The 12th Annual Convention of the Order of Wisconsin River Lovers (OWLs) is on the books.
The good news:
- No casualties of any sort.
- No swimmers.
- Great food (Pete’s grits and Jim’s Sausage were both amazing)
- Lovely campsite.
- Gorgeous sunrise (see above)
- Beautiful almost-full-moon evening.
The less than good news:
- This.
Really, it was this:
For the graphically-challenged, that says 20-22 mph winds gusting to 3o-31. Our experience was that the gusts were pretty sustained gusts. It was more like 30 mph winds lessening to 20 once in a while.
When we got to the put in, there were whitecaps and waves moving upstream against the current. I thought to myself “There’s no good that can come of this.” A few others felt we shouldn’t go, some said we should go for it, but I felt the safest path was to bail from that put in. Glad we did.
We ended up at Arena landing, where we often stop for a break mid-trip. The wind was still blowing like stink. One of the group (can’t remember who) suggested we paddle upstream, against the current, but with the wind, then tomorrow we’d paddle with the current and hope the winds would die down a bit.
It worked great. Why?
- No shuttle.
- Paddling upstream is slower, even if the wind is at your back.
Best of all was the camaraderie that accompanies a group of men who have little ego who are willing to go to Plan B (actually, it was Plan A.2). It was certainly adventurous and at times a little frustrating, but in the end, it was a success.
Respectfully submitted,
Canoelover
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For those of you who live outside the Midwestern U.S., you may not be familiar with a phenomenon called leaf pickup. The amount of deciduous leaves that we generate coat our yards a foot thick, and to maintain air quality, the city bans burning of leaves. Given the average person’s ability to deal with a fire outside, I think that’s a fine idea.
But what to do with leaves…they do make excellent compost, so that’s what we do. In specially modified garbage trucks and little leafmobiles (Jeeps with giant brooms on the front), the take the leaves we stack neatly on the parking strip and push them into the street and scoop ’em up. Cool.
If you want compost later it’s free for the taking at various sites in the city. Good leafy compost.
As a kid I never understood Peanuts…having enough leaves to rake into a pile seemed to be impossible, since I grew up where trees were rare and precious. Now I drag 20 x 20 tarps of leaves from the back to the front curb, maybe a dozen times. This is an embarrassment of riches, for sure.
Respectfully submitted,
Leaflover (today anyway)
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Respectfully submitted,
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