Canoecopia!

This past weekend we had the opportunity to road trip through Wisconsin. Thanks to our sponsor MTI Adventurewear, we were invited to present our story at the world's largest canoe and kayak expo, Canoecopia, in Madison, WI. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to share our story, visit with some dear friends, and rub elbows with some new friends.

Our first stop was in Kenosha, WI. Remember when we lost our rudder to Lake Michigan on only day 9? Well it was on day 12 that we met our good friend Scott. He kindly lent us his rudder from his little boat, Puck! Having built a replacement, we were able to return his lucky rudder and catch up.

Lucky rudder #4 to the left of Scott's rudder.

We spent Thursday night with our friend Katherine in Milwaukee!  It's always great to see your old high school friends!  That night she took us to Comet, a famous diner that serves all you can eat bacon on Sundays. Now that's a good reason to come back for a weekend!  Thanks Kathy!

The next morning we visited our friend Kevin's art exhibit at Marquette University's Haggerty Museum of Art.  His Perimeter Project featured many portraits of people who all have a deep connection with Lake Michigan.  We were excited to finally see it in person!

Can you find us?!

There we are!

And there's our friend Loreen!  She completed a Great Lakes trek this past summer.

Don't forget the opposite wall!

It featured a daily photo of the water front.  Kevin took these while driving the perimeter of the lake.  He spent two weeks photographing Lake Michigan's community of people and its landscape.

We even made it in the handout!

Onward to Canoecopia!

We had to stop to see the capital building too!

We finally got to meet our life jacket sponsor!  Here we are hanging out at the MTI booth with the lovely Lili!  Lili and her husband, Gordon, were incredibly kind and supportive of our trip.  We are so happy to be associated with such a wonderful company with such wonderful people!

We got to our presentation room nice and early to prep our video.  Here's Mary practicing her expressive hand gestures.  Our talk Friday night went very well.  It was a great test run for Saturday, which we heard would be a bit busier.

We able to catch our friend Stephen Brede's presentation on his journey around Lake Michigan in his one-man Kruger Canoe.  He has also circumnavigated Erie and Huron.  He plans to do Ontario this summer, continuing his quest to loop every Great Lake.

Giant pizza with the fam at the hotel Friday night!

Day 2 at Canoecopia.

Our friend, Jon, came to visit this weekend too! We had met him early in our trip, so it was great to see him again, catch up, and plan some future Everglades escapades.

We made some new friends as well!  Darlene Patterson has done some really cool solo paddling trips.  We caught her talk on paddling in Quetico and heard about her upcoming plans to photograph Baffin Island in the Arctic. What a cool, spunky lady.

Ran into some pals from the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association! Happy to see you again Rodney and Alisha!

Yeah! Live music at the MTI booth!

Oh how we wish these were ours.  Mary would have the blue one on top, Amy the turquoise on bottom.

Here we are getting ready for our Saturday talk! Please note our consistent matching in each photo throughout the weekend.

Much busier than Friday!

Helloooooo Madison!

Over 400 people packed into our room to hear us speak!  So happy we made our slideshow extra special for the event by including an exclusive video not yet seen by the public! Don't worry, we'll post it soon!

That night we went out for dinner with our friends Lili, Gordon, Cat, and Jim.  What great company!

Later, we were able to hear some great live music at the High Noon Saloon where many of the Canoecopia exhibitors and presenters were gettin' down.

We also got to visit Madison's famous Essen Haus and ordered a boot.

Das boot war sehr gut!

A night time stroll by the capital building.

We also got to visit with our friend Jason at his booth.  We had met him and his friend Sergio while paddling past Racine on day 14 of our journey.

Here's our friend, Andrew, from Bending Branches.  He's responsible for getting us a good discount on our paddles.  He said the first paragraph of our sponsorship e-mail was what got his attention, but the second paragraph really sealed the deal. Good job Amy!

On the third day of Canoecopia we got to hear Jon Turk talk about his circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island. What a cool dude.  And a BA.

Also caught a talk by the great story teller, Kenny Salway, 'The Last River Rat'. He was a seriously phenomenal storyteller. While everyone else hurried to set up their computers and projectors during the 10min turn arounds between presentations, Kenny simply grabbed a chair and sat down center stage in front of his audience. What a guy.

And that's a rap on the weekend. What a fantastic time. See you next year, Canoecopia? We hope so!

Quiet Water Symposium

 

This past weekend we attended the Quiet Water Symposium at Michigan State University. It is an annual event that is centered around non-motorized outdoor sports, especially water sports. We were invited to do a presentation on our trip. We also got to walk around the show with our friend Tim and meet some pretty cool people.

 The event included many displays of various watercrafts. Check out these beautiflul wooden boats!

Here we are giving our talk - We enjoyed speaking to an audience full of watersport enthusiasts! Several friends of ours from the trip were able to attend. It was great to be able to tell the full story to those who only saw parts of it. We also had a nice couple come up to us after our talk to share a photo album with us - it was full of pictures of them enjoying time in their handmade dugout canoe! Makeba should meet this fellow dugout someday. This experience was also great practice for the talks we will be giving next weekend at Canoecopia in Madison, Wisconsin.

Here we are with our friend Tim. He took a great kayak trip of his own this past summer - from the Soo to the Sea. He will actually be giving a TED talk on his journey in a few weeks!

Checking out more gorgeous cedar strip canoes with fun wood inlays.

Learning about some old Klepper folding sailboats.

We learned the difference between a Greenland kayak design and an Aleutian kayak design called a baidarka, which features a forked bow in the picture below.

There were also several conservation groups with booths. One group had several birds on hand that had been saved from various traffic collisions and/or were overcoming health problems.

An adorable Barred Owl.

A fierce looking Red-tailed Hawk.

We had a great time at the event! We got to share our story, and meet with some old and new friends. Thanks for having us, Quiet Waters!

Montage Teaser Release

  We have hours upon hours of video footage from the big trip!  Here is a small glimpse of our story.  We're happy to say we shot and edited the piece.  Hope you like it!  Be on the lookout for more to come!

Lake Michigan in a Dugout Trailer

Goodbye Mr. Canoe

  We're sorry to say that the paddling world lost a friend earlier this week.  Amy and I were lucky enough to cross paths with Ralph Frese aka Mr. Canoe shortly before leaving for our trip around the lake.  We were still in the process of finishing the boat for departure and we heard from many that this was the man to talk to.  And they were right.  Ralph wasn't afraid to ask all the questions and guide us in the right direction.  He took a special interest in our plans and kept tabs on our boat construction and the journey itself.  We were able to e-mail back and forth during the trip, with Ralph frequently asking questions as to how the boat was holding up/ how we were holding up.  We actually met many people along the shore that knew Ralph!  How crazy is it to meet so many different people in completely different locations on the shore that all link back to this man?  Maybe not that crazy.  He was, no IS Mr. Canoe.  He will be missed by the many he touched.  We are glad to have known such a wonderful man.

Please visit the Ralph Frese memorial blog to share your memories of him.

Arrival News Articles

While in Saugatuck:
Allegan News

Home:
The Herald Argus

The News Dispatch -1
The News Dispatch -2

Northwest Indiana Times
  -This article has been appearing in multiple locations including Indianapolis, IN and Durango, CO!

The End.... the end?

Here we are.  Our last travel day of the trip of a lifetime.  And it was a great day.  Our goal was to make it from Warren Dunes to Beverly shores in one go- 21mi.  The next day was calling for high winds that would cause waves, so we knew we needed to go as far as we could otherwise we would be having another weather day only 5-7mi from home.

 Makeba patiently waiting to leave.

First stop, New Buffalo, Rios.

There was no way we could pass New Buffalo without pulling over and going into town for some Rios.  Dressed in wetsuits, PFD and all, we were ready to chow down on some seriously delicious mexican food.  Rios is our favorite, and probably the best mexican food restaurant on the lake.  We've dreamed of this day the entire 93 days we were on the water.

 So happy to have you back in our lives!

 The pet we always wanted.  Might need a bigger PFD for ol' Bessy!

Here we're passing our favorite Long Beach stop!  Hi Kelly family!  See you at Beach Glass Cafe soon!

 Off to Michigan City!

The lighthouse we are most familiar with.

 We were moving so quickly under sail that we decided to stop and climb one of our favorite Beverly Shores dunes.  Here's Amy and Makeba in the distance.  She has a problem with heights... so she decided not to climb up with us.  The tree that's scared of heights.  Can you believe it?

Our beautiful lake.

Finally!  Chicago appeared in the distance out of the gloomy far away clouds!  Hello old friend!

And what is this?  Our wonderful friends from B&E Marine came to see us home!  They pulled up to us tooting their horn, displaying a huge sign reading "Welcome Back Mary & Amy"!  What a great surprise!  Thanks so much you guys!

 Passing our original starting line!  This is the official spot where our journey began!  We ended up going just another mile further to the public beach.

 So we got home a little earlier than expected, arriving at 4pm.  21mi sailed in an 8hr day that included walks into town and dune climbing.  Nice.  Hi everybody!  

 A few more people came to welcome us home.

 We made it!  High Five!

 Makeba pulled up in the perfect parking spot.  The boats saved a space for us like they knew we were coming.  Again, Makeba fits right in.

Have you heard that Wilderness Inquiry is in town?  The whole crew came to meet us while we were on the beach!  They're in Michigan City for the week taking school kids on canoe rides on Trail Creek. Sweet Voyageur Canoes.  What a nice smooth ride.  Open canoe ride to the public will be offered on Wednesday from 5pm-7pm if you want to check these out!

 Mmmm food, beverages, friends, and family.  Pass the veggies please!  After hanging around at the beach until 5:30, we went to Amy's Aunt Indre's house.  Thanks for the welcome back meal!

This is the end of our journey around Lake Michigan, but don't worry, it's not the last of its kind.  Amy and I have had a wonderful time on Lake Michigan these past 3 months/93 days.  We got to experience the entire lake's shoreline up close and personal, meeting so many wonderful people along the way.  We would not be where we are now if not for the kindness of so many friends and strangers.  Thank you!

To answer some questions:  No, Makeba will not be going on another similar trip on another great lake.  I think she deserves a break.  We have no regrets on taking her for this one though!  The next journey will hopefully be by a faster, sleeker means.  Yes, we took lots and lots of video and are looking to make a small video with the help of our amazing friend Kevin Weaver, video extraordinaire.  And yes, we might maybe perhaps possibly write a book and/or children's book about a tree that once dreamt of sailing in Lake Michigan.  A silly dream for a tree, don't you think?  Maybe even sillier for two girls to have the same dream.  Naw.