Go North, Young Man

Cheers to Sean Bloomfield and Colton Witte for taking on an ambitious and promising journey. The two high school grads have embarked on a nearly 3 month canoe journey from the Minnesota River to the Hudson Bay. The two were inspired after reading Eric Sevareid's book about going from Fort Snelling in Minneapolis to the Hudson Bay in a canoe in 1930.

I too was inspired by reading that book, as well as the book, Distant Fires, in which the author did a Duluth to Hudson Bay canoe journey in 1987. Unlike Bloomfield and Witte, I have not turned that inspiration to action in the form of an 1800 mile canoe journey. As a teenager, I did 10 days in the Boundary Waters. I recall doing about fifty portages, but less than 100 miles over that week and a half. Not nearly the same scale.

So, I really want to praise these two for undertaking this adventure and having the foresight of doing it while they still can. (Before college.) Still, one tiny thing nags at me. That is the picture of them heading off that accompanied Nick Coleman's column in the Star Tribune.

I know they are just pushing off and are probably just starting to place their paddles in the water. But canoeists in the know don't paddle on the same side of the canoe. It's a very inefficient way to canoe.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. They're pushing off. It is probably early in the morning. Who knows what rocks or logs lay submerged on the other side of the canoe. And if they don't know much about proper canoeing despite several years of experience, I'm sure they will end this trip much stronger and smarter canoeists than a lot of us. So props to them!

Community helpers

Meredith has been learning about "community helpers" at school. People like doctors, teachers, firefighters, and police officers.

Today's Star Tribune takes a look at an unnamed community helper who didn't seem to live up to the "helper" part of "community helper." The column, by Nick Coleman, is called Minneapolis cop dug a hole for himself in shovel dustup. I'm generally not a fan of Coleman's writing, but this piece does make you shake your head.

The general story is that a woman was trying to help dig out a bus stuck in the snow, full of people from the casino, at midnight. She spotted a shovel leaning against the police station and asked to borrow it for 15 minutes. The response she got was not so much in the "helpful department." The incident culminates with a citation and court date.