we were thinking of taking some sort of watercraft with us on the trip. surely we will come across a creek or a lake that we would love to explore. kris found an inflatable standup paddle board but that gave us an idea.

a few years ago – something like 22 years ago – we bought an inflatable boat. not the normal variety, this one is built for the rough stuff. kris and i used it quite a bit on the rapids back in austria. it folds up into sort of a backpack, albeit a seriously big and very  very heavy backpack. two people can easily carry it, though.

after being stored in the roof for … as long as we have been in this house we just unpacked it today & pumped it up. it is still perfect. we’ll take it with us, i doubt we’d find a more suitable solution.

you probably guessed it: the grabner outside is made in austria, and is actually still available. amazing.

and here is proof that we’ve actually used it.

from the salza in styria. yes, it’s pretty embarrassing, but before you laugh out loud just consider that’s just how your pictures will feel like 25 years from now.