David DeArmond – From Painting to Kayaking

David DeArmond’s kayaking story actually begins with his incredible watercolor skills. David has been painting his entire life and he has the artwork to prove it. His passion pulled him to the Rio Grande.

“It’s this fantastic situation where you have these 15-hundred high cliffs that are rising on either side of the river and one side is Mexico and the other side is Texas,” David describes.

The best way to see those cliffs was from the water and that’s when David realized he was missing a very important piece of equipment.

“I came home partly disappointed because they have these fantastic footed canyons that you could really see. I needed a boat and my wife said, ‘buy one’!”

After some research, David found the right boat for himself. A green Surfski, better known to us amateurs as a kayak.

“The green is fantastic for a guy like me,” explains David. “The ease of getting your legs in and out, it only weighs 26 pounds and is a fantastic boat for my purpose. If you’re 87- years old like I am, it’s a fantastic thing, you know?”

Four or five times a week, David brings his kayak out of his garage on his shoulders, hoists it on top of his car by himself, latches it down and heads to Shawnee Mission Park Lake.

“When you get down here, you’re not going to go until you’ve done at least three and a half miles, and you might want to do six or seven.”

There’s one condition that will prevent David from getting out on the water. It isn’t rain or even snowing.

“I’ve come out when it’s sleeting getting ice all over my jacket. I don’t care. It’s the high winds that are a problem with me.”

Just as David anticipated before getting his kayak, he loves exercise, the nature and the peacefulness of gliding across the water. There is one thing that surprised him about kayaking though.

“It’s a social thing. You meet other people doing the same kind of thing.”