Food

The daily routine of the Brigade revolves around three things: sleeping, paddling and eating. Unlike some canoe trips where you might carefully prepare the daily menu many days in advance, we buy new food almost every day and the shopping list is always being updated. Breakfast is often underway by 6am and every hour the canoes stop for a break and quickly food is consumed to keep everyone's engine fired. Every evening the routine is similar: eat, clean-up and make lunch for the following day.

Fortunately my fellow paddlers enjoy eating well. The evening we had tacos we also ate a big slab of smoked salmon -- a gift from Daniel, a 17 year old local boy from Keller who paddled with us a few days ago. For the next three nights, the towns of Pateros, Entiat and Wenatchee, Washington will be our hosts and crew members scheduled for cooking duty will enjoy their rest days more fully.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

Tight quarters

Wednesday night we were camped at Spring Canyon, a short distance up river from the Grand Coulee dam. Thursday we moved the boats around the dam and paddled about 40 kilometers down the Columbia with a strong current most of the way. The camp site was somewhat small which makes the Brigade feel better to me since the tents must be packed closer and everyone interacts more often. It also makes for a colourful photo with all the different tent colours.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

1640 friendly people & one grouch

In Kettle Falls there is an annual vote for the town grouch, nominations are by anyone with $0.25 to start a donation bucket. Proceeds go to charity. Reputation lasts a lifetime.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

Dinner guests

Last night was the start of a two day rest for the Brigade. We paddled about 50 kilometers yesterday morning to Ione and then moved the canoes an hour over a mountain range -- David Thompson did it by horse -- before arriving here in present day Kettle Falls, Washington.

Last night Marg Bates made a big pot of stew and invited the No Way Corveé crew to join us. Most of that crew have worked together for years at Old Fort William in Thunder Bay where the 2008 Brigade ended. At the Fort they learned a great deal about the fur trade era and they have entertained the entire Brigade daily with bagpipe playing, singing and the reenactment of historical events -- they have shaped the character of this journey almost as much as the nearly daily rain.

Tonight we will once again have supper provided by a community -- the Cattlemen's Association -- and a pig roast tomorrow. That follows a salmon dinner at the Kalispel Indian Reservation on Wednesday. Members of the Kalispel suffered in the poring rain to watch the arrival of the canoes and then welcomed everyone into a dry building for a drumming ceremony before heading over to their beautiful community center where paddlers enjoyed the swimming pool, hot showers and ate salmon while watching the NHL victory of Boston over the Canucks.

The hospitality of small communities has been the other defining characteristic of the journey. We have been welcomed into school gymnasiums on rainy nights, had police boat escourts and sensational meals. And the schedule ahead seems to have more to come as well.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

Re: Paddling at last

... Oops, I mis-typed and sent that last one a little before I finished typing.

A week ago I hurt my back moving a canoe so I spent the first five days of the Brigade slowly limping around with a sore back. This afternoon however I decided to join one of the canoes that needed another paddler. It was great to paddle again and the water pushed us along quickly. I will probably avoid carrying canoes for awhile -- the unexpected transfer of weight and awkward carrying position is a problem for me and my back continues to need to recover.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

Paddling at last

Every night on this Brigade, the crew captains and some of the advance crew gather to discuss the next day's paddle. Last night the meeting was held in a school gymnasium in Rexford Montana. Close to half the Brigade slept in the gym as it was raining. The rain continued all night and this morning at 8am the forecasted rain made for a wet start. The nine canoes paddled about 24km down the Koocanusa reservoir, slowed by both rain and a head wind. We trailered the boats past a dam and then paddled another 22km into Libby, MT -- this was my first paddle of the Brigade.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

On to the USA

We arrived at the Koocanusa reservoir last night and this morning the Brigade is paddling towards a ceremony at the border. The reservoir has been almost emptied in anticipation of the huge snow melt that will soon arrive.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

Off to the Sea

Friday we began the David Thompson Columbia Brigade -- a six weeks canoe journey to Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River, about 1000 miles away. Saturday morning the Brigade was up shortly after 5am and headed to a breakfast hosted by the community of Canal Flats and followed by the canoe launch pictured here at the nearby Kootenay river. Yesterday was the first day with a large arrival celebration at the beach in Invermere. The beach was crowded to watch the ten canoes arrive and paddle around in figure eights before a race to shore. Bagpipe players lead a short parade followed by more music, story-telling, fur trade-era exhibits from Parks Canada and comments from local leaders.
----------
Sent from my BlackBerry

SPOT the canoes

Follow this link to a full screen map showing the recent progress of The David Thompson Columbia River Brigade. It leaves Invermere BC on Friday June 3rd and arrives in Astoria Oregon at the Pacific Ocean on July 15th.

TEDx Waterloo

TEDx Waterloo was over a month ago and it was an excellent event. My favourite speaker was probably the long-distance swimmer Vicky Keith. The open science topic was interesting; Edwin Outwater from the KW Symphony was far more interesting than I expected and Abby Sunderland, the kid who was lucky to survive her attempt to sail around the planet isn't a super polished speakers, but has an incredible story. TEDx isn't TED, but it was a fun event.