MossBack wrote on Feb 28^th, 2019 at 2:48am:


Yes, he's virtually the "Paul Bunyan" of canoe-camping lore.

Today's POD was taken by Wally13 (again, on my camera, I think) as we were rounding the bend, headed west, on Quetico Lake, just above Conk Lake.  A few hours later and several miles to the west, in a titanic "Battle of the Ages", MagicPaddler would earn his spot in tales to be told around our campfires for many years to come.

in fact, Wally13 and I are nominating his moniker, "MagicPaddler", as the proposed appellation of a yet un-christened constellation just found in a distant part of our galaxy.  Like Brigadoon, this group of stars appears but intermittently in our northern sky.  Yet, when it does appear, the nose, the forehead, the double-bladed paddle, and, especially, that orange tint to those stars in "the hat"... well, the resemblance to our comrade is simply uncanny.

Later,

Jimbo   

I am blushing.

  This was my son's first night in Canoe Country.  He was 17. 

This is what he looked like 2 years ago in Afghanistan.  He's 26 now and based in Stuttgart Germany with 10th Group. Yeah, I'm a bit of a proud poppa. 

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You did good TomT,

I was a 2 year Army volunteer ( 68-70) during the Vietnam War and was home on leave with orders for Viet Nam.  I had trained in Fort Polk Louisiana to get somewhat acclimated to the heat.humidity. Even had a Malaria vaccination.

I received a telegram telling me to report to Ft Dix New Jersey because I was going to Germany instead? Turns out that the Soviet Union was threatening to roll into Czechoslovakia like they had Hungary. Our troop levels were depleted in Europe because of Viet Nam so they had to scramble to bolster them.

Serving your country in the military is a NOBLE thing to do. The experiences will make him a BETTER
person and mature and wise beyond his years.

TomT wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2019 at 7:37pm:


I felt the same way and was lucky to have never seen combat. With many people it takes a lifetime to develop a good BS detector that works. All things considered I'm glad mine was developed early.