All -

This thread picks up where a thread/poll left off: see   (You need to Login or Register  Kudos to Old Salt for keeping the idea going since last year's CanoeCopia.  I think this could be fun.

Snow_Dog, Old Salt, & I jointly wish to determine if there would be interest in holding a winter QJ rendezvous somewhere in the vicinity of the Twin Cities.  

Our agenda would be to keep it fairly simple: socializing, dinner, and, IF there is enough interest, perhaps informal program of some sort.  The time frame we are looking at would be the latter half of January, 2011.  Most likely we would shoot for a Saturday evening, targeting the 5pm to 7:30pm time frame.  Yes, I AM certain there are those of us who might choose to carry on well beyond this time frame... especially if the appropriate brews are at hand.  We will find a decent restaurant that offers a quiet room where we can meet as a group (establishment suggestions welcomed!).  Hopefully we can set it up in proximity to reasonably-priced lodging for those who might wish to drive into The Cities for the rendezvous.

Anyway, that's the basic idea.  Pretty simple stuff.  There is no intention here to pre-empt/usurp the CanoeCopia 2011 event which will occur a couple months downstream.  We're neither competing with that nor do we wish to replace it on your winter getaway calendar.  Rather, you might actually find carpooling-for-Copia partners OR even future canoe-camping partners by venturing through the snow & joining us in January.  A great many of my paddling party members over the past several years have originated from acquaintances made at off-season QJ events.  We daydreamers seem to enjoy company.

At this point we are mainly looking for INTEREST LEVEL.  So, if you are likely to attend this Twin Cities rendezvous, please respond to this post OR drop a personal note to Snow_Dog, Old Salt or me.  If we determine there is sufficient interest, we'll invest more time & effort into the planning & take a couple more steps (ie. lining up a restaurant & room, determining if there is interest in some sort of program, etc.).

If nothing else, a rendezvous can be an opportunity to swap fishing hole, campsite, routing & equipment information.  Some neat trips get born at these get-togethers.  They serve to feed the canoe-camping hunger many of us feel during the LONG northern hard-water season.

Hey, if you have interest OR questions please post to this thread or drop us a note.  The more, the merrier....

Jimbo   8-)

One nice advantage of having this rendezvous in the TC, is the opportunity to shop at all of the great outdoors stores: Cabela's, Gander Mountain, Midwest Mountaineering, REI, etc.

Sounds like a good idea to me.  I would be interested in coming.

Westwood

Let me know if you need a piper.

Can't think of anyone better. C'mon down! Bring those pipes!

I'd come up from Madison just for the chance to pick up some Surly's at the local provisioner  :)

Seriously, I'd be interested in participating, depending on the date.

In addition to voting in the poll, please post here if you are interested!  [smiley=dankk2.gif] [smiley=thumbup.gif] [smiley=thumbup.gif]

I'd be interested... We do a Firehall Steak Feed the third Saturday of January so that date is out for me.

Ben

[smiley=thumbdown.gif]     Perhaps it is a reflection of the post-paddling season doldrums.  Perhaps winter travel in MN is too much of a hassle.  Perhaps 'Copia looms right around the corner.  Perhaps there is simply too much good football on TV in January.  

Whatever the reasons, not enough interest has been demonstrated to warrant a Winter Rendezvous in the Twin Cities.  Therefore we shall put the notion to bed for awhile.  Could be we wake it back up again towards the end of hard-water season.

Our thanks go to those of you providing us with feedback!

Jimbo   8-)

well; thought the rondivouiox sounded good till I read tis in the cities...ever thought of having one a few hundred miles north closer to the BW/Q  :) or is going to the wilderness areas too much close to it :question......reminds me of the yukon jack poem....

The Men That Don't Fit In

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
a race that don't sit still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
 And they roam the world at will
They range the field and they rove the flood,
 And they climb the mountains crest;
Theirs is the curse of gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest

If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove'
 what a deep mark I would make !"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And  each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, witha hope that's dead,
In the glare of truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, Ha! He is one of the Legion Lost:
He was never ment to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's breed in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.

[smiley=thumbup.gif]well, it's been a good 10 or so years posting and I been enjoying the posts from others I,ve read, but time to move along [smiley=thumbup.gif]

soooo loooong from one of the
"Men who don't fit in"
:)

Actually, I was originally asked what I thought of a more northern gathering as far as Duluth as I recall.  Location seemed a no brainer to me so I emailed maps of where visitors come from. Feel free to blame the final location choice on me.

Could we try a Duluth gig, just a thought or is this horse dead for real.

marlin55388 wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2010 at 12:53pm:

Could we try a Duluth gig, just a thought or is this horse dead for real.

I'm in either way.

We decided to pull the plug because it did not seem to be an idea that was being embraced as something QJers were interested in doing. Our first thought was to have it in Duluth area. When we were informed about where QJ 'hits' were coming from, we moved it to TC.

One thought is to have it in conjunction with Midwest Mountaineering's Spring Outdoor Expo, but we are not 'married' to that idea. If something else works better, in either the TC, Duluth, or elsewhere, we will consider it. While we realize that having this 'discussion' will produce varied opinions, we also hope it will produce some solid interest and some consensus.

One thing we want to avoid, is to be competing with the already well established QJ rendezvous at Copia, March 11-13 in Madison. We are supportive of that event, and plan to attend it. We hope many QJers will take advantage of that opportunity. We want whatever happens in Minnesota to complement that event.

I think we are open to any and all suggestions/ideas about when and where a rendevous should be held. Feel free to post your ideas/suggestions here.

We also hope that Riversend will reconsider his position.

Please note that I have posted a new poll to give feedback.

I'll meet any place in MN (depending upon the date) and, as some of you know, I was originally pushing for Duluth... until I opened up db's interesting graphic re: where MN QJer's actually live.  That made the choice pretty much a slam dunk (at least in January).

Re: Riversend... his message is completely lost on me.  I have no idea if he coming or going from QJ, what he is trying to say, or even what exactly his post has to do with this thread.  Then, again, I've never claimed to be very bright.  I like his choice of poets, though.  If Riversend wishes to take the initiative to set up a rendezvous somewhere else (IF that's the point), I suppose I might consider going.  I say, "have at it."

I'll have to see a lot more evidence of interest, though, before I'll invest more of my time in checking out menus, room availability at restaurants, reasonable-rate motels, etc., for whatever location we might choose.  Perhaps I blew the whistle too early?

I'm listening....

Jimbo   8-)

To Riversend:

If you are leaving QJ, I am sorry to see you go.  We don't live anywhere near the canoe country, so we wouldn't have been coming to the rendezvous no matter where it would have been held.  To travel to the canoe country for a get-together in January would be out of the question for us--even Duluth or the Twin Cities is too far.  We hope to make it to Madison in March, but even that is a big undertaking.

Fitting in is another situation altogether.  As another one who often doesn't "fit in" here, (albeit in for completely different reasons) I have a bit of understanding, but even so, I would like for you to reconsider.  You will be missed.  I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have looked at the wonderful photos you have posted in the middle of the winter--the wolves in the snow are coming to mind right now--and just for a minute I have felt a tiny bit of the joy you must feel to actually LIVE up there!

There is room here for all who love the canoe country.  Or so I have been told.  And just because some want to gather away from the north country, it doesn't mean that you must be an outsider, or that you must leave.

I hope you will reconsider.  I will miss you.

Lynda

So far, the people who "don't fit in" on QJ (all two of them bold enough to say so, that is) have together logged over 1200 posts to this website.

Just a few more "rebels" like these and we will have racked up quite a count!

To claim website "misfit" and then walk away sounds to my ear like the smug assertion, "I've got the rest of you pegged... and I'm definitely NOT like you.  As a matter of fact, I'm gotta walk away from you."

Having met a good many QJers, paddled with a good many QJers, and corresponded with lord-knows-how-many QJers over the years it would be MY confident observation that we pretty much resemble the rest of humanity.  We are diverse as hell.  We got misfits all over the place!  Misfits for what?  The MAIN "what" that holds us together, as Spartan2 so accurately asserts, IS our love of canoe country.

As a moderator - albeit a not-as-active-one in recent years - I gotta report that there ain't a whole heckuva-a-lot-of post-throttling going on behind the scenes on QJ.  Unless it is deemed (by multiple moderators) absolutely inflammatory or obscene or requested by the original poster to be rescinded, not many posts get stifled on this website.

I doubt that I have zapped 2 posts in the past 12 months... and those might have been over two years ago!

Anyhow, I encourage all: be diverse, be respectful, and say whatever you want.  Walk away if you need to.  Come back if you want to.  Let's just be respectful... to misfits & non-misfits alike.

Jimbo   8-)

Hi Jimbo!  Just to make it perfectly clear--if I sometimes don't "fit in",  it doesn't mean that I don't like it here or that I am going anywhere!!  You're stuck with me!   ;D ;D

:)  Spartan2,

I sure hope so!  And I absolutely appreciate what you were saying!

Hey, how many of the rest of you bums claim to haul pink flamingoes around with them in the park?!?!

If THAT doesn't qualify ME as a misfit, I'm not sure what could!!!

Hey, I like Riversend's pics, too.  At the present time, however, we do not seem to be communicating well together.  That's all.  His point isn't clear to me & seemed a little negative.  Could be it wasn't intended that way.  I'll allow for that.

Could be I'm just in a not-very-understanding suckee mood today.  Hopefully folks can allow for that, too.

Thanks!

Jimbo 8-)

And now back to the question at hand. What season and where is the best location to have a MN QJ Rendezvous? Of course, those from other parts are welcome to join us.  8-)

Hey
  (You need to Login or Register   (You need to Login or Register
If this guys there...then I am too

I'd even consider meeting some of you paddlers

Hmmm...Not sure if I'm one that fits in or not, but I will say that the love of canoe country, wherever that may be for all of us, is a pretty tight bond, imho.

In any event, since I live in Madison, I always look forward to 'Copia weekend, and would even be happy to host a gathering this year, should that be something folks would be interested in. But I'd also enjoy a MN gathering, in either the Cities or farther north. I'll figure out which way to vote in the poll, but I'm all for meetings!