you are on a shore you can start paddling and get there pretty soon. With most other kayaks it seems to take forever to get anywhere. I’m still working on my roll, but it’s coming right along. Man, that seakayaking is fun—I love getting all in the water like that, compared to my usual flatwater canoeing. It’s like being half-in, half-out of the water, what with all the low-dip high-braces and such—it’s not just paddling or rolling—there’s every stage between to enjoy. But I can’t abide hairboat whitewater river paddling—entrapment jive is no place for me. But I do enjoy Class 2 no prob, surfing blue wave humps til I zone out.
The Bike is also worth a nod, with its pedigree handbuilt heritage and its shellacked and twine-finished bars, leather saddle and classy OYB saddlebag. I’ll put it up against a carbon-wonder for roofrack style anytime!
I love seeing cool rigs when I’m out on the road. So I’m betting that when this rig is on the road, it’s giving some shivvers to the wacked-out outdoor junky weirdos out there. Classy blokes, indeed.
Then there’s the old OYB Mobile… I sold the old White Buick last month for $500. Fare thee well, faithful steed! Now, it was often set up a bit different from the new Mobile—the C1 is 25 yrs old now and was the first racing model designed. I still love it and use it for everything. It came out when there wasn’t any such thing as C1 paddling. Sport K1 seemed to be the next thing, then this wacky one-man canoe came along, where you paddled down the river in an S-curve. Who’d want that? Everyone, apparently. Rec-K1 disappeared. Too bad, it’s such a nice, fast concept. But C1 sure can be handy! I can take gear and a kid in it and pole standing in it easily and go fishing from it (well, it should be on shore and me out of it, to fish). And I even didn’t come in last in the last race I did with it despite it now being a ‘barge’ compared to the batwing fliers out there now. The Bike here is also almost 25 yrs old, and basically the first high-performance racing mt-bike design, but today it’s a cruiser. Lugs on a mtbike? I wish there were more like it. I use this combo for Solo Nexus outings—where I drop the bike off then drive upriver and paddle down to the bike then ride back to the car, running my own shuttle that way, often by way of lovely trail.
