Day 2: The Banjo Plays On.....

Where do I start? The more I think about this story the more I don’t want to tell it again but I’ll fight through it. At the time, going for a little canoe trip down the Huron River seemed like a fantastic Idea. We tried to get some kayaks but the place we normally rent them from was out. Fortunately Anya’s mom had a canoe that she was more than happy to let us use. So Saturday morning Matt and I packed a cooler full of sandwiches, soda pop, and carrots. Once we were all packed up we headed for the Dexter Bakery to get some doughnuts for breakfast. Now we were ready and we headed off to Anya’s moms house to start our journey.
We were about to launch the canoe when my cousin Dave walked up. This was our first mistake…talking to Dave. Dave has been down the river many times and he told us, “When you get to that spot with the big danger signs that say “’Keep RIGHT”’ you can go left, it’s really not that bad.” Now being that Dave is older and wiser than I (or so I thought), I figured that It would be ok to go left. This was our second mistake….listening to Dave.

Finally we launched the canoe. Matt Haynes was in the front and I was in the back steering, or trying to steer. Our journey started with no problems, the weather was great and my sandwich was even better. About an hour goes by when we get to those big danger signs. My first thought was that we were going to left but in the back of my mind I thought that it was a bad idea. But with a little peer pressure from Matt we ended up going left into the rapids, completely ignoring the warning signs and all that stuff about drowning. As soon as we hit the rapids we got stuck on a rock. Next thing I knew were sideways against the current. As we sat there stuck not knowing what to do I hear Matt from the back of the canoe say, “Chip, I think were going over!” Yup, before I could process what he had said the boat was upside down and we were both in the water. In a moment of shock I looked down stream and saw my paddle floating away, and then I looked over and saw the cooler float past me. Of course I’m thinking to myself, “Forget the boat, grab the food!” So I jumped over the canoe and started swimming for the cooler, all the while Matt is standing helpless staring at me. Finally, Matt gets the canoe free from the rock it was stuck on and it floated down to me full of water. At this point I realized that the boat had completely fallen apart. Both of the seats were broken and the bars that held the boat together had broken off the sides. Oh, and there were two cracks on either side of the boat were slowly letting water in.
The worst part was, 1. It wasn’t our boat and 2. There was still another two hours left on the River. Matt’s phone was now broken and I had lost my sandwich. However, about 10 minutes after this small disaster I saw my sandwich in the plastic bag floating down stream ahead of us.
When we finally reached the end we had to get the canoe out of the river which turned out to be a daunting task. Though there just happened to be a homeless man sleeping behind the Dexter Mill where we had parked the car. The man kindly helped us get the canoe out of the water and then there was an awkward 20 minutes of waiting for Aunt Becky to come with rope. Fortunately the man didn’t do anything crazy.
The rest of the afternoon was spent repairing the broken canoe. Thank goodness for fiberglass repair kits and gorilla glue. We even bought paint to match the color of the canoe. I would even say that the canoe ended up in better shape than when we got it…but maybe not.
This ends the story of the canoe adventure. If I have learned anything from this trip I would say two things, 1. Always follow big orange signs that say “DANGER” and 2. Never EVER listen to anything that Dave Cobler ever tells you…you will probably end up wet or dead. Fortunely Matt and I only got the wet part….

Those stupid banjo players....

It all started about a week ago when Matt Haynes asked me, "Chip, when are we going to Michigan again?" I didn't think much of it until I realized that I didn't have to work Fri-Sun. I asked Aunt Becky if she wouldn't mind having some company for a couple of days and of course she said "Yeah Baby." Matt's parents were a little hesitant in letting me drive there son on a 200 mile road trip, but after a little convincing, no problem...I asked my dad if he would let me go so it was set, MY FIRST ROAD TRIP! Thursday I had to work till 4 o'clock but I got off 1/2 hour early. Earlier that day I had bought 2 quarts of oil and while putting it in I realized that I didn't really know how to read the dip stick (but nobody needs to know that). So after work I packed up and headed for Matt's. We headed over to thortons to gas up and pick up some snacks for the road. At about 4:30 our journey had begun. I now know the true meaning of the term "rush hour".....enough said. Once getting around the Chicago madness we had no problem. Matt played the combined role of DJ/Navigator...though he sucked at navigating (but I didn't say that). We arrived at my second home in lovely Dexter Michigan at about 10:45 eastern time. We were welcomed by Uncle Larry and my cousin Erin. It turns out that Aunt Becky had made up two beds in guest room downstairs but Matt and I preffered the couches. For those of you who don't know, Matt Haynes is nocturnal. We put in the movie "The Fugitive" and after about 20 min I fell asleep. At about 2am I wake up and Matt is watching another movie while playing with his laptop. At this point I was pissed off because the TV was still on so I went into the guest room
END OF DAY 1

DAY 2....coming soon

I never really was big into cars...

In the last few weeks I have discovered that if there is one man that I would seek good advice about life from, It would be my uncle Larry. It is because of him that I am writing this blog.(more on this later) Story: For those of you who don't know, I drive a 1993 Plymouth Voyager that has 177,000 miles, no A/C and a rebuilt trans. Now being a 16 year old driver that makes just enough to pay for gas, driving a "sweet" car just isn't high on my list of priorities so I have to make do with the mini-van. I made a trip out to the local Auto Zone to see what I could find to make the van as cool looking as a van can look. I purchased new plastic chrome hubcaps and to my surprise I have received a number of compliments (now whether people are just trying to make me feel good I'm not sure). Uncle Larry was in town at the time and so I was telling him my future plans for my car to which he responded, "Chip, every dollar that spend on that mini-van is a dollar that you can't spend on something else." I have really taken this statement to heart and have since not spent one dollar on that van.

I think that the van was a little upset by this and decided to leave its lights on in the parking lot while I was in church. Of course leaving the lights on makes the battery upset and when the battery is upset then the engine doesn't start and when the engine doesn't start then Chip is late for work and when Chip is late for work, who is there to make the world sandwhiches? The moral of this useless story of "car vs. man" is that we all need to take a break every once in a while, look at the sky, enjoy the flowers of summer, see all the happy or not so happy people strolling by, and make sure your stupid lights are turned off!