June 16, 2008

Canoe Trip

I spent a weekend with Petey and Wil and my butt is sore! Well, I guess I should explain that. I went on a canoe trip last weekend. Petey and Wil were on the same trek. Actually Wil put the trip together. Well most of that trip is sitting on your butt. In fact the canoe I sat in had a seat that was about 4 inches wide. That was just a little too narrow for my behind to be comfortable on.

Overall it was a good trip, I had a lot of fun. Then again looking at the company I kept there is almost no way I was not going to have fun. The weather was beautiful, and the scenery was picturesque. Heck, I took over 120 pictures and 80 some of them turned out pretty darn good. Now I'm not going to post all of the pictures, but I do have some up over at the Spoon and Blade, along with a really crappy map of our route.

Now I know that some of the guys I went on the trip with read this blog, and I don't want them to take this the wrong way, but this canoe trek was more of a canoe float. I think my paddle spent more time out of the water than in it. In fact I know I made the comment at least once I thought it was getting dry rot. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with sitting back and relaxing on the river. You can put me in a tube and give me a cooler full of beer and I'm a happy man, but sitting for hours in a canoe is just kind of boring. First off your legs and butt get sore. It's not like you can stand up, stretch and move about. So you are constantly shifting trying not to be too uncomfortable. You're also trying not to flip the canoe. Also just sitting there watching the banks go by gets a little tiresome. I know it's been years since I've done a canoe trip, but I was looking forward to the paddling.

That being sad, I really did have a wonderful time. I'm really looking forward to going next year and doing the last leg of the river. I know that next year I need to bring more whiskey with. The two bottles of Dragon's milk and the bottle of corn squeezin's I brought with were gone on the first night. Hey, don't look at me, I had a lot of help drinking it. I've also got to figure out a way to store beer in a barrel with out it leaking out or going bad. There has to be a way and I'm going to figure it out!

Posted by Contagion in Re-enacting life. at June 16, 2008 07:35 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Great pics at the spoon and blade.

Glad you made it down and had a good time.

It was a float by design. The trip was called the Exploration of the Spoon (or Amaquonssippi). The boat you were in and your partner are geared more towards freighting and supplying hunters, settlers, and the military. Whereas those of us who gear ourselves to be hunters would have been looking for game, or maybe mapping parts of the river come back and utilize later.

The only thing that has me nervous about next year is the crossing of the Illinois River from the mouth of the Spoon to Havana.

Posted by: Petey at June 16, 2008 08:02 PM

Had a blast, thanks for letting me team up with you guys. If you talk to randy tell him thanks again.
Pics are great, disc one for me please.

Posted by: Jim E. at June 17, 2008 08:45 AM

Petey... yea, it was a freight canoe, but thankfully we had it or Jim would have had to swim!

Jim. No problem, it was a pleasure having you along. You told some good stories and helped keep us entertained. I'll get that picture disc for you.

Posted by: Contagion at June 19, 2008 01:30 PM