Trap Pond, DE

We had several days of bad weather, but with a good forecast for

today, David Sockrider and I made plans for a final day of paddling

on Trap Pond.

 

The ultimate trivia question is, “Where will you find the most Northern stand of mature bald cypress trees.” Trap Pond. Dave Sockrider and I headed out to paddle Trap Pond, near Laurel, DE. Trap Pond State Park is there, and we weren’t about to make the same mistake we had at Killens Pond, so we headed directly to the gate and got our day pass and a map of the lake.

Bald Cypress surround the pond and headwaters, but a few

stands occur out in open water.

 

The 90-acre pond was created in the late 1700’s to provide hydro-power for a saw mill. After the cypress trees were harvested, the mill cut them into lumber. The federal government purchased the pond in the 1930‘s, along with 2,000 acres of surrounding farm lands, and the Civilian Conservation Corps began making the area suitable for recreation. It became one of Delaware’s first state parks in 1951.



Cypress in a cove with a state park rental canoe

pulled up to a camping site.

 

We paddled 4-miles around the pond. Once you reach the southeast corner of the pond, the park staff has established a paddling trail that takes you a mile or so further up the headwaters. We went as far as we could until we met deadfall. Between it and having to search for a hole in the bank where I could turn Buddy’s 14-ft length around, that signaled it was time to head back to open water.



One of the many coves we paddled into.

 

Once we reached the take-out and got our canoe and kayak loaded, we returned to the state park, picked a nice shaded table in a grove of trees, and enjoyed lunch. It was another relaxing day to enjoy Dave’s company, but our time in Delaware was coming to a close. And, most of our paddling would be done for awhile also, as we spent a week visiting with family.



Visiting Delaware Beaches - 2

Cottontail, you've got to come over on the west side of the road.

You won't believe the greens I've got over here.

No, Flopsy, you need to come to the east side of the road.  It's

even greener on this side.

Now I ask you,  have you ever seen anything juicier than this stuff?

I try to help him, and what?  I don't know why I bother.

Better on the west side!  Everyone knows the plants are greener

on the east side closer to the bay.  But, you know, you can't

tell him anything.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like a million-dollar

cottage at the beach.

Royal Terns (L) and Black Skimmers (R).

To me, this is carrying waterfront property a bit far.  We all pay higher

insurance rates just so this soon-to-be-washed-away place is insured.  And

how exactly does the septic drain field work when it's under water?  Worse

yet, just to the right are a bunch of new pilings set for new home construction,

complete with a new building permit.  Where's the logic?

 

Another house with its feet in the water.  You can surf fish right

from the balcony.

What comes to mind here?  Carport or boathouse?

Visiting Delaware Beaches

An osprey flies from the nest while Junior waits for it to

return with lunch.

 

The next morning was forecast to have rain in the morning with clearing by noon. However, strong winds of 25-30 mph still made the day unsuitable for paddling. We decided instead to tour the Delaware beaches and communities. Some of these we hadn’t seen in 30 years, and a couple I don’t remember ever having been to. We visited Slaughter Beach, Fowler Beach, Prime Hook, Broadkill, and Lewes.



Flowering yucca along the beach.  Ships anchored in the lower

Delaware Bay wait for berth space in the ports up river, or for

lighterage, the practice of transferring cargo to a smaller, shallow-draft

vessel until the draft of the ship has been reduced enough to permit

it to continue up river.

 

Duck weed and dark clouds.

 

We had lived a winter on our sailboat in the Lewes Canal. One of our favorite haunts was a café right on Savannah Road between Beebe Hospital and the canal drawbridge. We used to walk all over town, which was a quiet, quaint community then. So much has changed we barely recognized the place, and had to make two trips down Pilottown Road before we recognized the pier that had been home. Since it was lunchtime, we decided to make a return visit to our café, which has since changed hands, and is now called the “Filling Station Café.” The interior had been completely changed, but the food was good. To fit the name, the interior was decorated with antique auto parts, pictures, license plates, and so on. Delaware has exploded, both in business establishments and people. Sussex County used to be serene, rural, now, especially along the coast, it’s just as congested as New Castle County, the state’s commercial center.



Royal Terns

One Glaucous Gull, top, and Royal Terns.

God's River Country - Canoe Adventure

Jacket Illus: Abe Books

 

God’s River Country, by Marion and Ben Ferrier (Prentice-Hall Lodestar Books, Englewood Cliffs, NJ., 1956, 206pp.)

The librarian was almost apologetic when I went to pick up this book. She said, “I don’t know if you’ll want this or not. It’s a youth book.” Indeed, it had a “juvenile” Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) number on the spine, but there was nothing in the introduction or book description to indicate it was a “youth” book. And, there was nothing in the writing style or vocabulary to indicate the same. I looked up Lodestar Books to find instead that it is a collection of titles mostly from unknown authors, with great stories and exceptional writing. Their only weakness is that they are not stories designed for a general, broad audience, and therefore not of interest to most commercial trade publishers. As a collection, they tend more toward “new and neglected nautical writing.” As for myself, I’m both thankful and appreciative that there are publishers able to look beyond the likes of Harry Potter. If you enjoy nautical themes, be sure to check them out.
http://www.lodestarbooks.com/

God’s River Country is about a summer-long expedition into the wilderness of Canada by twelve people in three Chestnut canvas canoes. This was a serious undertaking. The canoes weighed 160-pound each, and the group would carry 3,531 pounds of food, gear, and scientific and photography equipment. There was no place to reprovision. Everything they would need had to be carried in the canoes, and portaged over troubling terrain. For someone new to expedition canoeing, this book is fantastic. In the course of the story, they take the reader through virtually everything one would need to know when wishing to join such a trip. At the end is an exhaustive appendix that lists everything they carried. While more modern fabrics have replaced the recommended wool and cotton flannel clothing, the list is as complete as anyone could ask for.

They would meet at Winnipeg, paddle up Lake Winnipeg, through to God’s Lake, down God’s River to York Factory on Hudson Bay, across a leg of Hudson Bay to Port Nelson, and up the Nelson against the current to return to Winnipeg. They were mostly on their own, but as they met Cree Indian parties, they learned that this canoe and portage route still played an important role for travel and commerce. Among other things, you’ll learn about Witigo, and enjoy the story about the upside-down boots. This is not a book for youth, though some of the more serious or adventurous minded would enjoy it. It is more for the young at heart.



Pot Nets

Snip from Goggle Earth

 

 

Pot-Nets is a huge collection of communities under one management that are either directly on Rehoboth Bay, near Millsboro, DE, or with easy access to the bay. They are called Lakeside, Creekside, Bayside, Dockside, and Seaside. Jean’s brother and sister-in-law live there, and we were supposed to fit in a visit during our stay at Pine Haven Campground.

The forecast for the day was for strong storms, heavy lightning, and some with upwards of 60-mph winds. It was time for a visit. When we called to make sure they would be home, Ruth was thoughtful enough to insist that we bring our laundry, and thus another problem was solved. We had a very nice visit, did the laundry, and headed for Subway for dinner. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, the skies cut loose with a blinding deluge that trapped us in the car for while. With a short lull, we rushed for the restaurant, but still got wet. The storm finally let up and we headed back north to Pine Haven.

The evening just called for some ice cream, so we stopped at an ice cream shop in Milton. We walked in, and the prices on the hand-written board took my breath away. We left. It wasn’t until later that we learned that the reason for the high prices was that it was homemade, hand-dipped ice cream. Still, we drove on back to Milford and had our evening treat at the DQ, where we got two large cones for the price of one single-dip cone of homemade.



Coursey and Killen Ponds

The guys and gals split up today. Dave Sockrider and I got together to paddle. Jean and Linda Sockrider spent the day at the Lavender Fields Farm, on Cool Springs Road, just outside of Milton, DE. The land is part of a tract deeded to the Warrington family in 1776. It was later part of a large dairy, but has been chipped away at until only five acres remain, but those five acres are devoted exclusively to lavender. The buildings are being lovingly restored, a shop offers all kinds of lavender products, and a live presentation is given telling of the history of the farm, and the miracles of lavender’s many qualities.

Credit: lavenderfieldsde.com

 

One of the interesting stories Jean related to me was about how the lavender farm was saved. There was a huge area that had served as a dump on the dairy farm for many years. The woman hoping to create the lavender farm was told that the only way to deal with such a pile would be with a bobcat. She was lost for awhile, imagining a furry, wild, four-legged predator, until the finer points of a Bobcat, the construction machine, earth mover, and loader, were explained. She had had members of the Milton garden club enthusiastically offer to help. I think it would have to be seen to be fully appreciated, but she described a bunch of garden club ladies assembling and arguing over who was getting to play with the Bobcat next.

If you want to know more about Lavender Fields, here is their link. http://www.lavenderfieldsde.com/

 

After their visit at the Lavender Fields, which by related accounts neither Jean nor Linda wanted to leave, they capped off the afternoon with a visit to the Irish Eyes, an Irish pub in Milton.

 

David Sockrider on his Ocean Kayak SOT at Coursey Pond.

 

 

Meanwhile, Dave and I headed for Killens Pond, a 66-acre pond near Frederica, DE. Both Coursey and Killens Ponds comprise reservoirs on the headwaters of the Murderkill River, which empties into the Delaware Bay at Bowers Beach. The name of the Murderkill always raises eyebrows, or at least curiosity. First, kill is a Dutch word for river. The Murder River, then, got its name from a story of an Indian massacre of a Dutch trading party at the mouth of the Murderkill in 1648. The pond was created in the late 1700’s, and the Killens Pond State Park was built on the north side of the pond in 1965.

The bridge across the entrance to the headwaters of Killen Pond.

 

We continued up the headwater as far as we could. When we were almost out of both width and depth in the stream, I got a real treat. I was moving along as quietly as I could. I finally ran out of channel width, and instead of paddling in the water, spent much of my time paddling the dirt and grass of the stream’s banks. Not more than 25-feet away on the left bank was the root ball of a deadfall tree and a clump of thick grass. I didn’t think I was making a sound, but a doe sleeping in the grass obviously heard something, and stood up. She first looked upstream, away from me, thinking whatever she had heard had come from that direction. With her ears twitching about, she finally looked my way. I froze. She looked at me, turned, and with no apparent fright, took a couple steps, stopped and looked at me again, taking a couple more steps. She just very slowly meandered casually off into the woods. I had the choice of going for my camera and causing her to bolt away, or just sit motionless and enjoy her curiosity over the stranger in her woods. Sorry, no picture.

 

Killen Pond headwaters.

 

When we got back to our cars, I had a note under my windshield wiper from a state park ranger advising me that I didn’t have the needed state park pass. He apparently zoomed in on my out-of-state registration plates. We knew there was a state park on the north side of the pond, but didn’t know that the put-in on the opposite side of the pond was also park property. There was no ticket, just a friendly reminder of the proper procedure I needed to follow if ever visiting again.

We then moved on to Coursey Pond, at 58-acres, which is fed by both the Murderkill headwaters and Spring Creek. Ironically, I found that we had paddled exactly the same 3.2 miles on both ponds. It was a breezy day, but with the small size of the pond and the convoluted shoreline, plus the many patches of water lilies, we usually didn’t notice it.
 

That evening, Dave and Linda took Jean and I both out to dinner to celebrate our 50^th Wedding Anniversary.





 

Griffith Lake - 2

Now I'll share some of the remaining picures from Griffith Lake.  This was

well-hidden back in the headwaters, and was such a serene, shaded, beautiful

area.  I would have loved to have just floated there and had lunch, but it was

still much too early for that.  The canoe is a 17-ft. Coleman Ram-X.

A bank of beautiful wild daylilies.

Another collection of portable lawn ornaments that know a good thing when they see it.

 

The Griffith Lake spillway.

A beautiful home overlooking the spillway and lake.

 

Blue heron on take-off.

 

Paddler's Guide to Missouri

Credit: Missouri Dept. of Conservation

 

The new updated 2013 edition of "A Paddler's Guide to Missouri" covers 58 rivers and streams throughout the state.  The guide provides river class levels, maps, campsites, launch sites, gradients, and mileage references for each waterway.  It's spiral bound to lie flat in your map case.  I ordered ours before leaving for Wisconsin, and it was here waiting when we returned.  Having had time to pore over it, it's a great tool for many adventures throughout this beautiful state, and I'd certainly recommend it.  It's $8 plus shipping.  The total with shipping was $13.95.  Here's the link for ordering the guide.

 

http://www.mdcnatureshop.com/

Griffith Lake, DE

White water lily on Griffith Lake.  The water lily is a perennial water

plant that will grow in thick mats.  Its leaves are 6-12" in diameter and

float on the surface.  The fragrant blossoms open in the morning and close

 in the late afternoon. Deer, beaver, muskrat, nutria, and others eat the leaves

and rhizomes, and ducks eat the seeds.

 

Japanese angelica tree.

 

Griffith Lake, at 32.2 acres, is even smaller than Haven Lake, but still offered a nice relaxing paddle of 2.2 miles and a nice run up its headwater. A leak developed under the old dam years ago, so a new dam and spillway, and other improvements, were constructed in 2006.

Swamp rose.

 

The natural and rarely disturbed thicket of shrubs in the headwater was a red-winged blackbird rookery. They were not happy with my visit. I was doing nothing to disturb them except by my proximity, and a few kept me close company until I was back out into the open lake.

Slender blueflag iris.

 

One of the nice things about Delaware waters is the area normally receives an abundance of rainfall, making the surrounding areas lush, and keeping water levels constant.

Another slender blueflag iris.

 
Delaware is peppered with ponds and lakes that draw fishermen from states away. Dave and I got into a short discussion about how one body of water, pond or lake, is distinguished from the other. I’ve always assumed that a pond would be smaller than a lake, but it appears many ponds are larger than lakes. I went digging for the answer and found that size has nothing to do with the distinction, but depth does. If the body of water is shallow enough that light can penetrate to the depths or bottom of the water, it is therefore defined as photic. The importance of being photic is that light will support the growth of roots and plants from the surface all the way to the bottom. This means that in theory, plants could cover much or all of the surface of the body of water. Being photic makes it a pond. If, however, the water is deep enough that light cannot penetrate to the bottom over most of the water‘s area, it is aphotic, and thus a lake.

Blue vervain.







 

Haven Lake, DE

A canal cut from Haven Lake ran back out to the highway.

 

David and Linda Sockrider are long-time friends from Milford that we hadn’t seen in a few years. The last time we got together was when I took Thistle east for a month-long Chesapeake Cruise. On this trip, I had given Dave a call earlier to let him know we were headed his way, and said we’d keep in touch as we got closer to see if we could paddle together. Today, Dave had a doctor’s appointment, so I took the chance to paddle a couple small lakes barely outside the city of Milford. After getting a few pictures along Front Street, I drove out to Haven Lake to get Buddy and me on the water.

 

How idyllic a scene is this?  Screened gazebo, canoe, and pier, all set for

relaxing outdoor living.  Sweet!

Haven Lake is actually a mill pond formed by an antiquated dam that holds back the source of the Mispillion River. Delaware is peppered with lakes and ponds that are popular fishing destinations. All are under the management of the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. You’re likely to catch bass, bluegill, sunfish, crappie, and perch if that‘s your game, but I was just looking to paddle the 83 acre lake. It offered a couple hours of paddling around the 3.4 mile lake.

American Holly can be found almost anywhere in Delaware,

right to the water's edge.

 

As much as 2,000 years ago, Druid priests regarded the holly tree, also called Christ’s Thorn, as a sacred plant that repelled evil spirits. Being highly regarded, it was exchanged as tidings of good will. The holly is prolific throughout Delaware, and was adopted as the State Tree. Beginning in the 1920’s, Delaware led the nation in the export of holly plants and products like staffs, wands, chess pieces, inlay wood, musical instruments, furniture, laminates, etc. Holly has great religious and mystical properties, being associated with consecration, rebirth, holiness, immortality and more. It figures in Celtic, Roman, and Christian festivals, and is commonly used as a Christmas decoration.



Living lawn ornaments.

A beautiful house adorned with decorative woodwork common

to a style of church architecture called Carpenter Gothic, or

Rural Gothic.

(With good reason, many people are interested in the beauty and history of the Chesapeake Bay region.  If you have an interest in reading the cruise posts, check the blog archives for 2011.)



Ticked Off

Illus. Credit: tickinfo.com

 

Ever since getting back from Wisconsin, I’ve been suffering from increasing feelings of feverishness, head and neck muscle aches, general lethargy, coughing and wheezing, and other general symptoms of flu. It drove me to the doctor’s this morning. While there, Jean also mentioned that I had had a tick bite.

I had not taken all the tick precautions that I would have normally followed because I was going to be on the water. When taking breaks ashore, we generally stayed on the sand or gravel along the shore. If going into tall grass or brush, I would have tucked trouser legs into socks and sprayed repellent on the lower legs and around the waist, but I didn’t feel the need here. I was wrong. I now remember when I broke the rules. On the lower river, I went over and sat down on the bank. The tick went undetected for a couple days. By that time, it had been given ample time to exchange fluids between the two of us.

The doctor asked where I had picked up the tick. When I answered, “Wisconsin”, he said that Wisconsin lies in or adjacent to just about every tick disease region that exists in the country, and that my ailments were not influenza, but a result of the tick bite. Ticks can cause tetanus, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, encephalitis, and a few other ailments I’ve never heard of and would never remember. The bottom line is that I’m now on a two-week regiment of Doxycycline, need to rest whenever possible, cannot go out in the sun, and need to frequently consult the two-page list of possible reactions and side-effects of the drug. The Doxycycline is apparently a shotgun-type of super antibacterial agent that should deal with any of these diseases. Ticks also carry a virus, Powassun, which antibacterials won’t treat, and which are fatal in a third of the cases. It is recommended that the tick be saved after removal. Testing it in a lab will identify the disease it may be carrying, thus making treatment simpler.

The importance of what I wanted to share here is that ticks should not be taken lightly. If the symptoms above present themselves, consult your doctor as soon as possible. The diseases are reportedly fairly easy to treat if attacked early, but if left untreated, will cause irreparable and irreversible damage that will affect the rest of your life. The lesson, for me as well, is taking greater preventive measures, and being more conscientious about body inspection to find them. The shorter the period of time between the tick’s detection and removal, the smaller the chance of disease is likely to be.

We’ll see how the next two weeks go. This was certainly not the souvenir I wanted to remember the trip by.



Milford - 2

Between shipbuilding and local commerce, the Milford hotel would

have been a lively place.

While the hotel now houses mostly state agency offices, the beauty

of the interior woodwork is still evident.

The Thorne Mansion stands on a knoll called Silver Hill, near the west end of Milford. The land is part of the original Duke of York land grant of 1680. John Cullen bought 263 acres of this land, and built the center section of the home in 1746. The Rev. Syndenham Thorne, an Episcopal clergyman, who was instrumental in Milford’s development, bought the home in the 1780’s, and is interred on the grounds. The Thorne Mansion was also the boyhood home of future Secretary of State John M. Clayton.

The rear of the Thorne Mansion.

 

Highlighting some of the beautiful woodwork.

 

The Mispillion through Milford looks like a nice canoeing stream, making it hard to envision it as a shipbuilding center. Yet, shipbuilding began making use of the huge stands of white oak in Southern Delaware as early as the 1770’s, and at one time there were six large shipyards along Milford’s banks. The highpoint was 1917 when the Abbott yard launched the 174-foot four-masted schooner “Albert F. Paul,” which was sunk by a German torpedo in 1942 with the loss of all hands. Although the shipyards continued to build submarine chasers during both WWI and II, with the oaks gone by the 1920’s, shipbuilding quickly disappeared.

 

 

Credit: Google.com

The Albert F. Paul

Milford's Northeast Front Street

There are two exceptional photographers from Southern Delaware---Tamara James and Ken Arni. I even toyed with the idea of trying to make contact so I could meet them and put faces and personalities to the names, but it was soon pretty obvious that was not going to happen. They are both linked to the blog in the right margin under Favorite Links (Photography by Tamara and Arni Photography). Whether to find a piece to improve the face value of a wall in your home, or just marvel at their work, please click their links and check them out.

 

An entrance that just says "welcome", and part of the

beauty of historic Northeast Front Street.



I’m not even close to their level of work, but I enjoy taking pictures and sharing them on the blog and Facebook. While I’ll never be on a par with their work, all I ask is that I keep improving. While Jean was busy elsewhere, I took a morning to visit some of the local history in Milford. Buddy waited patiently while I walked historic Northeast Front Street, which runs along the headwaters of the Mispillion River.

Check the date laid in the brickwork at the eave: 1787.

 

Milford was a village laid out in 1787 on a tract of land granted by the Duke of York in 1680. It was then called Saw Mill Range. The dam across the Mispillion headwaters built by Rev. Syndenham Thorne provided power to the sawmill, and also provided a place to cross, or ford, the stream, and thus the name: mill-ford. The village was incorporated as a town in 1807. It was a town divided by both the Mispillion and the county line. What was called “Old Town” lay in Kent County on the north side, and “New Town” lay on the other side of the river in Sussex County. Milford’s history is Delaware’s history, having been the home of several Governors, Tharp, Causey, Burton, and Watson, Rogers, Haslet, and Minner, and U.S. Senator John M. Clayton, who would serve as Secretary of State under Pres. Zachary Taylor.

The Towers, bed and breakfast, built in 1783, when Milford was a major

shipbuilding center.  Later home of William Burton, Delaware's governor

during the Civil War.

 

I've been fighting the computer for two days trying to download pictures.  As soon as I think I know what I'm doing, it throws me a curve with no explanation.  I hope you enjoy what I have here so far.

jim

 





 

 

 

A Question for You About SPOT

First, a question about SPOT, and then some background on what SPOT is.

There are more options now, but this is the SPOT I carry,

and it's still available.

 

I carry SPOT mainly for the peace of mind it brings my family in knowing where I am at any given moment, and that I‘m off the water safely at the end of each day. On this trip, however, Jean wouldn’t be near the computer. I carried SPOT anyhow, as I explained before my departure, for the benefit of blog readers that may be interested in sharing the trip and its experiences. Since I took the time to burn the batteries and keep it running, I’d really like to know how many folks actually took advantage of the link from the blog page to the SPOT plotter, and what you enjoy about it. Please leave a comment here or on my Facebook to let me know you were following the trip on SPOT. If you wish to use Facebook, just click the “Jim’s Facebook” link in the right margin under Favorite Links.

 

 

For a little background, I was surprised to find the number of people paddling the Great River Rumble who asked what the SPOT was. In a nutshell, it is probably one of the most cost effective and efficient ways to keep in touch with folks back home while you‘re communing with nature. Whether you rock climb, hike, hunt, fish, sail, paddle, or enjoy any other pastime out in nature, there is usually some element of risk involved. Letting everyone at home know you’re fine, or for getting assistance if you’re not, SPOT is vital for safety and peace of mind.

 

This is an actual plot from the St. Croix River trip.  Where a group of

flags are packed together indicates a pull ashore for a break before

pushing on.  Plots are on the link for seven days, and then drop off

to provide room for more incoming data.

 

The SPOT is a small, cigarette-pack sized satellite transmitter that periodically gives a satellite your position within a few feet. For a paddler, that is about every ten minutes. The computer computes how frequently the transmissions should be done. The faster you move, the more frequent the postings. The information is then sent back to earth and is posted on your satellite link and superimposed on a map or satellite image of the area you are in. Anyone who has that link can pull up your exact position and updates as you travel. With another button, at the end of the day, you can indicate that you are off the water and everything is fine. If you have a problem, you can hit the SOS button. SPOT operators will first check with your contact person to see if they’ve heard from you, or know of any circumstance under which the SOS may have been sent accidentally. If not, the local, state, or federal rescue authorities in your area will be notified of your position and that you are in trouble. That’s a very quick overview, but you can read more at the SPOT link below. The unit can usually be found for around $120-$160, and the annual subscription fee is $149/year.

http://www.findmespot.com/en/





 

Back Again

We’ve returned to the house, 2,101 miles by land and 111 miles by sea, or river. One thing was kind of interesting when we went north. Google said the trip was 860 miles. I told Jean that with campgrounds and on and off ramps for fuel and food, it would come out to about 900 miles. After backing into our space at the James N. McNally Campground in Grantsburg, WI, I looked down at the odometer and it sat on 900.0. If I’d had money riding on that number, it would have never happened.

My camping gear was so rancid I couldn’t stand to get close to it myself. Since our washer had bit the dust hours before leaving for the trip north, it was impossible to contemplate the river mud and sweat sitting in bags for several days at home while waiting for the washer repairman, so we stayed in Grantsburg an extra day to do laundry. I checked on the washer this morning. My hope that it was simply a belt was not to be. The belt is fine. The owner’s manual was no help, and since it won’t spin on any rinse or spin cycle, it’s in the electronics somewhere. I’m in the queue for a repairman.

The trip north was breathtakingly beautiful. Two days ago I stepped out the door with my morning coffee to 68-degrees., fresh, clean air, a babbling stream flowing past, singing birds, and a turquoise sky. Flash forward two days, and by the time we crossed the Oklahoma state line, it was 104-deg, and as we drove east on Rt. 64 from Jet, near the Great Salt Plains, the thermometer rose to 107. The horizon was hazy, and huge clouds of red dirt swirled and blew across the countryside.

I’m blessed with an almost never occurring abundance of material for the blog. Usually I’m fretting over what I need to keep the blog going, but now I have material for some time. Since people who enjoy paddling find satisfaction in that exercise regardless of where it is taking place, I’m going to keep the material in chronological order. I left you in Milford, DE, and will pick up from there, but keep reading, and you’ll find much to enjoy from our trip to the waters of Wisconsin, the St. Croix River, and Mississippi.

Cheers, jim