The Rivers are Flowing Again

It was just a few weeks ago, early April, when the frozen surface of the Connecticut River finally broke up and floated away.  One day it was frozen and the next day it was a sea of ice floes.  Then it returned to just a river, flowing towards the ocean.  Finally this long winter is giving way to spring.  It is taking its merry time but it is happening.  The grass is all of the sudden turning green again and the first daffodils are showing their bright faces in Vermont.

Perhaps it is all this change that finally pushed me to making my plane reservations to fly to Ohio in June where I will be met by Karen in her van with our red canoe, Wonder, atop it.  We will drive together to the spot in the Ohio River where we stopped paddling two years ago.  Seems like forever since that day that we managed one mile an hour against strong headwinds just about 50 miles shy of Cinncinati.  Maybe it was fortuitous that we didn’t get as far as we had hoped.  This year, because we are still near the city, we are going to partake of a communal paddling event, The Great Ohio River Paddlefest, with a few hundred other kayak and canoe enthusiasts.  That takes place on June 19th, the end of our week on the river.

So, I have made the plane reservations.  Now I have to sort through the boxes in our new home to find the camping and canoeing gear.  I know that I packed it somewhat sensibly but I didn’t think to keep it separate from other boxes as I thought we would have actually moved into the house by June.  We are remodelling an old farm house and, of course, it all takes longer than anticipated.  So the boxes are still in the garage.  I should start looking this weekend!

It is time to start looking at maps and plotting our course.  Who will we meet this year?  We don’t know the specifics but we do know that they will be the generous and hospitable people for whom the Ohio River is their front yard.