12/15/23
Newsletter #529
The Crack of Dawn
Maybe this was 30 years ago, I can’t recall. It was a beautiful summer, so Bruce and I decided to take a canoe trip down the White River, located in the northwest part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. We here in Michigan use our hand as a map of the state, with your thumb facing right. White River is approximately the line between your baby finger and your ring finger. So, we drove up to the top of the river and rented canoes. We each had a backpack. Depending on your speed, it took two or three days to navigate the fairly slow moving, 25-mile river. Most people stayed on a couple of mile stretch, doing short, one day trips. But Bruce and I were going to do the whole thing.
Once again, it’s been 30-35 years since this took place so I can’t tell you exactly how long it took for it to go from being a bright, sunny, hot day to a cloudy, rainy stormy day, but it did. And once it started raining, it just rained and rained. Neither Bruce nor I gave the slightest shit. By the time we decided to stop for the night and pitch our tents, we were way beyond soaked. It was too wet to make a fire, but it wasn’t cold, so we didn’t need one. Also, wisely, Bruce had nabbed four MREs from his brother who was in the Army Reserves. For those not in the know, MRE stands for “Meals, ready-to-eat,” and are the standard issue U.S. military meals that they issue when you’re on the march. We had two flavors, corned beef and cheese tortellini. We had two of each, so both of us got to try both. And every packet of it was surprisingly OK. We were both extremely hungry, and we were both full after two MREs each. They came with Charms candy, toilet paper, matches, salt, pepper, and hot sauce.
After two MREs each, we curled up in moist balls and slept soundly in the tent. It rained some more. We still didn’t care. Paddling like we were deep in the wilderness, like we were Lewis and Clark, we covered the miles of twisting river, and it never stopped raining.
By the time we turned in the canoe and got the car it was getting dark. We changed clothes, but we were both still moist, so we got a hotel room right there instead of driving back. The only thing on TV was Footloose. My pal Bruce Campbell does a dead-nuts impression of angst-filled Kirk Douglas. Bruce dubbed the movie as if Kirk Douglas was playing Kevin Bacon’s part, “Why won’t they let me dance? They gotta let me dance!”
Ah . . .
My mind drifts back . . . I spent two summers, 1972 and 1973, at Camp Agree Outpost located in Wawa, Ontario, on the northern shore of Lake Superior. It was a tripping camp, meaning you spent most of your time on canoe trips or hiking trips, and very little in time in camp. Anyway, those were the last years of the Vietnam War. Agree Outpost had boxes of the contemporary military meals from that war, from that moment in time, for us to take with us on all these trips. So, though I didn’t serve in the military, I did eat their food, which was at that time C-Rations. C-Rats kind of all sucked, but the best thing was the green can with the pound cake. And the chocolate nut roll was good, too.
I guess consuming military food was today’s subject.
No, it was actually Bruce and I taking that canoe trip, in the rain. In the less-traveled sections of the river, branches blocked the way. We had to figure out how to get through. And we didn’t do much talking. We took what we were doing seriously, like we might die there, deep in the forests of Michigan.
I’m not nostalgic. Who knows what movie I was making, or trying to make, at that time and undoubtedly worrying myself sick over? But it was a good canoe trip. Bruce doing anguished Kirk Douglas in the lead of Footloose is a highlight in my life. “I gotta dance! Why won’t they let me dance?”
What a cool story! I love the pix of the rations.