In the 1990s CRH and I took part in several overnight canoe trips on divers Virginia rivers. For various reasons (for which CRH was not responsible, I'd like to emphasize that) these expeditions were often a bit slapdash in organization and execution. For example, the first one I joined (1990, Paw Paw Loops of the Potomac) featured a complete lack of drinking water; on the plus side I was the only one not to go into the water including my canoe-mate, but that's another story. On the other hand the last such trip (Rappahannock? late 1990s?) was extremely well stocked with provisions including martini materials; I brought the olives. The put-in looked like one of the embarkation ports for D-Day if Overlord had involved canoes and coolers.
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| I know this is debarkation but put it in reverse and you get the idea |
Somewhere in there CRH did a multi-day paddle through the Boundary Waters and enjoyed it very much, not least because none of the usual suspects joined him for it.
Fast forward to late winter/early spring 2026, when he asked if I would be interested in going on a multi-day paddle in the Boundary Waters. It didn't take much thought for me to agree so on the calendar it went.
Fast forward again to summer 2026 and the start of my belated details-oriented prep for the trip. (I had done some general preparation but it was nowhere near sufficient.) As I was pondering how to record the experience FRS, about to embark on her own adventure, suggested I blog it.
And so I shall!
In advance I have created a post for each day of the expedition, organized, like Gaul, into three parts:
- Outbound (DMV to MN)
- On the Water (self-explanatory)
- Inbound (an odyssey that will in fact take us to Ithaca)
The plan is to keep notes, transcribe them into that day's post, then publish.
This post not only introduces the series but is a test of the process.
Stay tuned!
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