My New Canoe

     I have always loved going canoeing. My parents would take us to the springs around our house and we would rent canoes and go for the day on these great floats. Out of these trips, Alexander Springs and Juniper Springs were the best. The later providing the most technical runs and the best wildlife viewing. Each trip always made you wonder what it must have been like to canoe down these waterways a hundred years earlier when Florida consisted of only two counties and just about as many people. I will always treasure the trips my parents took me on. They are trips containing more memories than I can think about all at once. I hope to do the same with my coming child. I look forward to it.

   When I graduated from college, I took a job with an all boy's summer camp, Alpine Camp for Boys. While working this job, I got to live in this neat stone house that was located right on the Little River. The camp had many canoes and many days after work, I would leave the office, drop my things off at my house, grab a jacket and a pack of crackers, and then Lady and I would load up into one of the canoes and we'd canoe till it got dark or we'd stay out till later and make our way back in the dark. I will also never forget these times.

  I will aways equate canoeing with peace. There is something about being alone on the water and using your own power to propel you forward. If you are quiet, most birds, deer, heron, alligators, etc will ignore you because you don't seem to be disturbing them in anyway. I always get quieted in the presence of moving water and the way the sun or moon is being reflected off the water. There are few things better than jumping into a canoe and paddling off to wherever you can move yourself to. You will always feel a little like Lewis & Clark when you get settled and put your first stroke of the paddle through the water. So....when my dad asked me if I would like to have a canoe there was no hesitation in my reply.

  My kind dad bought me a canoe for this Christmas. It is a Sportsman model by Old Town Canoes. It is 15 feet long and weighs 86 lbs. It has three seats and places to put just about everything from a cold drink to a fishing pole. Mel and I have taken it out twice and each time has been amazing. Each time we have put in at Amerson Water Works Park. It is about a mile and a half from our house and not too hard to get to. They have a canoe only boat launch and then we make our way south. We tried going north, but after 10-15 minutes of intense paddling, we had moved no farther than 100 yards and we were both tired and we had shed two layers of clothing. Our first trip was a 30 minute trip down to the pavilion of the park. Our second trip was a two hour trip from the park to Spring Street in downtown Macon. The second trip opened up a lot of possibilities as far as how far we can go and what our pace is and such. We even beached the canoe on a sandbar and had a snack. So, now we are currently planning an overnight trip where we canoe to a certain point and camp on a sandbar. And sometime down the road, I really want to take the Ocmulgee River and follow it to the Atlantic Ocean. But we will see.... I have a bad habit of getting ahead of myself.

Happy Canoeing,

  David