This is probably my longest post ever, but also i probably wont be updating as much either due to the fact that i'll be done with college thus no computer to update. Well classes are pretty slow right now so i thought i'd spent a little time catching up on some posts and what not. A lot of monumental and big things have hit me in the last two weeks. First off, like i posted before, i'm 20. Second i'm almost done with school and finally, its good to have good friends...even if things don't go as planned. Me and the guys had been planning on going on a canoe trip with about 10-15 other guys from my family. The only thing we need was a boat. The only boat i had was a 12 foot row boat that was made to really only fit two maaaybe three people; but there where 5 of us. So with some thought the obvious solution was to make the boat bigger. We immediately got to work... and when i say that i mean we planned thought and put it off for a week until we could properly equip ourselves. Besides, it gave us more time to brainstorm ideas. Saturday, April 21- Engineering, Designs, pure genius...and maybe a little bit of "ehhh... it should work". After a quick run to Cyle's boss to pick up some barrels and couple of trips to good ol'd Paul B Zimmermans, we were ready to get to work. ( I currently don't have any "before" pictures on me right now but you can pretty much depict what it looked like.) Me, Gary and Cyle (mike came later and unfortunately Darren couldn't make it) first had to over come the hurdle of design and had to "engineer" (as one of the guys on the river said) the best way to attach the barrels to the boat for water dynamics and rigidty as well as overall strength and ruggedness. We didn't want the barrels to fill up with water or simply get ripped off while going down the torrential rapids of the Pine Creek. We also had make sure the balance of buoyancy between the boat and our barrels was even so not to over stress the joints. All these problems where....to say the least, not anticipated. We worked on the boat from about 3 o'clock in the afternoon to about 10 at night and where just about done...but we called it quiets for this weekend. We still hadn't thought up a name for her but that and the rest of the work and test run would have to be completed the next weekend before we left for the trip. On the bright side of things...the boat actually looked like it would float. The Water Hog in the dry docks (note the plank of wood at her bow....dry docks....arrrg)  
Friday, April 27 -The Countdown It was a scramble to tied all the lost ends up. All in all it took about 4 hours for us to do the last bit of modifications, test run the beautiful vessel and finally get the trailer to work (very frustrating and took most of our time because it took three runs to walmart and a little help from gary's dad) The test run - a complete success! -note gary's sweet push stick that apparently was lost during our three or four hour drive to camel. 
But not without incident........note the rear window. This happened when we where trying to load up for the test run. 
It was late when we finally got settled in for the long drive north. And since i know the route the best i drove. Needless to say it was quite interesting because the boat and trailer was too big for mike's jeep and we couldn't drive saftely above 65 mph. Seriously it was unsafe to drive over 65 mph, when i did the whole vehicle would start to weave back n forth so bad that at first i was blamed for doing it on purpose.................no. Needless to say we made it up to the cabin by 2:30 3:00 in the morning. Unfortunately i was too tired to think to check if there where any open beds (which i later found out there where) and we ended up sleeping in the kitchen/living room; which is a story in itself. Gary and Darren quickly grab a chair and couch...leaving Me, Mike and Cyle to fight over the pull out couch...and fight is practically a literal term. Us three where very organized and quiet when moving things around to make room for the bed but once we had it pulled out...there was litterly a moments pause of us standing there looking at the nice little bed....................little bed then looking at each other and well the rest is history. The end result was that the bed was too "uncomfortably" narrow to fit three of us so we ended up sleeping sideways on the bed with our heads on one side and our feet, ankles and shins hanging off the other. April 28 - Ahhhhhh morning I woke in the morning to find that my face was resting against the soft metal bed frame. But that didn't dampen my spirits....looking over to see Cyle's drooling face did. The bright side of it all was that it made my job of getting out of bed a little easier. But it was morning and today was the day. The day we put all our effort, time and planning for was for the evens of this day. We got breakfast and wasted no time sitting back down for a little bit more rest; after which we got moving. The entire crew got together for pics (which i don't have) and then the members of The Offical Man Club had their pic taken, afterwhich...rafting! The Men... left to right Reuben Cater, Gary Martens, Michael Shirk, Darren Weaver, Cyle Martin  
The picture below is most of the guys particpating in the canoe trip 
-note the sweet tie down job and cup of coffee from sheets We left the cabin and where on our way, needless to say everybody had their opinions on whether or not the beast would float. And it wasn't only the guys of the cabin. Apparently when we stopped at a fishing store we got a few stares. The two i noticed where the ones coming from my rear view mirror of two men just standing there looking and talking, and from the words heard by Mike and Darren, one thought it wouldn't work and the other simply wasn't too sure. I hoped it would. When we first put in, we all where unsure if the boat would float, especially since we all hadn't been on it at the same time before and there where about twenty other men (complete strangers i might add) either gearing up to put there canones in, fishing, or walking along the bridge observing this whole ordeal. I literally looked up at the bridge to see a man taking a picture of us with his camera phone...it wouldn't be the last. We unloaded the boat from the trailer, got 2 push sticks, the 3 paddles we bought from walmart the night before (walmarts last 3 paddles) and launched. The water was about 3 inches deep and we where stuck. Mike jumped out and started pushing...and we drug along the bottom. Then we broke free and we where floating. We check the barrels for water or problems and found none. We did it!....then we slammed into a big rock and learned that the white caps on the water usually mean theirs a rock near by. The Water Hog went throughout the rest of the trip without much problem. The biggest problem was working together using our paddles and push sticks. But it all went pretty smoothly, did some fishing, possed for pictures, found a road cone and calmed it as ours, talked to alot of canoers and had a good time. The Water Hog was a fun project and some more modifications to it might happen, but none of it could have happened with out the men i hang out with. GOOD TIMES!!! The Men....with our commandeered road cone- note the great flag we found at green dragon 
The drunken canoers who loved our boat...one guy called us his hero and he wasn't even that drunk...... 
Cyle searching for possible dangers as we cruise down the river  Darren possing beside our flag and the land we calmed while Cyle rests and eats 
I pose and Darren navigates....just to let you know me and Darren switched on and off 
I fish and Gary...I think is taking a rest from rowing. 
GOOD TIMES!! | 
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