28 Days To Go.

Fuck man the waiting is driving me crazier than a dog in a fire-hydrant warehouse. When the days turn nice in the spring, like they have the last few, it is all I can do to keep my mind on the tasks at hand and not let them wander to the canoe trip. I just spoke with Em the other day about starting the trip early with the General and she said go for it, so now I have to see if Mom and Dad will come and get my kids from school on Thursday, provided that I can find someone to watch them Wednesday night after school till Em gets off of work. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, just got to set it up. I also have the responsibility to make sure the rest of the River Runners are going to know what the hell is going on and where to meet, or this could turn into a freakin' nightmare. The good new, however, is that Duckie has Thursday off, so that means she can rally the troupes and make sure they get to the Bigfork landing for the evening.

One of the big excitements of starting early is that the General and I will be the ones to take the Tank out on its maiden voyage and pop her cherry...hehe. I'm pumped to see how she handles and goes through rapids because we will have two sets to hit before we get to the first camp site, Hauk and Robbs. This should be a decent gage to see how she travels through the white water and dodges rocks. I know the steering is going to be different because three additional feet in a canoe has got to make a big difference, I know it does in a boat, so a canoe shouldn't be too much different.

I will have to admit that I am a little freaked that we don't know who is all going this year. We have five for-sures...(The General, Crazy Joe, Duckie, Digger, and City Boy) but the rest are still up in the air...(Doc, Brother John, Michael, Em, and Jolene). This sucks because if we have an odd number then that means someone has to solo the trip...which would most likely end up being me...craptacular. I have done it before, just not through rapids. I know I could do it though, I have the skill and the baheenies to do it. Oh, that is the word Bug using to say balls, nuts, junk...well you get the idea. I just like it because it is so fucking funny when he says it. Love that little guy. I say that I may have to solo because if we have to borrow a canoe, then I will use that one and have someone else pilot mine with Em...if she is up to it. I mean I don't want to borrow a canoe from someone and then let some other dude use it and possibly crash ya know.

Something has been bothering me for a bit. I haven't put a decent picture of my paddle on the blog yet. I know I have talked about it before, but I'm going to say something about it again because I can; deal with it you that don't read this.

I have had the coolest, most incredible paddle to use on the trip for the last three years...this . This year will be the fourth. The idea for this paddle came to me sometime in the mid 2000's when Grandpa retired from the mines. He and his brother-in-law got into creating items made from diamond willow. They made fishing pole handles, lamps, walking sticks, clocks, picture frames...just about anything you can think of that can be made of wood. Grandpa is still working on a bed frame made completely of diamond willow. A thing of true beauty to say the least, but what I'm getting at is a paddle made from this gorgeous wood.

During the early years of the trip I was able to find and buy these cheap paddles at L&M Fleet that were made from a 1.5" dowel that was three to five feet long with a plastic handle on the top and a plastic black blade on the bottom that provides a wide stroke in the water. I had bought several through the years and just so happened to have one that broke on one of the trips. It was actually getting kind of old and wore out, the wooden dowel, and it broke all of a sudden when I took a deep stroke. I kept the ends because they were completely intacked and just needed to be fitted to another chunk of wood. That is when the idea came to me to ask Grandpa if he would make me a shaft our of diamond willow to attach the pieces to...well he did.

The paddle that was constructed from that bolt of wood was a thing of pure beauty. It is a one of a kind work that is the envy of the River Runners. The only thing that is made from a synthetic material is the blade. It is a blade I have used for a majority of the trips I have taken down the Bigfork, so it holds a lot of meaning to me. Grandpa chose to toss the black molded plastic top and carve out a handle made from diamond willow. If you look closely at the picture of the River Runners you can see me holding the paddle...not the best but you can see it. This leads me to the entire point that I need to get a good picture of the paddle up on the blog.

When Grandpa found this rod of wood he knew it was the perfect diameter to make a paddle. The peeled the bark and touched up the diamonds. He put a lacquer on it to preserve the wood, which is something I need to do again to make sure that it stays healthy and not break. I have used it for three years and this will be the fourth, so she has saw some time in the water, but I do take care of her.

I have broke and saw many a paddle broken on this trip and that is something I don't want to happen to my one-of-a-kind paddle...I really need to come up with a name for her. Anyway it is standard procedure to take a back up paddle in the canoe in case one of them breaks. I always take a sturdy metal shaft paddle for my backup. I have came to situations where the canoe became stuck on some rocks and had to preform a push-off with the paddle. During this time I put Willow away and pull out the spare; this way if I break the one pushing it isn't going to be Willow, the one I cherish. I suppose you have noticed that I have name her, it just came to me so I went with it; something us English people do when we are writing...go with the flow.

With all this being said I know now that I need to get a picture of Willow put up on this blog. I think I will shoot a sweet ass profile pic this year with the aide of Duckie that features me with Willow standing in front of some of the Doon's rapids. It should make for a great pic and people can finally see the beauty of Willow and why I love this paddle.

Well people that don't read, I think I may need to go. The time is late and I am getting sleepy, kind of. Lots to come before, and hopefully after, the trip that is going to take place a few weeks from now.

Until the next time I feel like writing to those that don't read...I will remain Crazy Joe.

The General Buys A TANK!

Well there it is ladies and gentlemen. The twenty-foot behemoth the General is going to pilot down the Bigfork this year's trip.

I was sitting at home this evening when the phone began to ring. Being that it was the land-line I didn't answer it because it is usually some telemarketer trying to get to to buys this or try that. Rather than answer I let the thing ring, telling the kids to do the same. About that time Em gets home. Not being able to handle the phone, she goes and answers it. Low and behold it is the General on the line and he needs to chat with me.

We say our hello's and then he tells me that he isn't going to be able to go canoing this year. At first I thought he was giving me some shit, but something in his voice made him sound sincere. So of course I had to ask why, thinking maybe something came up family related, which has happened before, but no he says because he sold his canoe. Instantly I knew then that he had sold his canoe to my cousin Michael, whom is looking to buy a canoe, meaning that he had got the go ahead from the wife to go and buy an new canoe.

"So what did ya get?" I had to ask.

"I bought a twenty-foot Old Town XL." He said brightly. I could tell he was jazzed as hell and so was I.

"Holy Shit!!" Was about all I could say for a minute. A twenty-foot canoe was going to be something to see. During all the years of this trip everyone has paddled the standard 17 foot canoe, with the exception of Ladies Man. He has taken Grandpa's 15 foot canoe on a few trips. Even though it was only two feet shorter, it made a difference. He glided over all the shit that gave some of us a few problems. However, the General has bought one that is three feet longer. Damn! That is a big canoe. I"m almost as excited as he is to see the thing in action.

Simple physics would have to say that the bigger the canoe the less maneuverability there is going to be. Take the kayak, we have had one on the trip before and it could whip circles around any of the canoes. It was small and maneuverable. Ladies Man did a fine job skimming around in his canoe, which is five feet shorting the the Tank, as I'm going to call the canoe. I mean the pilot is called the General, so the Tank is a fitting name. The 17 foot canoes can be maneuvered with some skill, not totally nimble, but easy to get around if you know what you doing. It is going to be really interesting to see what happens with him this year. But I have been known to be wrong. This thing is probably going to be fast, but the turning is going to be a challenge and trying to pick and choose through some of the rapids is going to be something to see. I do want to be one of the first to go through the rapids so I can watch the General come through in the Tank.

Count on plenty of pictures this year because I'm going to be a fiend since I can slap them up on the blog with no problem. I also want to figure out how to do the slide-show thing so you can count on plenty of pics with the Tank and the rest of the River Runners. I will be back here as needed to keep all informed that don't read and also log in what is going to happen with this trip.

Until next time I will remain...Crazy Joe.