Page 181 - "Mississippi in the 1st Person" - Michael James Stone (Demo/Free)

DEW POINT

Everyone has “learning curves” and “blind spots”.

Learning curves being those areas a person thru personal education has not been taught or

required to learn for various reasons. A ‘learning curve’ would be when a person says Inflata-
ble Kayaks might pop. The person has not learned enough about IK’S to know that punctures

rarely occur on IK’s. Usually, a slow leak on one tube or valve, though rare, may happen and
then the person goes to shore on two or three other “tubes” the kayak has and repairs them.
The myth of ‘popping and drowning’ caused by lack of education and experience with Inflata-

ble kayaks is a learning curve for that person still learning.

I had a remarkable and huge blind spot and learning curve with humidity and dew point.
Though I lived near the Arctic Circle in Alaska at one time I had never paid attention to Dew

Point and Humidity in the winter months, but a stint in Houston Texas had taught me about
humidity in the summer in the south.

The Mississippi River had been trying to teach me Dew Point almost every night in May in

Minnesota as most nights I woke up to soaked gear inside and out of my tent. At the time I did-
n’t get a handle on it till I actually sat down to write this book and research Dew Point, Hu-
midity, and heat loss in Minnesota cold weather. Now I know better, should I encounter it

again I hope to do better. Learning Curve.