Twenty two

We’re so ashamed of how much fun we had, we hid our faces.

The early Voyageurs who plied the waters of the southern part of Lake Superior were a religious crew, hence the name of the Apostle Islands.  Except they couldn’t count, since there are twenty two of them.  There is the possibility that they were counting the Apostles, and gave each of them permission to bring a guest.  Judas, obviously, dropped out.

Yeah, that’s it.

The group was wonderful.  A few experienced folks.  A few semi-experienced folks.  A few newbies.  All of them very, very nice people.

One of the best things about the outdoor industry is that it is populated with great folks.   Sales rep, customer service rep, CEO,  Vice President of Whatever…they’re a different type of person.  Almost to a one, they could probably make more money in another industry, and many of them have. They like their work.  They like the people they work with.  They like making people happy making cool stuff.

There is, however, a divide.  Some of the industry folks use the stuff they make on a regular basis.  Others come in from outside the industry, and find themselves a little intimidated by those folks who have been users since they were teenagers.  I don’t blame them.  If you’re an ex-SVP from Frito Lay, chances are you’re pretty smart.  Scary smart.  Suddenly you step into an outdoor corporation and despite your Ivy League MBA, you look at the guy flashing routes and surfing waves and you’re intimidated.  If they walked into your industry, they’d freak out too.

I’m always impressed when a newbie to the industry puts it out there.  They run the risk of looking ridiculous.  Since they’re not afraid of looking ridiculous, they grow and succeed.  Others stay safe and that’s that.  Growth factor zero.

In this case, a few of the group had no experience on big, cold water.  Because we took every safety precaution and everyone was comfortable with the risk involved, there was little stress.  On the water, the newbies deferred to our experience. On land, every0ne participated and some of the newbies took the lead.  Awesome.

By the end of the trip (including a day layover because of a small craft warning), it was fantastic.  The folks who were worried at the beginning of the trip were totally comfortable, smiling and I hope, proud.

Then we had the end-of-trip garage sale.  Garage sale isn’t literal.  It’s a dirtbag kayaker thing.  Gear spread out to dry has caused people to slow down in front of the house and take a peek to see if anything has a price tag on it.

I loved this trip.

Respectfully submitted,

Canoelover

P.S.  We explored some wrecks. Superior is pretty strewn with wrecks.  Superior demands some respect.