Today I went to Peterborough with Bob Jung to attend the second strategic planning session for Whitewater Ontario. I was pretty amazed at the turnout. We had people from Hamilton to Ottawa and in between. There had to be about 25 people. Most of the people were there by 09:30.
It was really nice to see some friendly faces of people I had not paddled with since the fall. I had paddled with or at least new everyone in the room except for one person. I finally had the chance to meet John Mason in person.
We got straight to work after some short introductions and some review from the last planning session. We spent the morning working on the vision statement.
After lunch we split off into groups to work out ideas for membership, programs, and communications. I was in the communications group. We kicked around ideas on how to get the word out to the general paddling community. It was decided that we would start by posting press releases on the WO website every couple of weeks and posting up messages on other boards to let people know they were available. Jeff and Gary had mentioned that the current WO website was being overhauled and would be up and running shortly.
We all re-grouped and talked about the different ideas the three groups came up with. There is still alot of work to be done by the groups. We will be spending time over the next few months working within our subgroups via emails, etc working on our objectives.
We finished the meeting at 4pm and headed our separate ways.
Bob and I stopped at his daughters place in Lindsay for a visit which included a lovely roast beef dinner with all the fixings.
I finally got home just after midnight. It was a very long day and time for bed.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Trip to North Bay
I went up to North Bay to visit one of my paddling buddies Ryan and his family. It turned out that Ryan's lovely bride was ditching him for a weekend of shopping out with her girlfriends and family in Toronto.
My trip up on friday afternoon was ok until I ended up following a snow plow for what seemed like forever only doing 40 KMH. I stopped in Washago to take some pictures of the river and finally made it to North Bay around 7:30ish. It was nice to finally actually meet the rest of his family as this trip was supposed to happen at New Years but got cancelled at the last minute.
I made the kids breakfast on saturday morning. Ryan looked pretty tired as the youngest girl Regan was up really early. We headed out to their family cottage for the day. It was a fairly cool day out. Especially if you had to go to the bathroom. I have never seen an outhouse with hardwood floors and running water before. But what else you you expect for a North Bay crapper.
I spent some time looking at the decorations on the front porch. I can't imagine how much time was spent consuming beer over the last few years.
We spent some time going for a walk around the property before having lunch.
Ryan and Regan
Hailey
Regan
We headed back to Ryan's place for dinner. We played with the kids for a bit and then it was bath time ... not for me but the kids! I spent some time checking out some computer problems and re-programming a generic remote for the TV before checking out some paddling DVD's.
Sunday morning was spent doing the big tour of North Bay after we hit up the No Frill's for some groceries. We also had to drop Hailey of for a birthday party. I ended up leaving around 3:30ish and got back to the Barrie area around 6pm. I had a great time during the visit and Ryan was glad i was there to give him a hand with the girls.
I will definitely be going back up for another visit soon as he mentioned they wanted to have a huge bonfire at the cottage some weekend. The pile of stuff to burn was pretty big.
My trip up on friday afternoon was ok until I ended up following a snow plow for what seemed like forever only doing 40 KMH. I stopped in Washago to take some pictures of the river and finally made it to North Bay around 7:30ish. It was nice to finally actually meet the rest of his family as this trip was supposed to happen at New Years but got cancelled at the last minute.
I made the kids breakfast on saturday morning. Ryan looked pretty tired as the youngest girl Regan was up really early. We headed out to their family cottage for the day. It was a fairly cool day out. Especially if you had to go to the bathroom. I have never seen an outhouse with hardwood floors and running water before. But what else you you expect for a North Bay crapper.
I spent some time looking at the decorations on the front porch. I can't imagine how much time was spent consuming beer over the last few years.
We spent some time going for a walk around the property before having lunch.
Ryan and Regan
Hailey
Regan
We headed back to Ryan's place for dinner. We played with the kids for a bit and then it was bath time ... not for me but the kids! I spent some time checking out some computer problems and re-programming a generic remote for the TV before checking out some paddling DVD's.
Sunday morning was spent doing the big tour of North Bay after we hit up the No Frill's for some groceries. We also had to drop Hailey of for a birthday party. I ended up leaving around 3:30ish and got back to the Barrie area around 6pm. I had a great time during the visit and Ryan was glad i was there to give him a hand with the girls.
I will definitely be going back up for another visit soon as he mentioned they wanted to have a huge bonfire at the cottage some weekend. The pile of stuff to burn was pretty big.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Gull River
Well today would be the first coldwater paddle day of 2008. The paddlers of the day started out with Dan, Derek, Geoff, Neil, and I.
I really have to apologize to Geoff. We all met at the putin around 10am. He was hoping to be on the water by 10:30 and be off by noon due to some school work he had to do (teacher). Well we ended up scouting the river and we did not get gear up and paddling until sometime after 11ish or later which only gave him one run down the river before he had to leave.
Ok back to scouting. Derek, Neil, and I basically went holy $h1t when we saw the level. It was almost 8.8 on the gauge which would make it the highest that we had ever paddled it. We took a look at the river from the top all the way to the bottom. Everything above the falls including the falls looked really pushy and scary. I opted to leave my camera in the car for the first run as I wasn’t sure if it would end up in a swim or not.
We had a little safety briefing going over what would happen in the event of a swimmer. I really did not want to swim as I was the only one not in a drysuit. Basically it came down to swim like hell to the closest shoreline and don’t worry about your gear. We decided to put in just below the falls.
I think Derek, Neil, and I were very surprised at how pushy the water was on our first run. I told the others that the first run down scared the $h1t out of me more than my paddling day on the Ottawa back in November. I did not try and catch too many eddies or play much as I was more concerned about staying upright and dry as possible.
Everyone but me decided to play at the bottom wave for a bit. I walked back up to the car to get my camera and that is when I ran into Val. I went back down to take pictures of the gang. Dan ended up swimming down as far as the river left summer tree strainer. I know that Derek and Neil ended up going for swims as well. The three of them set up a safety system where there was someone down below on both sides of the river while the other played on the wave. They took their turns playing and rotating through the safety net. It was better to be safe then sorry when it came to swimming with the possibility of getting hypothermia.
The four of us headed back up to the foot bridge with our boats. We then headed up to the cars to figure out lunch. The others headed into town to pickup subs and would bring mine back. I stayed to keep an eye out for Val when I noticed that Martin had showed up to paddle as well. Martin and Val putin just below the falls.
I headed down to the bottom to get setup for pictures. It was then I saw Val standing on river left way below the last surf wave with no boat. He was blowing his whistle. Martin started looking up stream as he thought I blew the whistle until he realized it was Val. He paddled over to talk to him. I saw his boat way down in the lake. I went back and hoped into my boat and ran the river from the foot bridge out to the bay to get Val’s boat. Martin was already there with his boat in tow. I asked if he wanted me to tow it in but he said he was fine. I was totally amazed at how fast Martin could paddle in his glass C1 slalom boat. Val’s boat and paddle won todays swimming for distance award. Val got his boat back and paddled back over. He got out on shore and said he was done as it was not his day to paddle. It turns out he swam down the Otter Slide which was at a real high level. He also said he had a hard time pulling his skirt off as he had mitts on and ended up having to take one off while floating upside down at a high rate of speed in order to pull his skirt. I don’t blame him for packing it in as I would have done the same.
The rest of the gang had just got back with lunch and we chowed down. Dan and Martin decided to do another run while we finished lunch. We put back in and paddled across the pond to put in at Cave Eddy. Dan and Martin came up for another run with us. Neil decided that he was going to take some video of the next run. Dan, Derek, and I were waiting in a holding pattern waiting for Martin to get back into his C1 while being bumped up and down as it was push. It was entertaining to say the least as he was slumped over a tree with his body trying to get his safety belt and skirt back onto the boat. Well it wasn’t funny as he was really trying very hard but water kept getting in to the point he said screw it and fell over getting out of his boat and getting back into it up on shore.
I ran first. I ended up trying to get in the first river left eddy and I actually ended up doing a whole bunch of cross forward strokes which surprised both Derek and Neil to say the least. I did not get into the eddy fully enough before sliding back a bit and then I headed down river trying to make the last river right eddy by the foot bridge and waited there. I think Dan was next and he did fine as usual.
Derek was next and was doing better then me catching eddys until he ended up swimming into the last river left eddy before the drop at the foot bridge. I did a quick ferry across to see if he was ok only to have too much tilt and ended up out of my boat in the same eddy. Emptied up the boat with my pumps and jumped back in. Derek and I headed down to just below the foot bridge and then he said he was done. I waited for Dan and Martin to catch up before completing the rest of the run with no problems.
I decided to pack it in as my feet were getting cold and headed back up to the car to change. I met another kayaker who just arrived in the parking lot (forgot his name). All the others were coming back up to change. Dan decided to stay and run the river with the other kayaker as safety of two is better than one.
Derek, Martin, Neil, and I headed off to Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate. Thanks Martin for treating us to a hot drink.
All in all it was a great day to go paddling. It would have been nice to get some night skiing in but the conditions for that totally sucked.
Link to pictures
I really have to apologize to Geoff. We all met at the putin around 10am. He was hoping to be on the water by 10:30 and be off by noon due to some school work he had to do (teacher). Well we ended up scouting the river and we did not get gear up and paddling until sometime after 11ish or later which only gave him one run down the river before he had to leave.
Ok back to scouting. Derek, Neil, and I basically went holy $h1t when we saw the level. It was almost 8.8 on the gauge which would make it the highest that we had ever paddled it. We took a look at the river from the top all the way to the bottom. Everything above the falls including the falls looked really pushy and scary. I opted to leave my camera in the car for the first run as I wasn’t sure if it would end up in a swim or not.
We had a little safety briefing going over what would happen in the event of a swimmer. I really did not want to swim as I was the only one not in a drysuit. Basically it came down to swim like hell to the closest shoreline and don’t worry about your gear. We decided to put in just below the falls.
I think Derek, Neil, and I were very surprised at how pushy the water was on our first run. I told the others that the first run down scared the $h1t out of me more than my paddling day on the Ottawa back in November. I did not try and catch too many eddies or play much as I was more concerned about staying upright and dry as possible.
Everyone but me decided to play at the bottom wave for a bit. I walked back up to the car to get my camera and that is when I ran into Val. I went back down to take pictures of the gang. Dan ended up swimming down as far as the river left summer tree strainer. I know that Derek and Neil ended up going for swims as well. The three of them set up a safety system where there was someone down below on both sides of the river while the other played on the wave. They took their turns playing and rotating through the safety net. It was better to be safe then sorry when it came to swimming with the possibility of getting hypothermia.
The four of us headed back up to the foot bridge with our boats. We then headed up to the cars to figure out lunch. The others headed into town to pickup subs and would bring mine back. I stayed to keep an eye out for Val when I noticed that Martin had showed up to paddle as well. Martin and Val putin just below the falls.
I headed down to the bottom to get setup for pictures. It was then I saw Val standing on river left way below the last surf wave with no boat. He was blowing his whistle. Martin started looking up stream as he thought I blew the whistle until he realized it was Val. He paddled over to talk to him. I saw his boat way down in the lake. I went back and hoped into my boat and ran the river from the foot bridge out to the bay to get Val’s boat. Martin was already there with his boat in tow. I asked if he wanted me to tow it in but he said he was fine. I was totally amazed at how fast Martin could paddle in his glass C1 slalom boat. Val’s boat and paddle won todays swimming for distance award. Val got his boat back and paddled back over. He got out on shore and said he was done as it was not his day to paddle. It turns out he swam down the Otter Slide which was at a real high level. He also said he had a hard time pulling his skirt off as he had mitts on and ended up having to take one off while floating upside down at a high rate of speed in order to pull his skirt. I don’t blame him for packing it in as I would have done the same.
The rest of the gang had just got back with lunch and we chowed down. Dan and Martin decided to do another run while we finished lunch. We put back in and paddled across the pond to put in at Cave Eddy. Dan and Martin came up for another run with us. Neil decided that he was going to take some video of the next run. Dan, Derek, and I were waiting in a holding pattern waiting for Martin to get back into his C1 while being bumped up and down as it was push. It was entertaining to say the least as he was slumped over a tree with his body trying to get his safety belt and skirt back onto the boat. Well it wasn’t funny as he was really trying very hard but water kept getting in to the point he said screw it and fell over getting out of his boat and getting back into it up on shore.
I ran first. I ended up trying to get in the first river left eddy and I actually ended up doing a whole bunch of cross forward strokes which surprised both Derek and Neil to say the least. I did not get into the eddy fully enough before sliding back a bit and then I headed down river trying to make the last river right eddy by the foot bridge and waited there. I think Dan was next and he did fine as usual.
Derek was next and was doing better then me catching eddys until he ended up swimming into the last river left eddy before the drop at the foot bridge. I did a quick ferry across to see if he was ok only to have too much tilt and ended up out of my boat in the same eddy. Emptied up the boat with my pumps and jumped back in. Derek and I headed down to just below the foot bridge and then he said he was done. I waited for Dan and Martin to catch up before completing the rest of the run with no problems.
I decided to pack it in as my feet were getting cold and headed back up to the car to change. I met another kayaker who just arrived in the parking lot (forgot his name). All the others were coming back up to change. Dan decided to stay and run the river with the other kayaker as safety of two is better than one.
Derek, Martin, Neil, and I headed off to Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate. Thanks Martin for treating us to a hot drink.
All in all it was a great day to go paddling. It would have been nice to get some night skiing in but the conditions for that totally sucked.
Link to pictures
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Finally back in Canada
The drive back from West Virginia was un-eventful. We got back to Matt’s place in Jamestown, NY around 14:30. I left about an hour later and ended up stopping at my friends place in Mississauga for the night. There was no sense in getting home late and just end up sleeping and coming back to the city to work on Monday morning.
The road trip was a blast. I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat.
The road trip was a blast. I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Nashville, TN to Lost Creek, WV
There wasn’t much on the agenda for today except to make it to Lost Creek, WV to visit a friend of mine.
We drove north from Nashville and ended up going by the Mammoth Cave site. We decided to stop and do the Niagra River tour. It was only about an hour long but it was pretty cool to see the rock formations.
Pictures from our second tour
After that we booted it over to WV. We wanted to get there at a reasonable hour in order to have some time to visit. We confirmed our arrival time from Lexington, Kentucky. Pat was quite surprised that we were still coming and that we still had about another 300 miles of driving to do.
We pulled into the town of Lost Creek around 8:30 and phoned him for more directions which consisted of “drive by the high school and turn right at the car with the tarp on it and go further down the road and you should remember the rest of it from before”. Now I had only been here once before and that was about six years ago.Well we missed the car as we drove by it by a 100 meters or so. Matt turned us around and then we made the turn at the car and headed down what he was a long dark driveway. He was just about to make the bend in the road when I told him to go straight up and the hump and down the gravel. He looked at me with a concerned look and says this does not look like a road. I assured him it was ok and told him to drive real slow. I was right.
We were up until the wee hours of the morning catching up before crashing.
We drove north from Nashville and ended up going by the Mammoth Cave site. We decided to stop and do the Niagra River tour. It was only about an hour long but it was pretty cool to see the rock formations.
Pictures from our second tour
After that we booted it over to WV. We wanted to get there at a reasonable hour in order to have some time to visit. We confirmed our arrival time from Lexington, Kentucky. Pat was quite surprised that we were still coming and that we still had about another 300 miles of driving to do.
We pulled into the town of Lost Creek around 8:30 and phoned him for more directions which consisted of “drive by the high school and turn right at the car with the tarp on it and go further down the road and you should remember the rest of it from before”. Now I had only been here once before and that was about six years ago.Well we missed the car as we drove by it by a 100 meters or so. Matt turned us around and then we made the turn at the car and headed down what he was a long dark driveway. He was just about to make the bend in the road when I told him to go straight up and the hump and down the gravel. He looked at me with a concerned look and says this does not look like a road. I assured him it was ok and told him to drive real slow. I was right.
We were up until the wee hours of the morning catching up before crashing.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Texas to Nashville
We left the camp in Texas at 6am. We had at least a 13 hour drive ahead of us plus Matt also wanted to stop at the Bill Clinton Presidential Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas. That’s what you get for doing a road trip with a Political Science student.
We finally reached Little Rock six hours later. The museum was actually quite interesting to go through. Considering I am not into following politics at all I actually enjoyed it.
It was time to hit the road and we had about seven hours to go in order to make it to my friends place in Tennesee. I had gotten an email a few days back saying they might have to take a road trip to DC.
We drove over the Mississippi River heading into Memphis. That river is frickin huge.
I phoned them just as we were pulling into Nashville around 7pmish (time tends to blur on these type of road trips). Dane said the rest of the family was on their way to DC so Matt and I grabbed a room in Nashville after going to Hooters for dinner. The wings were so so but the scenery was excellent. Matt was still trying to figure out how to steal one of the 20 foot palm trees out of the parking lot before we left.
Link to pictures
We finally reached Little Rock six hours later. The museum was actually quite interesting to go through. Considering I am not into following politics at all I actually enjoyed it.
It was time to hit the road and we had about seven hours to go in order to make it to my friends place in Tennesee. I had gotten an email a few days back saying they might have to take a road trip to DC.
We drove over the Mississippi River heading into Memphis. That river is frickin huge.
I phoned them just as we were pulling into Nashville around 7pmish (time tends to blur on these type of road trips). Dane said the rest of the family was on their way to DC so Matt and I grabbed a room in Nashville after going to Hooters for dinner. The wings were so so but the scenery was excellent. Matt was still trying to figure out how to steal one of the 20 foot palm trees out of the parking lot before we left.
Link to pictures
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Kids Camp in Texas
Man my body must be really screwed up. I woke up just before 8am after only a few hours sleep. Matt was still out cold and Gareth was out and about as he had to work today.
Ok what is up with this frickin weather. I thought Texas was supposed to be warm. The thermometer outside said -4C when I checked it at 8:30am.
We spent the day in relax mode. Later on I went for a walk around the camp. Gareth is the head host person for this Religious Outdoor Camp. The camp is open all year round. See http://www.allsaintstexoma.org/ for more details.
We moved Gareth from his old trailer to the new one. I also re-configured a new wireless router and repositioned their attenae in order to boost the signal a bit.
We did a quick trip into town and watched a movie before crashing as Matt and I have a very long day in front of us tomorrow.
Link to some pictures of the camp
Ok what is up with this frickin weather. I thought Texas was supposed to be warm. The thermometer outside said -4C when I checked it at 8:30am.
We spent the day in relax mode. Later on I went for a walk around the camp. Gareth is the head host person for this Religious Outdoor Camp. The camp is open all year round. See http://www.allsaintstexoma.org/ for more details.
We moved Gareth from his old trailer to the new one. I also re-configured a new wireless router and repositioned their attenae in order to boost the signal a bit.
We did a quick trip into town and watched a movie before crashing as Matt and I have a very long day in front of us tomorrow.
Link to some pictures of the camp
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Space Museum - Huntsville, Alabama
It was really cold this morning. Our water bottles were completely frozen in the the truck.
I actually had to put on my heavy fleece. I found out later that it had hit -14C overnight with the windchill. Who thought Alabama would be this could.
We headed off to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the Space Museum. We spent a few hours there. It was a interesting tour.
Link to pictures from museum
Now the only downside of leaving the museum was a 12 hour drive to Texas.
We stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas to see if the Bill Clinton library was open. Nope … so Matt and I will have to stop there on the way back.
We decided to have a steak dinner somewhere. The only problem was trying to find a place. After a few futile attempts of looking around various spots along the highway we finally found a Outback restaurant after Gareth decided to pull up beside a guy at the Wendy’s drive thru and ask if there was a real restaurant around.
My bone head statement of today would be “Where is that” every time Matt and Gareth asked me to find something on my map. After all I was the navigator on this trip. I am glad I had my laptop and GPS receiver. It came in really handy for this trip.
Dinner was fabulous but we still had at least 3 - 4 hours or so of driving. We pulled into Potsboro, Texas around 3am and we were all pretty well bagged.
I actually had to put on my heavy fleece. I found out later that it had hit -14C overnight with the windchill. Who thought Alabama would be this could.
We headed off to Huntsville, Alabama to visit the Space Museum. We spent a few hours there. It was a interesting tour.
Link to pictures from museum
Now the only downside of leaving the museum was a 12 hour drive to Texas.
We stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas to see if the Bill Clinton library was open. Nope … so Matt and I will have to stop there on the way back.
We decided to have a steak dinner somewhere. The only problem was trying to find a place. After a few futile attempts of looking around various spots along the highway we finally found a Outback restaurant after Gareth decided to pull up beside a guy at the Wendy’s drive thru and ask if there was a real restaurant around.
My bone head statement of today would be “Where is that” every time Matt and Gareth asked me to find something on my map. After all I was the navigator on this trip. I am glad I had my laptop and GPS receiver. It came in really handy for this trip.
Dinner was fabulous but we still had at least 3 - 4 hours or so of driving. We pulled into Potsboro, Texas around 3am and we were all pretty well bagged.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Alabama Country Side
We were hoping to go to the Space Museum and a really good BBQ place today but we found out that everything we could possibly want to do today was closed.
The weather was cool out. I thought it was balmy but the others said it was frickin freezing.
So we spent the day with Shorty showing us around the area. His family has about 650 acres of land with cows all over the place.
We went to check out where his brother and parents were going to build their new houses on this huge river.
The highlight of the day had to be when we saw this baby calf that had just been born. I was taking pictures around this old barn when Shorty noticed the calf. We had to keep our distance as the momma was keeping a good eye on us. At some point on of the guys said you better move. The all laughed when the saw me running like a bat out of hell. They didn’t think I could run that fast.
We stopped for a quick bite to eat at Subway. My bone head statement for the day had to be when I said “I didn’t know we were going on a roadtrip” when I told them I didn’t have any money. Everyone laughed considering that we were on a roadtrip that started two days ago. I then tried to explain that I thought we were only going to the river and not all over the county.
We saw this old concrete dome that had the top blown off it. It used to be some kind of granary.
We also saw a computer recycling center as well.
We had a great new years eve dinner at Shorty’s mom and dads place. Roast pork with all the fixings and peach cobbler for dessert. As Matt put it … it was nice to finally have something to eat without having to take the wrapper off it.
We headed back to the Shorty’s as they wanted to watch the rest of the football game. I watched it for a bit before passing out in the other room as I haven’t had a lot of sleep in the last couple of days.
Link to pictures
The weather was cool out. I thought it was balmy but the others said it was frickin freezing.
So we spent the day with Shorty showing us around the area. His family has about 650 acres of land with cows all over the place.
We went to check out where his brother and parents were going to build their new houses on this huge river.
The highlight of the day had to be when we saw this baby calf that had just been born. I was taking pictures around this old barn when Shorty noticed the calf. We had to keep our distance as the momma was keeping a good eye on us. At some point on of the guys said you better move. The all laughed when the saw me running like a bat out of hell. They didn’t think I could run that fast.
We stopped for a quick bite to eat at Subway. My bone head statement for the day had to be when I said “I didn’t know we were going on a roadtrip” when I told them I didn’t have any money. Everyone laughed considering that we were on a roadtrip that started two days ago. I then tried to explain that I thought we were only going to the river and not all over the county.
We saw this old concrete dome that had the top blown off it. It used to be some kind of granary.
We also saw a computer recycling center as well.
We had a great new years eve dinner at Shorty’s mom and dads place. Roast pork with all the fixings and peach cobbler for dessert. As Matt put it … it was nice to finally have something to eat without having to take the wrapper off it.
We headed back to the Shorty’s as they wanted to watch the rest of the football game. I watched it for a bit before passing out in the other room as I haven’t had a lot of sleep in the last couple of days.
Link to pictures
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