I'm Back
I have just spent the better part of two weeks paddling a 20 foot canoe loaded with gear and three kids who don't paddle very well. If I had weight to lose, I would've lost 20 pounds or so, but instead I am just buff in the upper body.

In some ways, the canoe trip was "unsuccessful". We were supposed to paddle about 80 miles or so and ended up making about 30. This because we spend time addressing any problems that our 11 adolescent boys might be having, and we discuss them as a group. We also give them a significant amount of responsibility in making and breaking campsites, making dinner, cleaning up, loading and unloading canoes, etc. etc. Ideally, we should have been leaving our campsite in the morning at about 9:30 or 10:00. We averaged around 11:30. When you shave 2 hours of paddling off your day, it makes a bit of a difference.

In most ways, the trip was a success. Given the fact that 9 out of 11 boys had never set foot in a canoe, let alone spent two weeks navigating a river, the trip was awesome! It might not rank with Jason Holme's epic adventure on the Mississippi River, but as an 11 year old boy, it must seem like a great and worthwhile accomplishment. I'm 27 years old, and this is only my second canoe trip of such length.

There were recorded sightings of 52 turtles. We saw a baby alligator and two poisonous snakes up close. Countless sightings of turkey vultures. Two rubber balls were released from their sad fate of floating down the Suwannee River and being vomited into the Gulf of Mexico. My program director (who was leading out the trip) added a can of Cajun seasoning to the flow of the river--this because he got fed up with the boys arguing over it at a meal. Chucked it right over his left shoulder, down a 40 foot embankment, and kerplunk.

All in all, it was an enjoyable time.