Enough is enough or is it..

OK - The Universe wins. I'm done with the snow, ice, high winds and cold. Thank you! The weather just turned lovely...

If you are still banging around the workshop or boat house waiting for the ice to subside. Mark from Kruger canoes just forwarded this to me. Worth a follow!!

The Ultimate Hugh Heward Challenge

In the spring of 1790 British trader Hugh Heward, together with seven French-Canadian paddlers in two birch bark canoes, departed Detroit on a trip that would take them to the Chicago Portage and then via the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers to the Mississippi. Instead of following the usual exploration and trade route north through Lake Huron and the Straits of Mackinac then south through Lake Michigan, the Heward party went downstream on the Detroit River into Lake Erie, then upstream on the Huron River. They eventually worked their way to the divide between the Lake Erie and Lake Michigan watersheds, portaged their canoes and goods into a tributary of the Grand River, then paddled down the Grand to Lake Michigan. In effect, they took a short cut across Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Once in Lake Michigan they coasted the east and south shores of the big lake until they reached the Chicago River.

This spring General Motors retiree and long distance canoeist Charlie Parmelee is going to attempt to duplicate the Heward party's epic journey from lake to lake. On March 28 he is going to launch his Verlen Kruger designed "Seawind" solo canoe at Pte. Mouille on Lake Erie and start up the Huron River 218 years to the day after Heward entered that stream. His cross-peninsula trip will take him through many Huron and Grand River towns including Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Dexter, the famous community of Hell, Eaton Rapids, Lansing, Grand Ledge, Portland, Grand Rapids and finally into Lake Michigan at Grand Haven.

He is calling his trip "The Ultimate Hugh Heward Challenge". It took Heward and his paddlers a month to reach Lake Michigan after leaving Lake Erie. Charlie intends to take much less time since he doesn't plan to get lost several days as Heward did while searching for the portage.

Go Charlie Go!! -

I think I'll go paddle! - The Capt'n

The film is in the can

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Tribal imagery is everywhere after the WaterTribe Everglades Challenge. Seems my perseverating has got people thinking / drawing - paddle paddle ug ug paddle paddle. This should be a very interesting summer with Boo. I can hear the tribal paddle drumming in the distance. Sounds like a 7 beat with a hutt thrown in.
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I popped the question last night over dinner. No not marriage, she's 11 yrs. old and my daughter... The question being. "Do you want to do the Everglades Challenge next year".
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Let just say I barely got the question out and she said "YES Dad, I really want to do it"
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Sweet! --
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I'm lov'n this. Now to work on her mom for the next 11 months. Teri was a bit of a wreck not really being that comfortable in the water during the last EC. We'll see what a summer of paddling will bring. So much going on out there in paddle world. Hard to fit it all in. . :-)
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Well The film is in the can and has been sent off to CNN. I want to say what a pleasure it was to work with Mike at CNN on this project. Their communication was excellent. Well,I guess it should be they're in the communication industry.

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The Adventures of Super Boo will be on CNN's Headline news weekend program "News to me" in April. Mark from Kruger canoes was the man behind the camera on our EC adventure and captured as much as he could. Weather, high winds and dramatic conditions meant two hands on the paddle most of the time. But Mark did a great job getting what he could.

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Wouldn't it be a shame if we had to re-shoot the whole thing and do the Everglades Challenge again! That would be just awful... another week paddling in Florida!! :-)

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Paddle it again Sam - Bogey

Boo speaks!!

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I was thinking you should maybe put on the blog that, mom is getting radiation for 5 more days and then shes getting Tamoxifen until June.

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Or maybe about you getting your foot stuck in the escalator in Ohio. Or even how happy we were when the race was over so we could get a full night sleep, but still wake up early because we were so used to getting up every morning at 4:00 in the morning.

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You could also put in there about how it seemed that the race took two weeks but it was only one because we would go to sleep and then wake up paddle then go to sleep again so it seemed two days were in one.

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Or what about when we paddled in head wind and it would take forever to just to do 1 mile like when we were trying to get to check point three.

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Or something about how mom was so proud of us because we put all our effort to do something for her.

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And dad I want you to put this on the blog -- ready-- I love my dad so much and I really could have not done this trip without him he means the world to me he always makes me smile when I'm down. I think he's the best dad that I ever have and the only dad I have, I love you dad!!!!!!!

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Um, maybe that we shouldn't put that on the blog because we don't want everybody getting mushy and gushy on us. I don't know it 's up to you. Yeah that's about it I think.

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My advice is to buy stock in Kleenex brand tissue - The Capt'n

Snow.... stop... please

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It's getting a little nuts here in Wisconsin with 25 degree temperature swings sunshine and snow squalls that turn a 30 minute drive into a 2 hour ordeal. Snow... stop... please. The blue sky lasted just long enough. A huge snow squall came in just after I pulled out and went to my sisters for Easter.

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The old Oconomowoc bridge. Take a hard right and you are 600 yards from the best frozen custard within 100 miles. Damn it their closed!!
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Fowler Lake has opened up a bit. Ventured out to where the ice meets open water. Then realized I didn't have my life jacket on. Left my brain in the jeep too. Not smart, skirted the shore back up river.
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You don't see many two story boat houses on the river. Could be Casa Capt'n. I could use a new dig on the water.

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Great to get back out on the water. A tad tame compared to Florida Bay and 30 mile an hour winds, but I'll take it!

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Somebody get that dude a life-jacket - The Capt'n

The fun begins..

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Dropping the sail at the finish - Key Largo

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The Big Finish!!
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Now the fun begins as we start sharing pictures of the Everglades Challenge. Thanks Kiwi and Flys with Kiwi for these pictures.

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Most appreciated! - The Capt'n

Our Finish Photo

Photo courtesy of Waterscribe

Our finish video

Fish out of water

Feeling like a fish out of water, with so much focus the last few months on the Everglades Challenge, I am now just starting to feel the separation. S.O.S. aka Alan has stated in the past, he can't believe we do this just one time a year. But I guess that's what makes this event so special.

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Kiwibird and SandyBottom are doing a great recap of the event on their blogs, so I haste not waste not to duplicate, but rather share with you the journey within. Their stories are worth a look see. Mine a fragmented glimpse of emotion, triumph and enlightenment.

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The emotion I have felt these last few months is hard to put into words. I have seen the best in people during our preparation. It is an amazing experience to be surrounded by so much positive energy. Now to carry it over into the day to day operations of everyday work and play. I've seen perfection. A perfect ten in people... what a gift.

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The triumph would be the satisfaction of finishing and the enlightenment continues to fill my heart and soul. I am amazed at how much I don't know and equally amazed that I have so much to offer.

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Spending the weekend up here in the Dells with my girls makes me happy. Seeing my 16 year old daughter smile makes me happy. Seeing Boo grow from the experience is well a gift not soon forgotten. I feel full-filled.

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I got a chance to catch up with a dear friend "Beezer" yesterday. We can go for months not talking and can get into a conversation like we just say each other the week before. An A cat sailor, he followed the EC, watching it unfold as others did globally. He knows Lumpy and Bumpy from sailing Tornado's back in the day. Intrigued, entertained and amazed. The EC touches people. How cool is that.

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An EC board of directors has been formed, so there are more great things coming from the WaterTribe. I encourage all to keep an open mind and consider the possibilities by putting together a campaign to attend one of these events.

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People are asking me how an 11 year old girl finished, while almost 1/3 dropped in the harsh equipment battering, high winds event. Still waiting for Boo to tell her story. She looks at me with those beautiful eyes of hers and just smiles. I'll follow her lead.

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We all make choices - Jesse Moreno

For Manitucruiser

Looks like we both are having a return from adventure to remember! Paddling that Leinies Canoe in the sky is a great idea! Thanks for taking me out for a virtual beer!

Watch your parking meters! - Bob Dylan

A new perspective or enlightenment

There is a great quote that really brings clarity on what I experienced with Boo this past Everglades Challenge.

Boo's insights and vision, her ability to adapt overcome and persevere, is unique to her and her alone. How fortunate as a father to witness the growth the development of such a young person. Our future as a society is our youth. We should respect and honor this transformation. Poetry in motion.

You are really individual beings, with very special talents, and it would be nice if teachers had the time, or parents had the awareness or skill, to see the children as the very individual, very special beings that they are. So that rather than trying to drum them into one category, they are, instead, appreciating the special insight that each child brings to the sea of diversity and contrast which is the stuff that creation comes from. - Abraham and Hicks

The morning of

Still smiling

Our return flight home was for the most quite entertaining. Boo and I had the opportunity to do 6 hours of people watching as our flight was delayed due to the 12" of snow Cleveland received the previous day.
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Boo had her trademark smile and an appetite to match. We spent the better part of the day talking mostly on anything that popped into Boo's head. Her insights on the Everglades Challenge and her thoughts on life, post the event...well I hope she can put them into words. I was quite moved by them. Very insightful.
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The Everglades Challenge is a grand adventure. So many different approaches to obtain the same result. Finishing. An amazing experience, it just unfolds in front of you. The freedom and perpetual motion is so pure. You feel so connected to earth, apart of it, alive.
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When faced with adversity and extreme challenges, children have the ability to really shine, if you let them. - The Capt'n

Success

Manitucruiser - Super Boo - dabisuit (aka the capt'n)

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What an outstanding time we had on the Everglades Challenge. Made very special by teaming up with Manitucruiser aka Mark from Kruger Canoes and my daughter Super Boo aka Marissa.

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It's the people involved as much as it is the actual participation. Such inspiration. So many stories. It defines WaterTribe.

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Marissa is home with her mom but is really on cloud nine. She was a true participant. No duffing on her part. In classic Super Boo form.

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Happiness can be found in the most remote places with a little heart and soul - The Capt'n