I did what she'd asked me to do this time. Rather than procrastinate the decision-making until the morning of my brother's medical school graduation celebration cruise, I called my wife from work five days in advance to tell her the plan.

It'll  be rush-hour when we've got to cross the 520 bridge into Seattle for this Puget Sound cruise, I told her. It'll be rush-hour in downtown. It'll be 84 degrees. It'll be sunny. And if I'm sitting in a car in traffic, I won't be happy.

Let's paddle across the three-mile lake. Or at least, pedal across it.

"Hmmm." She said. "I don't know."

I figured with time, the idea would marinate her brain and by Friday, she'd be wearing spandex and a  Camelbak packed with a little black dress and heels.

Instead, she made a telephone call. To my brother-in-law, who, by the way, despises Seattle rush-hour traffic as much as anyone and,  is going through his fourth week of chemotherapy. (A side-effect of chemo is, coincidentally, dramatic mood swings).

He and my sister, and their 2-year and 6-month-old children would be swinging by our place to pick her up. The only significant diversion from their normal route would be crossing the 520 bridge.

Ooops. Wish I would have thought of that.

I was, what's the word, disappointed.

To make up for it, she offered me a compromise: How about we paddle across the lake to the University of Washington for the graduation ceremony. Would that make it better? she chided.

In a sense, yes, I suppose. I mean, I'd be paddling on a lake with my wife instead of driving with hundreds of others.

But the irreplacable satisfaction of bike-commuting and kayak-commuting is being the one guy who weaves through the honking and overheating cars; who is invigorated after commuting, rather than infuriated. Unfortunately, rush hour doesn't exist at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Not even on the 520 bridge.

Bummer.

I realize at this point, I am being quite spoiled aren't I? I mean, this is a rare opportunity to recreate with my wife, right? She seems willing and content with the decision. I haven't twisted her arm, so I won't be dealing with guilt if the plan—or some portion of the plan—fails. (They always do).

So I took it. I packed our formal attire into dry bags, and headed down to the east side of the lake. We had exactly one hour to paddle three miles, dock and lock our kayaks, change out of our paddling gear and into ceremony gear, walk through campus and calmly, and quietly take out seats amongst the other hundreds of proud attendees.

We were a little late.

But sitting under the dim, fluorescent lights and listening to the echos of a dozen rambling speakers never felt so rewarding.

The International Whitewater Hall of Fame (IWHOF) Board of Governors has announced its Class of 2009:

Pioneer
Mikhail Kolchevnikov (deceased), Russia: Kolchevnikov organized the 1978 Chuya Rally in Siberia, which partnered with American rafters to form Project RAFT. Keep in mind, this was 30-plus years ago, when the Cold War was nearing its peak. Project RAFT hosted 50 teams on rivers around the world and led to the formation of the International Rafting Federation and World Rafting Championships.

Explorer    
Lars Holbeck (deceased), United States: Holbeck is a veritable American kayaking legend, especially in the West. He logged more than 70 First Ds around the world, including the Stikine River in northern BC and Chile's Futaleufu. Around California, he pioneered numerous classic Class V runs and co-authored The Best Whitewater in California.

Champion
Stepanka Hilgertova, Czech Republic: Hilgertova competed in five consecutive Olympic Games, winning gold medals in 1996 (Atlanta) and 2000 (Sydney). She also took 1st
Place at World Championships in 1992 (Augsburg) and 1996 (Barcelona) and many European Championship races and is regarded as Czech Republic's "First Lady of the Olympics."

Champion
Pavol Hochschorner and Peter Hochschorner, Slovakia: These double canoe partners have won gold medals in three Olympic Games,
nine World Cup Championships, and two World Championships.  They have also completed the canoe slalom “Grand Slam,” winning gold in the
Olympics, World Championships, European Championships, and Whitewater Slalom World Cup.

Advocate
Rafael Gallo, Costa Rica: Gallo founded one of the most well-respected rafting companies in the world has led the fight to save the Pacuare River from the first dam
threat in the 1990s and protected 2,000 acres of rainforest along that river. He is also founder of the International Rafting Federation.

Advocate
Bill Mason (deceased), Canada: The most successful filmmaker in the history of the National Film Board of Canada, Mason is perhaps best known for the Path of the Paddle series of films which introduced new skills and enjoyment of whitewater to canoeists worldwide during the 1970s and 1980s.