RE: [Paddlewise] Who we are

I may as well contribute my own bio to the group.

I have pictures my parents took of me "rowing" a wooden
boat when I was about 2.  That was 50 years ago.  But my 
boat love has remained for the whole time.  

I'm a Michigan native who was lucky enough to be able
to spend many summers in the Upper Peninsula
on a terrific lake (Indian Lake at Manistique for those
of you familiar with the place).  I just lived in the boats 
most of the time even though they were just flat bottomed
wooden tubs which were hand made by the guy that owned the
resort.  I thought that the 5hp. motor on them really made them
fly.

So, I do high school, college, Viet Nam (apparently with college
the idea is to actually go to the classes), college again (Go Spartans)
marriage and end up in Bay City where we bought an 18ft. wooden
daysailer of indeterminate origin.  My wife was teaching with a
guy who said that every man should get married, divorced and
own a wooden boat and since he had done all 3, he knew that 
owning the wooden boat was the worst of them.  I can't claim 
any knowledge of the divorce deal since I've been with this 
sainted woman for 30 years but I know going to another wooden 
boat is NOT in my future.

Eventually sold the boat and moved to Mt. Pleasant where I was the 
advisor to the Central Michigan University Sailing Club, mostly to
have access to the daysailers they had.  But I did have a friend who
bought a kayak called a Loon that was about 17ft. of kevlar.  It 
hooked me.

I succumbed to the siren song of the State University of New York
system and ended up in Stony Brook, about a mile from the 
Long Island sound and didn't have a boat.  It was a bad 3 years.

Moved upstate to another SUNY campus and found Keowees in
the LLBean catalog.  Bought 2 and had them plus paddles 
direct shipped to the house about 5 years ago when the 
shipping charge was $3.50 per order.  They sure want more now
to do the same thing.

We've used them to explore Otsego Lake at Cooperstown, 
the Susquehanna river, the Outer Banks, and the Upper 
Peninsula.

Thanks to an ad I saw on NYCKayaker, I met the Volins in
Middletown and traded them cash for a Dagger Edisto.  I 
couldn't be happier with the boat.  But now I need one
for my wife since the Keowee can't keep up with the Edisto.
We're working on the funding.  Funny how that happens.

I'm the Human Resources Director at the SUNY Purchase
campus waiting for my son to graduate from HS so we
can move down here from Oneonta and I can try the Hudson
and some of the other places so often mentioned by the
members of this terrific list.

This has got to be way more than anyone needed to know.

Larry Mills

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