June 2002
My paddle reaches deep into the soul of the river,
My canoe gently noses its way through the glossy glistening water.
The bow slices a thin piece of shimmering moon.
Water rocks my boat, like a mother cradling her child,
Like Mike Henry cradling his cooler.
I close my eyes and let myself become part of the river.
Our hearts beat together,
As waves lap the shore.
I am part of the water,
The River,
The Beer.
Then the joyous Hiawatha cried aloud and spake in this wise:
"Beautiful is the sun, O strangers, come canoe with me down the mighty
Gitche Gumee", and so they did ...
Inspired by Gale's soulful poetry, new comer Dave Burt and Canoeki VP Ron Rittinger aggressively begin to paddle down stream. Something is amiss however and after our fellow canoe mates stopped laughing long enough enough to point out Ron's paddle was installed backwards ... after fixing that we REALLY started to make some good time.
Taking a break from the canoeing action, the men decide to go for a quick swim. Burt was quickly swept under and Ron and Bill, after doing everything they could to help, decide to walk away.
Just kidding, Burt's back and enjoying a fine smoke supplied
by his well stocked, floating canoeki humidor.
Thanks Anne for steering the humidor over to Burt.
Speaking of Anne. The amount of fun she had this day can hardly
be explained. You can tell by the look on her face, if she was to spend just
5 more minutes in that canoe, she would probably end up dead because of all
the excitement.
She would end up dead or she was going to kill Bill if he made her come to another
damn canoe trip .. I can't remember the exact quote.
On a more serious note, dehydration is no laughing matter (unless
its a clown of course).
Even though you are surrounded by water and in fact often completely saturated
with it,
its best not to take any chances ... Gale sure isn't.
Alternate Caption #1: "Hey look Gale crapped his shirt"
Alternate Caption #2: Gale, soaking with sweat after a vigorous Tai-Bo session,
gives consideration to whuppin' the crap out of Canoeki's camera man. - Mike
Henry
And they said farewell, "Farewell forever!"
Said, "Farewell, O Hiawatha!"
And the forests, dark and lonely,
Moved through all their depths of darkness,
Sighed, "Farewell, O Hiawatha!"
And the waves upon the margin
Rising, rippling on the canoe,
Sobbed, "Farewell, O Hiawatha!"
And the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
From her haunts among the fen-lands,
Screamed, "Farewell, O Hiawatha!"
Farewell.