So you’re planning a trip, are you? Great! Anticipation is one of life’s simpler (and cheaper) pleasures. Whether it’s just a day away from the kids, a weekend adventure, or a summer-long expedition, paddling excursions are always a holiday from the everyday—a chance to recharge your batteries, an opportunity to get back in touch with the things in life that really matter, a time to relax. Planning is part of the fun. But there’s a downside to anticipation, too. Worries can multiply. Anxieties can build. And as the departure deadline looms, you can find yourself running a race that even a rat would dread.

Sound familiar? Then you’re in good company. Colin Fletcher wrote of bouts with a mysterious ailment (he christened it “Fletcheritis”) that threatened to scupper several long-planned epic walks at the last minute. And writer John Steinbeck, preparing to leave on the landlocked circumnavigation of America recounted in Travels with Charley, noticed that his “warm bed and comfortable house grew increasingly desirable” as D-Day approached, and lamented that “to give these up for three months for the terrors of the uncomfortable and unknown seemed crazy.” Nor is the phenomenon confined to Big Trips. It can be just as hard to get under way for a weekend as for a week—or a month, for that matter. Maybe it’s because time constraints are much tighter and schedules less flexible. Or maybe it’s simply that local trips don’t seem to be worth all the bother, especially with Monday casting its long shadow back over the weekend. Whatever the reason, it’s not unusual for even the most gung-ho paddler’s enthusiasm to wane at the last minute. Breaking away can be mighty hard to do.

Why is this? I suppose inertia is the principal villain. I call this the “slog factor.” Unless you paddle for a living—and not too many folks do&mash;a trip is a break in your usual routine. This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing part is obvious. Paddling is recreation, right? Re-creation. Change is good, in other words, for all the reasons I mentioned earlier and many more besides. But the curse is part of the bargain, too. Change is, well, change, and we’re all creatures of habit. It takes energy and initiative to climb out of the workaday rut, however pleasing the prospect beyond. Then again, some folks manage to make it look easy. They’re the ones who are standing at the door, jingling their car keys, all packed and ready to go, while the rest of us are still rushing around trying to remember where we put our life jackets and wondering if we really wouldn’t rather stay home and watch Deliverance, instead.

OK. I know what I’d rather do, and I suspect we’re all of one mind here. But it’s still no fun running around in circles. What’s the early birds’ secret, then? I think it’s embodied in the Principle of the Six Ps, summarized in the maxim that Proper Planning Prevents Pi…er…Piddling-Poor Performance. Call it a full-dress version of the familiar injunction to “Be prepared,” if you want. Easier said than done, of course, especially for family trips, but almost anything is possible with a little practice. Virtue is sometimes rewarded. Organization and forethought yield a quick, stress-free getaway. And here’s how to begin making a list… Read more…

 
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