Ed Arenz called me earlier in the day and wanted to know if I wanted to paddle on the Rum River tonight. I told him I would, but I didnt get off work until 5 pm. I hopefully could be at the Fairgrounds by 5:45 pm.
Getting across the bridge over the Mississippi River between Champlin and Anoka is a challenge during rush hour traffic, but I was at the landing at 5:40 pm.
When I pulled in the lot, Lee Jarpy and Keith Canny began to undo my straps that were holding my canoe to the roof rack. Obviously they wanted to get on the water as quickly as possible. Ed and I got our gear and placed it in the canoe.
Steve and Emily Peterson had paddled down to us from another landing that was further upstream. We were all on the water at 5:47 pm. Ed is about the same size of Joe Conrad who I paddled with last Monday. When I paddled with Joe I was bow down and I was bow down with Ed tonight. I tried moving further back, but then I couldn’t put enough leg power into my stroke.
Steve and Emily dropped off at the landing where they had started from. I heard Emily say she was going to pick up her new canoe. I asked her if she had a Crozier canoe made and she said she did.
Ed and I got to the island after one hour and one minute of paddling. I told Ed I wanted to stop so I could move my foot brace back. After a few minutes we were back paddling. Keith and Lee had gone around the island and they were now waiting for us downstream.
It was a nice evening for a paddle. The temperatures were in the mid 60’s and there was very little wind. We all did a steady paddle on the way back, but there is always a sprint to any bridge and tonight was no exception.
When we began approaching the bridge the tempo began to pick up and the speed increased. Ed and I were ahead when we crossed the imaginary finish line, but then either Lee or Keith said when they factor in the age handicap that they actually won that sprint.
When they said that it reminded me of something Keith several years ago when he was paddling with Lee and now that I think about it I was paddling with Ed. I’m going to my archives…here is what I was looking for………….
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Something Funny…at least I thought so!
On Sunday, 10-26-03, seven of us were paddling on the Rum River. It was Keith Canny and Lee Jarpey, Brett Thunstrom and Dave Dahl, Ed Arenz and I and Steve Peterson in a C-1.
Keith and Lee have been practicing hard to perfect their wave riding technique in the shallow water this fall.
Ed and I when we have been paddling together we would pop our canoe up in the shallow water. We could hear Keith many times describe to Lee what was going on with the wave. Such as telling Lee to hold back slightly to wait for the wave and other coaching tips. Keith and Lee would wait for the wave and then pick up the wave and hold that position until they lost the wave for some reason. Ed and I would stop and listen to Keith behind us explaining everything what went right or wrong after they dropped off. Ed and I commented that we should have been writing down all these sayings that Keith had come up with.
Well, maybe you had to be with us, but Ed and I popped up our canoe in the shallows again. Keith and Lee were right behind us. I heard Keith say to Lee about our wave that they were about to catch to ride us in one calm breath, “Here it is, (slight pause), there it goes!” I don’t know what went wrong but obviously they didn’t catch the wave.
I see Keith posted on the MSN site that he was paddling again at 5 pm today (10-30-03). I recommend everyone come out to hear more sayings like this. I plan on going and I’m bringing a pencil and some paper! Thanks, Keith and Lee, for a great time paddling this fall.
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Tonight’s paddle was a short one hour and forty-five minutes. The four of us made arrangements to paddle this Friday. For now I’m going to keep the location a secret.
Chuck Ryan
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