Can You Imagine Kayaking in This?

This weather is horrendous and until we see the sun come out and don’t have to wear scarves in the month of May, Bostonist will continue to be in full Seasonal Affective Disorder mode. But when we heard about a woman who is kayaking around the 48 lower states in the U.S. and who happens to be in the Boston area this week, Bostonist started feeling sorry for someone besides ourselves. Renata Chlumska, a 32-year-old from Sweden who makes her living as a “professional adventurer”, started out in her kayak in Seattle last August, and has since paddled down to San Diego, along the Rio Grande, and then up the Atlantic coast, reaching Boston this past weekend. Chlumska paddles around 30 miles per day and has used her bike and Rollerblades on part of the route when she can’t paddle. If she is able to stick to her schedule, she’ll continue on from Cape Cod, where she is today, up to Maine, through the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains, finishing back in Seattle by November.

When she completes the 480-day route, she’ll be the first person to ever paddle their way around the lower 48 states (total of 11,200 miles). With everyone having a blog nowadays, Chlumska logs in and readers can follow her adventure online. Her most recent entry is dated May 12 and entitled “Wicked, Wicked Weather.” She’s actually stopped paddling around Cape Cod and has decided to walk now until the rain lets up. According to her, she averages about 15-20 miles a day. (And here we are crying over walking to the nearest T stop in this weather.) You can also track her daily on her website; she sends a message on her cell phone, which is connected to a GPS, allowing everyone to see her exact location.

Since Chlumska has already climbed Mount Everest, Bostonist is assuming that this lovely New England weather won’t slow her down in the least bit and she’ll be in Seattle this fall.

Perhaps Chlumska pictured the New England leg of her trip to look like the photo above? Photo courtesy of flicker user Mike Knowles