I would like to pose a new thread. We all love getting to our choice wilderness. We all know how to do it, what to do when we are there and we talk excessively about the best way to do it, tricks, trades, gear etc., etc., etc. In our party, we believe that getting there, however, IS half the fun. We have about a 24 hour pre-trip ritual that we engage in and it would be fun to hear about anyone elses pre-trip gatherings. So, for kicks, here's ours.

The day before we leave we usually meet at my house because it is closest to our point of entry. By now the yard has been freshly mowed and manicured for a rigorous game of ultimate frisbee and my wife and kids have been banned from the premises. The beer is flowing, the BBQ burning and there is a tarp stretched out on the drive. Everyone brings all of thier gear, dumps it on the tarp and we set to work with what goes and what stays. Once accomplished we bloody ourselves in ultimate frisbee and just about when we are about to become bitter enemies, we remind ourselves of our common goal: Canada for 10 days. By now we are ready to retire to the veranda for some cooked dead animal and more beverages. The stereo is by now a public nusance and the cops say that if they have to come here one more time. . . .we better have a beer for them. As the evening winds down we fall asleep in our lawn furniture. At 7am we are roused by the offensive sound of Bagpipes thanks to yours truly. The 4-7 hour drive is then kicked off with a prayer, a shot and endless 80's rock and roll. For this 24 hours, there is no substitue. Good friends are worth thier weight in gold. (And in our case, thats a lot of gold.)

Cheers to summer canoe trips!

Posted by Fred Bear on February 07, 2002 at 23:23
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