Covid. Gas prices. Money, in general. And then HEAT.
Well, we've all had bad weather prevent the start of, or accelerate the end of, canoe trips; and anyone is free to rant about examples of that in this thread.
However, I had a different kind of "canoe trip" delayed and ultimately screwed up by the things in my opening paragraph. For years, I had wanted to give a proper small tandem canoe that is also solo-able to my granddaughter in Florida. It is my only way of leaving a trace of my lifetime legacy of canoe loving to the only person left in my family who might care about it. But none of my old fleet is suitable or in good enough shape for a legacy gift of love.
Then Covid hit and I couldn't even travel to Florida anymore. Meanwhile, age inexorably advanced. Wife retired as a nurse of 52 years because of Covid, and family income plunged.
So, I spent about nine months of 2020 and 2021, during the "15 days to stop the spread," looking at internet ads for used canoes from all over the country every day. What a drag.
During that time, Mike McCrea kindly offered to rehab a $100 Old Town Pathfinder for me at cost, but I declined on the grounds that I wanted a small tandem that was in much better shape and lighter than that Royalex Pathfinder. Mike's Pathfinder ultimately became the elaborately rehabilitated and outfitted FishFinder.
Finally, in the spring of 2021 after getting twice jabbed and hoping Covid was tamed, and having found an almost new, 40 lb., aramid Nova Craft Bob Special for sale in West Virginia at a reasonable price, I decided to bolt from Covid prison and buy it. This was a 1,000 mile round trip that included an overnight motel stay. Just the beginning of my expenses for my legacy canoe trip.
Of course, Covid didn't stop but mutated all over the world, the media and people's fears. So my wife and I, who are right in the bullseye age of death probability, kept postponing the canoe delivery and instructional trip. On and on and on. Two more jabs. Spent money painting the house, fixing the tractor and the cars.
Then the spring and heat of 2022 arrived. Gas prices rocketed up. The constant trip delays and our advancing ages became too intolerable, and we finally said "the heck with it all" and decided to drive to Florida in mid-June—not the time to paddle in Florida—with the Bob Special atop our sedan.
Tallahassee here we come!
Finally, I would get to deliver the canoe I'd been planning for years and had bought 15 months earlier. And to spend many hours teaching my granddaughter tandem and solo canoe strokes on their small lake. I even planned a tentative trip with site member Woodpuppy (and perhaps one or more of his kids) on the Wacissa River.
None of that happened. The HEAT every afternoon was between 98° and 104°, a huge heat wave all over the South with sopping humidity. I was concerned about my own out-of-shape, 77-year old self in such heat, much less an ability to rescue a 10-year old if necessary. I cancelled the tentative river trip with Woodpuppy and even the on-water instructionals on the small lake. All I ended up doing was delivering a strange craft and 15 minutes of instruction on the lawn.
At a cost of over $5,000 for the canoe, the trip to West Virginia, and the two weeks of gas, food and motels on the trip to and from Florida.
What a disappointing, screwed-up ending for 2½ years of hopes and planning for a what was supposed to be a special "canoe trip"!
Well, we've all had bad weather prevent the start of, or accelerate the end of, canoe trips; and anyone is free to rant about examples of that in this thread.
However, I had a different kind of "canoe trip" delayed and ultimately screwed up by the things in my opening paragraph. For years, I had wanted to give a proper small tandem canoe that is also solo-able to my granddaughter in Florida. It is my only way of leaving a trace of my lifetime legacy of canoe loving to the only person left in my family who might care about it. But none of my old fleet is suitable or in good enough shape for a legacy gift of love.
Then Covid hit and I couldn't even travel to Florida anymore. Meanwhile, age inexorably advanced. Wife retired as a nurse of 52 years because of Covid, and family income plunged.
So, I spent about nine months of 2020 and 2021, during the "15 days to stop the spread," looking at internet ads for used canoes from all over the country every day. What a drag.
During that time, Mike McCrea kindly offered to rehab a $100 Old Town Pathfinder for me at cost, but I declined on the grounds that I wanted a small tandem that was in much better shape and lighter than that Royalex Pathfinder. Mike's Pathfinder ultimately became the elaborately rehabilitated and outfitted FishFinder.
Finally, in the spring of 2021 after getting twice jabbed and hoping Covid was tamed, and having found an almost new, 40 lb., aramid Nova Craft Bob Special for sale in West Virginia at a reasonable price, I decided to bolt from Covid prison and buy it. This was a 1,000 mile round trip that included an overnight motel stay. Just the beginning of my expenses for my legacy canoe trip.
Of course, Covid didn't stop but mutated all over the world, the media and people's fears. So my wife and I, who are right in the bullseye age of death probability, kept postponing the canoe delivery and instructional trip. On and on and on. Two more jabs. Spent money painting the house, fixing the tractor and the cars.
Then the spring and heat of 2022 arrived. Gas prices rocketed up. The constant trip delays and our advancing ages became too intolerable, and we finally said "the heck with it all" and decided to drive to Florida in mid-June—not the time to paddle in Florida—with the Bob Special atop our sedan.
Tallahassee here we come!
Finally, I would get to deliver the canoe I'd been planning for years and had bought 15 months earlier. And to spend many hours teaching my granddaughter tandem and solo canoe strokes on their small lake. I even planned a tentative trip with site member Woodpuppy (and perhaps one or more of his kids) on the Wacissa River.
None of that happened. The HEAT every afternoon was between 98° and 104°, a huge heat wave all over the South with sopping humidity. I was concerned about my own out-of-shape, 77-year old self in such heat, much less an ability to rescue a 10-year old if necessary. I cancelled the tentative river trip with Woodpuppy and even the on-water instructionals on the small lake. All I ended up doing was delivering a strange craft and 15 minutes of instruction on the lawn.
At a cost of over $5,000 for the canoe, the trip to West Virginia, and the two weeks of gas, food and motels on the trip to and from Florida.
What a disappointing, screwed-up ending for 2½ years of hopes and planning for a what was supposed to be a special "canoe trip"!
