Sleek sea kayaks replace Will and Zak’s packrafts as they undertake the second leg of their epic source-to-sea journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers. Ride along as they paddle a Class V reservoir, surf a tasty play wave, get a sobering lesson on river ecology and enjoy a king’s feast of chicken, chips and beer.

It’s going to be a perfect weekend to get on the water. And…we’re still going to be moving/cleaning. *pouts*

A couple of weeks back, I excitedly posted a trailer for a movie about two guys tracing the Colorado River from source to sea; I really wanted to see how the whole thing turned out. Well, I eventually got to see the whole flick, and it’s pretty great.

The Powers That Be™ at NRS got a look at it, too, and decided they wanted lots of people to get to see it. Hence, Friday Films were born. Every Friday throughout the rest of the summer, a new segment of the flick Remains of a River will be released on the company’s nrsfilms.com webpage. The first chunk is above. Did I already mention that the whole thing is pretty great? Because, well, it is. Enjoy.

OF SOULS + WATER: THE SHAPESHIFTER
The third episode of that work-sponsored video project I’m tangentially associated with launched the other day, and it’s going bonkers in terms of view counts. Unlike the first two, this episode is more about eye candy and being tongue-in-cheek, and less about storytelling.

But my kids thought he was paddling in lava, so there’s that.

For Father’s Day 2012 (well, the Saturday before), I sneaked away to go have a personal little kayak/bike adventure about an hour from home—sans family, which pretty much makes me the worst father ever, right?

From Moscow, ID, I headed north to St. Maries, ID, where I kayaked about 8(ish) miles of the calm lower St. Maries River. Since I was solo, I had to shuttle myself post-paddle back up river via a dodgy dirt road on my trusty old mountain bike.

It was good times all around.

Music: “Flourish with the French inside a holy ringer” by Expwy (expwy.bandcamp.com/)

OF SOULS + WATER: THE MOTHER
The second episode of that work-sponsored video project I’m tangentially associated with launched over the weekend. This one feels more…authentic than the first. And it’s a bit more accessible to us normal humans who don’t spend their days dropping waterfalls or circumnavigating arctic islands.

Quick story: There was a library director I used to have to deal with—let’s call her “Brenda”—who was supremely capricious. She’d order one thing on a Monday, and then totally contradict herself on Tuesday. When called on it, she’d reply, “You have to understand, I’m old and I forget things.” My direct boss—we’ll call her “Merle”—is a good decade Brenda’s senior. When Merle heard that Brenda was attempting to use age as justification for being a terrible manager, Merle’s immediate reaction was, “Well, then she should quit! She has no business being in charge of anything if she’s going to claim her age is an issue.” (I’m paraphrasing a bit, as there’s a good chance there was some farmyard coloring to the original quote.)

Is this story a total non sequitur? Maybe.

OF SOULS + WATER: THE NOMAD
The first episode of that work-sponsored video project I’m tangentially associated with launched over the weekend. The aim was to produce a paddling video that wasn’t your average paddling video. I think they succeeded. There’ll be four more, and having seen The Mother (due out in late May), I think you’ll like that one even more.

That said, after seeing this, all I can think of is this: Erik Boomer — He’s so hot right now!