Karaoke
Published June 15, 2008 | 
Here I stand, the goddess of Desire / Set men on fire / I have this power
Morning noon and night it’s drink and dancing / Some quick romancing
And then a shower
Stage door johnnies always surround me / They always hound me / With one request
Who can satisfy their lustful habits
I’m not a rabbit
I need some rest
As one young Karaoke impresario began to regale us through the cheap speakers and muffled microphone of the local DJ for hire. . I knew just what that sound was. . It was the sound of a drunk guy doing an impersonation of Madeline Kahn who was three sheets to the wind and doing an impersonation a boozy Marlene Dietrich, doing an impersonation of Jim Morrison naked in the shower with a bottle of Jim Beam doing an impersonation of a legless Johnny Cash singing “Ring of Fire”. . . and it was perfect!
Happy Father’s Day. . . sing at your own risk!
the hardest part
Published June 14, 2008 | .jpg)
Oh now boy what you been and done
Set a course for the silver sun
oh now boy what you been and done
– coldplay
I hope you’ve been following along with Marcus Demuth’s attempt to circumnavigate Iceland. He’s certainly had a challenging start. So far he’s banged up his boat the surf, lost a paddle, killed a pager, and had his VHF charger go out just since his launch only 7 days ago. As you know Iceland has been the center of a good many expeditions over the last few years and each time produces a bit of excitement.
Iceland as we’ve talked about before sits just short of the arctic circle and produces some of the most challenging weather conditions a paddler could face; big seas, quickly changing weather, and harsh unforgiving coastlines. The pay off for those explorer types of course is that Iceland also offers and incredible look at raw nature with active volcanoes, lava deserts, tall snow capped mountains, huge seabird colonies, friendly people. . . oh, and great access to the net as well! (even if the SAT phones are a bit dodgy)
By completing his Iceland Circumnavigation, Marcus would join a very small group of paddlers who’ve come before, only Rotem Ron is credited for doing the trip solo. (although I’ve heard there may have been one other.) Greg Stamer & Freya Hoffmeister completed the trip last year at breakneck speed and Shawna Franklin, Leon Somme, & Chris Duff also completed the trip in 2003. Iceland demonstrates how each expedition has its own personality, and it’s own set of challenges. Sometimes uneventful, sometimes filled with crazy weather and challenges of a more human nature. Still each paddler or team has been up to the challenges this island at the top of the world could toss at them. As Marcus continues on he not only faces nature, but the inner battle over good judgment, drive to succeed, self doubt, and self confidence. Each voice demanding their moment. The real victory however is in taking the challenge at all; win, lose, or draw.
I was chatting with a friend the other day about how these amazing expeditions can seem a bit too simple sometimes to the casual observer. More often than not we hear someone is going somewhere and later we hear they completed the trip. It can seem a bit too simple. As more and more folks take on these challenges they can feel a bit mundane. Of course that is not the case. The truth is that each trip, whether a day, a week a month or more carries some hard risks. The longer the trip, the more isolated the destination, the more you expose yourself to those risks. It’s worth noting that often the biggest dangers each day are just launching and landing.
As supports, well wishers, paddle voyeurs, or fans I hope we always recognize that just sliding that boat off the beach and making good decisions is a respectable win, even if the decision is to stop. Marcus has shown already that each little issue cause him to re-evaluate the journey. This is a good sign. It means that he will probably make the right choices for himself as an individual each day. With that regular self-evaluation chances are we will soon be adding him to the list of those who have successfully circumnavigated Iceland. And even if he stopped today, he’d already go home with a victory.
- See more expeditions going on in 2008 here.
*photo by Stanislav Babenko. Creative Commons.
That lost video. . .
Published June 13, 2008 | [QUICKTIME http://kayakquixotica.com/wp-content/uploads/pr169-3.mov 500 281 false true]
I’ve done my Puerto Rico presentation a few times this year. Each time running through slides and talking about the experience which was nice. About a week before I took off for Chicago I finally got a firewire card and was able to start downloading the video from the trip. Of course I’ve got a few hours of video and have not really decided what to do with it all. So anyway the day before I left for the Windy City symposium I did a madly quick preview edit. The funny part of course was that I didn’t actually do the presentation! Oh man. Anyway, here’s that 6 minute video. If you have a slow connection I’d suggest you let it load for awhile. . (maybe go get a Pina Colada) then come back. A little advance load time is the best way to avoid the “studders”. Especially since this is a quicktime video. They look better, but boy are they BIG!
Greg, Werner, & Ducks
Published June 13, 2008 | 
There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
- they might be giants
Another week comes to an end! So, anyone have some fun trips coming up this weekend? For my part I could paddle the cornfields that surround my house! Yesterday as more rain continued to fall, those WWII Ducks that are such a popular Wisconsin Dells attraction were called back into service. Ducks were running around the countryside getting people off their rooftops. Now every community anywhere near water will want their own DUCKS!
Meanwhile Greg Stamer has left the Florida heat for the cool waters of Newfoundland. Newfoundland has had quite a bit of attention as a paddling destination over the last few years being circumnavigated by Wendy Killoran, Hadas Feldman & Tomer Sabag among others. I asked Greg if he had and goals regarding time on this trip. Greg explained that on each expedition he usually is focused on either exploring and taking in the experiences or paddling where he tries to get in as many miles as he can in a day. It’s hard to do both sometimes. He says that this time he is sort of in the middle. While he does not want to race around Newfoundland, he thought that the regular fog might make long days and distance the goal by default. I will be Greg’s ghost writer while he’s on the trip, Karel Vissel of Terra Santa will be adding his weather expertise. Greg says the notes from the SATphone may be a bit short so I can flesh it out a bit. So this may be the first time you hear about Dragons and Viking ghost ships roaming the North Atlantic.
Werner has jumped into the blogging game. From what I’ve read so far I have high hopes for their blog. Company blogs are a mixed bag of course. Some are so product focused that they either become stale or they are updated so rarely that you never check them. So far the Werner Blog is pretty interesting. Of course that funkadelic header is cool enough and the content is not bad either. Recently they had a great post from Jesse Coombs about traveling with your kayak which is something I get asked about regularly. Anyway check that out. Oh, and that reminds me. . . . Of course it’s all subjective but have you noticed a lot of Werner paddles around in the last year or so?? Maybe it’s just the places I go, but it certainly seems like they are showing up even more than they used to. It must be the result of that Werner Vs. Lendal UFC battle that was rumored to have taken place here in Wisconsin a few months back.
Floods Day 3
Published June 12, 2008 | 
Fireman’s Park – North Freedom, WI
This morning as I sit down to write, loud thunder is rolling over the house. After 2 days of sun, the rain is back. In a way I’m a bit surprised that world news has covered this small town Wisconsin story and yet it’s not every day a lake just packs up either. Certainly in sheer dollar amounts the loss of this lake will be devastating to the businesses and their employees, however the focus on the lake is casting a bit of a shadow on the rest of the region for which lack of water would be a blessing.
Sandbagging home on Water St. (breached the following day)
Here in Baraboo the river has swollen to an almost insane height. Two days ago I watched as a large group of people worked furiously to put sandbags around a home on the riverbank. By the next day the water was up to the doors. I’m not sure what good sandbags do if they don’t keep the water back. I suppose though that creating an eddy around your flooded house must at least keep the floating logs from doing any more damage.
Fireman’s Park – North Freedom, WI
Meanwhile other small towns and villages in the area are putting up best they can considering the resources are not there as they are in larger communities. We took at drive out to one such small town called “North Freedom” which has a population of about 600 people and is home to a Railway Museum where folks can ride an antique train through a few miles of the Baraboo Hills. The road to the Museum and from the looks of it the museum itself are under water. The local town’s “Fireman’s Park” is now a lake. I walked down to the water’s edge and was amazed to see a picnic table hung up on top of a playground toy. The water stank of fuel oil.
Devil’s Lake State Park – Exit Road
My little lake is now a very big lake as well. Water has filled the picnic areas and crossed over some roads. I run the website for the park and have spent hours answering emails from concerned camper’s who wonder if it’s worth coming up at all. My answer always spins on the fact that A. The campsites are fine, and B. It’s a unique event and they might enjoy seeing it. Within the park things are wet, but have not reached disaster proportions.
Baraboo River flows through parking, bridge in background. Ochsner’s Park.
For what it’s worth I’ve been scooting around for my other blogs and posting pictures along the way. You may be interested to see them at:
Devil’s Lake Food Photo Gallery
WisDells.net Blog (some lake Delton images here)
the ex-lake, the parrot & the shark
Published June 11, 2008 | 
I couldn’t help it. As a walked along what was just two days ago a “lake bed”, in my mind I kept hearing bits of Monty Python’s Parrort sketch. . .
“E’s not pinin’! ‘E’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker! ‘E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, ‘e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed ‘im to the perch ‘e’d be pushing up the daisies! ‘Is metabolic processes are now ‘istory! ‘E’s off the twig! ‘E’s kicked the bucket, ‘e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!”
Now from a kayaker’s perspective Lake Delton is (was) not a paddlers paradise. It was in fact one of those million dollar resort encased lakes where beer fuelled tourists raced bow to stern in high octane, blue clouded mayhem. The bits in between were filled with jet skis, WWII DUCKS, and human bodies being towed at insane speeds through the water or dangling from para sails. Chances are there are no paddlers feeling like they lost their little bit of paradise.
Economically however Lake Delton is (was) a major part of the tourism industry in Wisconsin Dells. Those high priced resorts & opulent condos have been spreading along the shoreline like cattails the last few years. Million dollar investments cannot of course afford any down time in a short summer season. Now the mad rush is on to present the good face and keep the tourists coming. It strikes me as something akin to the good Mayer Vaughn shouting that the beaches are still open. . . “After all, Amity Means Friendship.”
There is another side as well. Small family owned motels that sat on the lake shore long before water was reserved for the rich. These little 10 or 20 room motels plugged along. Many of them owned by couples or families that just survived season by season still catering to young couples and families without the means to afford all the brass & tinted bay windows. Some of these folks will not survive the season. Some have called in their chips already, while others are holding on hoping that they will keep enough business to survive the winter.
The upside of all the money placed around this little lake is that the state governor was immediately working to get the lake filled, no questions asked. Even if there may be some legitimate questions to ask, they won’t be. This lake must return and fast. . . and it will.
So while I was walking along the lake bed taking note of the hundreds of dead fish, the child’s sled, the axe hewn old bridge that had once crossed the stream that fed this lake, I was also thinking about what must be going on in some room somewhere downtown, where the city fathers sit listen to the engineers and Natural Resources officials. I was imagining one guy somewhere in the back of the room with a construction company hat on dragging his fingernails across a white board. (yeah, it’s not the same is it??). . .
“And we gotta do it quick, that’ll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin’ basis. But it’s not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I’ll find him for three, but I’ll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you’ve gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don’t want no volunteers, I don’t want no mates, there’s too many captains on this island. Ten thousand dollars for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.”
Water under the bridge. . .
Published June 10, 2008 | 
If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
- paul simon
Just in case you have not heard, my little part of the world is a bit wet at the moment. Oddly due to the floods, one area is in fact less wet! How’s that happen?! Well, when Lake Delton just north of me filled beyond capacity an earthen dam gave way. Within hours this man made lake, surrounded by millions of dollars worth of tourism lodging and the world famous “Tommy Bartlett Ski, Sky, & Stage Show became a mudflat. A few of my clients were on the lake and are just done for the season if not longer. In fact I was to take photos at the TB show on Saturday. I’ve not spoken with them yet, but one has to assume that’s a write off. Meanwhile. . .
Here in Baraboo the local river is raging. This is usually when area kayakers come running to play the rapids. My advice at the moment is stay home. Yeah, you could run them. I was very tempted myself. The problem is with the debris on a couple bends and with the final bridge (top photo) which will NOT let you under. Can you imagine getting flipped and pinned just under the bridge? Chances are you’d not get spit out the other side until we have a dry spell.
Many roads in the area are underwater. Gryphon and I went for a stroll through some of them yesterday. My local lake is also much bigger now. Devil’s Lake State Park will be inundated with phone calls as thousands now wonder about their campsites. In fact the campsites will be fine albeit a little muddy. However some of the roads and most of the picnic areas are for the moment, under water.
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