Monday, August 8
Back to work today. after yesterday's rant, I figured I needed to give a bit more info on my trip to the Canadian wilderness.....
In 1982, a group of 7 of us started canoeing in Quetico, on the Minnesota/Canada border. We took some tough trips; the first trip was over 100 miles round trip. None of us were really prepared back then for the rigor and physical demands of that first trip. We had no idea of what awaited us. But we made it. Over the years, we would do 9 canoe trips, then we started doing fly in trips. to date, we have taken 15 fly in trips, and now we drive to Armstrong Station, Ontario, and fly out from there to a really remote cabin. This year, 3 of the original 7 guys went. Although I am proud of my outdoor abilities and bushcraft skills, I am more proud of the fact that 3 old friends are still at it. We coordinated all of the planning elemements of the trip, fished 3 to a boat all week. No one hooked anyone, no one snapped at one another...just 3 old friends doing what friends to.....talking, not talking, fishing, drinking, eating......we spent a week just chillin. there are times you are sitting in the boat, and no one talking for awhile...you just sit there alone in your thoughts...alone with your demons. You stare at the realization that you should do some things differently, and do some things more, and do some things less....You face your flaws....Then you snap out of your reverie and start up another nonsensical conversation. Me, Kevin and Freddy all accept each other for who we are. We all bring something different to the mix. And that mix has lasted all these years. And we plan to keep going each year - health and finances permitting. (the loss in value of the US dollar is an issue I will write about some other time).
A trip like this is a trip of a lifetime. I have been lucky - I take a trip of a lifetime almost every year. And each trip tops the last one as the best trip ever. I am serious about that.
Things like hate crimes and deficits will always be there for me to get upset about and blog about. so will my one week a year in the northwoods. I guess that is a pretty good balance. Soon it will be mid-January and the All Canada show will be at Pheasant Run. We'll book a cabin and forget about it for a few months. But very quickly, that week will creep up on us...we'll make the trip, which will pass in a heartbeat, and too soon we'll be back to our normal, non-wilderness lives. A year goes by far too quickly. At 52 years old, I wonder how many trips I have left in this old carcass.
I will figure out how to post pictures and get a few good ones on the blog. then I will go back to my rantings, so enjoy this respite while you can.
Happy Monday, all.
In 1982, a group of 7 of us started canoeing in Quetico, on the Minnesota/Canada border. We took some tough trips; the first trip was over 100 miles round trip. None of us were really prepared back then for the rigor and physical demands of that first trip. We had no idea of what awaited us. But we made it. Over the years, we would do 9 canoe trips, then we started doing fly in trips. to date, we have taken 15 fly in trips, and now we drive to Armstrong Station, Ontario, and fly out from there to a really remote cabin. This year, 3 of the original 7 guys went. Although I am proud of my outdoor abilities and bushcraft skills, I am more proud of the fact that 3 old friends are still at it. We coordinated all of the planning elemements of the trip, fished 3 to a boat all week. No one hooked anyone, no one snapped at one another...just 3 old friends doing what friends to.....talking, not talking, fishing, drinking, eating......we spent a week just chillin. there are times you are sitting in the boat, and no one talking for awhile...you just sit there alone in your thoughts...alone with your demons. You stare at the realization that you should do some things differently, and do some things more, and do some things less....You face your flaws....Then you snap out of your reverie and start up another nonsensical conversation. Me, Kevin and Freddy all accept each other for who we are. We all bring something different to the mix. And that mix has lasted all these years. And we plan to keep going each year - health and finances permitting. (the loss in value of the US dollar is an issue I will write about some other time).
A trip like this is a trip of a lifetime. I have been lucky - I take a trip of a lifetime almost every year. And each trip tops the last one as the best trip ever. I am serious about that.
Things like hate crimes and deficits will always be there for me to get upset about and blog about. so will my one week a year in the northwoods. I guess that is a pretty good balance. Soon it will be mid-January and the All Canada show will be at Pheasant Run. We'll book a cabin and forget about it for a few months. But very quickly, that week will creep up on us...we'll make the trip, which will pass in a heartbeat, and too soon we'll be back to our normal, non-wilderness lives. A year goes by far too quickly. At 52 years old, I wonder how many trips I have left in this old carcass.
I will figure out how to post pictures and get a few good ones on the blog. then I will go back to my rantings, so enjoy this respite while you can.
Happy Monday, all.
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