Wife surprised me with a surprise weekend trip for my birthday. She arranged for my time off at work, childcare for the kids, and lodging at a bed and breakfast. I didn't know what was happening until Thursday when my responsibilities became load the kayaks and bikes and get off work at 3:00. We drove out to the Black Hills of SD and spent a 75 degree, no wind day kayaking and hiking on Lake Pactola followed by another perfect day hiking and biking. WOW, it couldn't have been better; what an awesome weekend!!

*Now then... On Wednesday I read a forum post from Bill H suggesting additional tiedowns for a vehicle mounted kayak; "commercial carriers do break". Normally, I just strap my yak to the J carriers and blast down the road. Bill's post caused me to think twice and add a couple extra straps.

When we left on Thursday, there was a 35 mph wind out of the NW, we were driving to the west at 70mph. 20 miles down the road, we heard a loud clunk on the roof. We quickly pulled off the interstate and surveyed. The front left J carrier plastic mount had broken. This was not the carrier holding her little plastic yak, it had my hand crafted great awk. Without some extra strap support, it is possible that 400 hours of work might have cartwheeled down the interstate into the grill of an oncoming tanker truck! ...had that been the case, all my wife's efforts, an awesome weekend and the picture I attached to this post would have turned out quite different. If in doubt, add a strap!