spent the day hanging out with some fine folks involved with the valley stewardship network ( one of which is my better half! ) on the west branch of the kickapoo river. he’s very serious about tackling the rapids such are they are 🙂
still getting used to odin and his all-growed-up-ed-ness wearing contact lenses.
the kickapoo river is a 126-mile-long twisty turny tributary of the wisconsin river and gets its name from an algonquian word meaning “one who goes here, then there”. rolling down the river the low and slow river is one of the many highlights of the driftless region. because the region didn’t get razed flat by the advancing glaciers then dumped with drift they receded the river offers some spectacular views.
and it’s all the more fun when you roll down the river when family are visiting.
between intentionally goofing around and actually accidentally running into each there was a lot of contact on the river. i’m surprised one of them didn’t dump it. nope, that honor went to their mothers 🙂
it was absolutely gorgeous day. sunny, light breeze, warm but not hot and no bugs!
the ancient geography throws off a serious Enchanted Land where Faeries might Play vibe.
this here is what is known locally as river beer. i think not so much because it tastes like a river but because if you take a spill it’s not the end of the world if you lose a few in the river. but we don’t do that, leave no beer behind is my motto.
on the ride back from the landing in a packed bus of merry ( and tipsy ) river goers, odin notices the sign on the bus has the same number for the half a dozen services on emergency services sign. he thinks someone was trying to make an joke that he doesn’t get. i tell him there was a day when 911 didn’t exist and you had to call a different number for all the different services and the numbers were different from town to town. he gave me the man-the-olden-days-were-crazy look.