ANOTHER CANOEING FIASCO!

       The year I've long forgotten, but, I know it was the early 1970's. It was one of those perfect fall days--cool and yet the sun was warm on your back. There was not much wind and the leaves were starting to turn.

      Good friends of my wife, Sandi, and I, Bob and Marsha Lippold, decided sometime along the way to canoe the Des Moines River. It sounded like a fun thing to do and a little adventuresome. Besides, how could we go wrong since Marsha had taken a course in "canoeing" while attending the University of Iowa many years ago.

      We started somewhere down from Polk City as construction had started on Saylorville Lake at the time. Only one small problem emerged from get-go and that was the fact that the river was extremely low due to early stages of damning and the fact it was fall and the water was naturally low. It seemed we walked the river more than we canoed it. Also, about halfway down we realized we were sitting in the canoe backwards. Yes! There is a front and a back! Oh,  well. It was a beautiful day, we were near nature, and laughter never hurt anyone!