The School of Hard Knocks

Although our liberal education system will disagree with me, it is a proven fact that the school of hard knocks is the best teacher. There is nothing like failure to make one amend one's ways and to do better with much improved results. (But then of course you can't make the poor little ones fail, it may hurt their self-esteem - hogwash).
    Anyway, this is not a tirage about liberals and conservatives, but about an incident that occured some years ago, which caused us to use the terminoly used by Castlecraft Trailers in their website, "go from this" - "to this".
    One of the reasons we went from this; Bikes on top of the car

to the picture below is for one simple reason; "Hard Knocks", bikes in the canoe in the back

is because of a hard knock caused by this, though not this particular one, but one in Pensacola FL.

Just five or 10 minutes prior to arriving at the hotel, which we knew had an overhang at the entrance we said to ourselves, do not forget we are taller, considerably taller, with the bikes on top.
    The reminder didn't work, we drove under the awning at slow speed, "Bang / crunch", terrible sounds as we looked at each other and said "the bikes." We slowly backed up without causing additional damage.
    Interestingly enough the bikes suffered no damage, one had a bit of paint on it but that was it. The damage was to the Yakima made Subaru bike rack and unfortunately to the roof of the car.
    We completed our Florida trip on when we returned home the car was put in the body shop. $1,100.00 later for the roof and about $250.00 later the cross bars and bike rack was good as new.
    Since that trip the bikes have travelled in the canoe, which actually has improved gas mileage quite a bit as
windflow over the car is much less disturbed or disrupted.

The initial preparation for the Saint Joseph River trip

In preparation for a canoe trip of some duration (more about this later) we made a trip north in the summer of 2008, with stops in Saint Louis MO, (the Gateway Arch)

Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville IL)

Davenport IA,

Shawano WI,

Haughton MI (up), which would include the Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor area as well as Brockway Mountain.

Sault Saint Marie MI (up) and Sault Saint Marie ON Canada,

as well as other stops along the way. We did not paddle the Mississippi at Saint Louis nor at Davenport although it was tempting, but we did paddle the Wolf River in Shawano WI with my God Son and his father, as well as the area of Lake Superior around Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw peninsula. We also dipped paddles in Potato Creek near South Bend IN.
One of the interesting features of the trip was that we were in no hurry, not having to be anywhere at any particular time, so the GPS was told to guide us the shortest distance, but to avoid highways, freeways and tollways. This made for interesting through the country travel. We are sure that the corn farmers in Illinois are still wondering if those people from Texas with a canoe on a trailer driving between the cornfields were just lost or complete nuts.

For a number of years I wanted to do a longer canoe trip, something measured in tens of miles instead of 4 to 6 mile trips. The Saint Joseph River beginning its flow in Michigan and flowing south into Indiana and then turning north again at South Bend Indiana seemed like the river for this for a number of reasons; 1) It is basically a class I river with a few class II spots. It is a fast flowing river, and one is really never too far from civilisation. 2) Since my wife has family (a sister, brother in law, and their children) in South Bend it seemed  a good base of ops. In 2008 a small segment of this river was paddled, from Bristol to Elkhart, just to get a feel of the river. Two of four nephew went with me on this afternoon paddle. Their first experience on a canoe.

Besides the "obligatory" stop at the Mackinaw Straits, with the bridge in the background

we also made other interesting stops along the way; Bear Dunes National Monument and at a couple of lighthouses. We walked a long way along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

Learning

I am learning this blogger thing. Yesterday I had a draft that I could open in the edit window, but would not let me actually edit, as a result the text went out before the photos. So until I figure out how to correct or edit saved but unpublished posts, I will make mistakes from time to time, on a regular basis I fear.
On yesterdays post there is a link to the Castlecraft canoe trailer. Lo and behold, when you open that link and scroll down the page you will come to a photo of our trusted Subaru with our bikes on top and the trailer with the canoe in back, parked in front of Presidio de la Bahia.
The photo was sent to the Castlecraft folks about two or three years ago, as a way of telling them of the durability of the trailer and how pleased we are with it, so they did receive permission to use it.
Now in the text below the particular photo on that  web page there is a bit of advertising "hyperbolae" since the text states the trailer has travelled over 16,000 miles in one year. That is only half true; at that time the trailer had over 16,000 miles on it, but over a period of about three years.
Here is the same photo from our files. We should indeed get a commission from Castlecraft, do you agree?
The photo here has not been touched up in order to improve its photograhic quality.

The Second Canoe Trip

        After our first experience on the San Marcos River we decided it would be a good idea to get more practice in, in waters that were easy to handle. So a several trips were spent over some period of time on Dickenson Bayou, Dickenson TX paddling up and down the bayou. We even took a couple of nephews with us from time to time.
         Since the canoe is not really a canoe in the truest sense of the word, but rather has the features and shape of a pirogue (a Pelican Bayou 16) http://www.pelicansport.com/index.php?language=en&category=canoes&nauticalboat=ASA16P106, those of you from Eastern Canada, France and Louisiana will know what that is, it is a rather heavy "boat" weighing in at almost 124 lbs, since it is reinforced to handle a small outboard motor on the stern (Max 2.5 hp). We have one which is used for fishing trips. Another story about that will follow in then near future.
         We also decided that a small trailer would be handy for transporting the canoe rather than "car-topping" it. Here is the reason why; see weight above. The first time we loaded it on the top of the car - the trip to the San Marcos River - caused a humorous moment. We had the canoe lined up on the ground, upside down, next to the car, and I asked Norma to lift the bow up and I would handle the stern and we would just place it on top of the car. It didn't work, Norma could not lift her end up high enough; not a problem I thought, I will just lift it up for her and then let her hold it up as I lifted the other end. So far so good, Norma has the bow in the air and I go to the stern and lift it up, with the result that Norma disappeared underneath the canoe, which settler over her shoulders. We had a good laugh. We did get the canoe on the car that time and a few other times, but a Trailex trailer was purchased from Castlecraft shortly thereafter.  This little trailer is exceptional; at the time of this writing it has over 20,000 highway miles on its tires between Texas and Wisconsin, Michigan UP, Michigan LP, Indiana, Florida. It is light and easy to handle (hmm, I should get a commission on future sales by Castlecraft. http://www.castlecraft.com/canoe_trailer.htm
      Finally, at some point we felt we had enough experience and set out on our second adventure. A canoe trip on the San Antonio River in and around Goliad Texas. This is another TPWD canoe trail http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/boat/paddlingtrails/. Goliad is steeped in Texas history. Again it was anniversary and Thanksgiving weekend. For our lodgings we did not use the state park, but rather something much more exotic; the Officer Quarters of the "Presidio de la Bahia" http://presidiolabahia.org/. The photos will speak for themselves as will the information available at the link.
      This time our bikes were left at the "take-out" in the State Park, which houses owns a Catholic Church (No separation of Church and State here - eat yer hearts out ACLU). We then drove to the "launch" site on the junction of Hwy 59 and the river. It was a rather steep bank to go down, so a trip to the local hardware store for a long length of rope to assist was required. The day was cloudy and a bit on the cool side with an occasional drizzle. The river was flowing at a good rate and the 6 miles were covered in just over two hours. We saw a good bit of the local wildlife, including a bunch of goats grazing on the banks and many birds. After the takeout we had to bike our way back to the launch site to retrieve the car and trailer, then go back to the state park to pick up the canoe.
    We enjoyed our stay in the Presidio. There is no TV and the phone is for emergencies only, so it was a nice three day weekend, reading by the fireplace. One little incident caused a smile or two. The Presidio is open to tourists and they are free to wander through the buildings and grounds, except the officer quarters. At one point I was out getting some firewood, and this young boy saw me come out of the door that is clearly marked "private" and then return from across the parade ground with firewood, so he stopped me and asked "Do you live here?" to which I answered "Yes", not going into a great amount of detail about the length of our time there, and his eyes became big and he exclaimed "Man, that is so cool!" Indeed a great weekend and anniversary celebration with home cooked meals and a glass of wine. The only restaurant we ate in was Wanda's which has good food and prides itself on not being a "fast food" establishment. We can vouch for the quality of the food and the fact that it is not fast; we have never had to wait so long for a simple breakfast, but it was well worth the wait, and we can recommend Wanda's to all that ask.(Wanda's 106 W. Pearl Street, Goliad TX 77963 Tel: 361-645-3036. Perhaps we should ask for commissions here as well?

The first canoe trip

Shortly after purchasing our 16 Pelican we made a short trip on the San Marcos River near Luling Texas, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments (TPWD) canoe trail. Norma did not know that this was how she was going to spend our anniversary and Thanksgiving. We had our base at the La Quinta in Seguine. We then drove to Seddlers Mill Park and left our bicycle, securely chained to a tree. We then drove to the junction of Hwy 90 and the San Marcos river, locked the car and launched the canoe. At first the water was rather fast and we learned quickly that I should be in the stern paddling and steering while Norma was in the bow paddling. We did the 6 miles in four leisurely hours, seeing turtles and birds along the way. After reaching the "take - out" we got on our bicycles and pedaled the miles back to where the car was, then returned to the park to pick up the canoe. A great day which gave us a good appetite, and finding out that on

Thanksgiving Day weekend small town Texas goes to sleep, so we drove to San Antonio to find some turkey to eat.