John and I took the riverside road instead of I91 to Springfield, VT, yesterday to do some grocery shopping. One thing that COVID has done for us is to force us to shop in Vermont instead of going over the river to NH where the big grocery stores and Home Depot are. Our governor is pretty strict about not leaving the state unless we absolutely have to. So we have found new stores on our side of the river. Even lumber stores that I previously didn’t know existed. And for those who know me well, you know that a new lumber yard to me is like a new coffee shop to a caffeine addict.
However, the down side is that I don’t cross the Connecticut River twice a day as I did when I was working full-time in Claremont, NH. I loved seeing the river in its different seasons. Yesterday, I marveled at how the river had frozen with a very smooth surface that you could ice skate on. In the past the river tends to freeze and thaw, leaving chunky looking river until the ice goes out in the spring. It has been a cold winter in New England and, with the exception of a few days around Christmas when it rained and all the snow melted, there have been steady cold temperatures and lots of snow.
It was great to see the river again and wonder when the ice will finally break up. And it takes me to the next leg of our Susquehanna River trip. I’m sure the Susquehanna is pretty seized up with ice as well right now. While it is cold and snowy everywhere, my blood starts flowing as I imagine the rivers flowing again. To add to that, a package came in the mail today with my new Keene water sandals. Karen has been encouraging me for a few years to purchase of pair. They will replace my too small quasi-crocks which actually shrank in the sun a few years back. I still wore them but portaging last year was hard on my toes and ankles. So I’m excited to have this new “gear.” The old crocs will go in the trash, I think.
Karen and I spoke on the phone the other day and we have plans to be back on the Susquehanna River in late May or early June. We want to get in the river when there is still enough water to carry us along with little bottoming up on the shoals and having to drag the canoe. However, northern PA is still chilly in May or early June, or at least can be, so we don’t want to be cold either. We know very hot and very cold on rivers. Neither is fun but very cold feels dangerous at times. I will be fully vaccinated by early May and Karen has already had round one so between that and the fact that we don’t share a tent and we are far away from civilization most of the time, we feel pretty safe for ourselves and for others.
Every time I tell a new person the story of our canoeing adventures over the last 20 years, I seem to get the same response: Why? And my answer is always: I don’t really know. It is just something that evolved as gracefully as my friendship with Karen evolved over the years. It evolved as things do…one thing or thought leads to another. If anything, I would answer that question today with a simple: It was something that manifested itself and we followed. Or maybe better to say that we let ourselves be carried along just as the rivers have carried us since we first put in at Red Bird Corners in Western New York. It kind of started with a “I wonder what it would be like to put a canoe in Cassadaga Creek and paddle to New Orleans?” We wondered and action followed and here we are still paddling some 20 years later. Our bodies creak and moan a bit more each year but we will keep going, sleeping on the ground in tents along the banks of whatever rivers we can get to, until we can’t do it anymore. Hopefully we have many, many more years ahead of exploring both the rivers and our friendship.
Paddle With Us 