Canoeing the Eleven Point River

Everyone who follows the Adventure Canoe Forum probably saw the post of the photos from Puerto Rico. My wife, Cate, got a new job and in between we took a vacation. The Puerto Rico trip became the second honeymoon and it was our anniversary thing. We did the blow out super trip with fancy hotels, the beach and poolside cocktails so we were trying to plan something fun for our actual one year wedding anniversary on September 13th. Cate suggested that we go canoeing and I was all over the idea. We waffled a little about going back to Hotel Phillips in Kansas City, where we got married, but settled on a trip down the Eleven Point. I have the best wife ever.

So, Friday night after work we loaded up the wagon and headed down to Hufstedler’s with the canoe. The customer service at Hufstedler’s was awesome. I called to see if they had any cabins available and the man on the phone said sure. He told us we could just pull in and they’d leave the door unlocked and the lights on. You can see some photos of the inside of “the party house” a bit later.

So we make the long drive down to Southern Missouri. Route 67 is currently under construction and there are multiple 30mph lane switches. The GPS is going crazy because it thinks we’re on the service road and is telling us to make u-turns and to head down country roads. We ignore it for the most part and get off at Highway 60. After a bit on the nice 4 lane divided highway we turn right on 21 because we’re looking for a beer.

We end up at some American Legion post where ordering a Captain and Diet is a great production of finding the rum. The bartender regales us with a story of how her fathers land was seized for moon shining and how they lived in a tent for five years. She has no idea where Riverton is and asks another bar patron. “Twenty miles on 160, you’ll see ‘em on the left,” is the response from a ridiculously drunk man at the bar who now wants to talk to us about his canoeing exploits. These include running Buck Hollow Spring in a stolen canoe with the rangers chasing him and getting busted by Federal Agents for smoking weed. He tells us that they had been smoking but weren’t when they got arrested so they shoulda just let him go. There was some other stuff about being careful and watching out for river patrol if we were going to throw bottles in the river. We leave quickly.

We finally arrive at Hufsteder’s and as promised the sign out front is glowing. It was more of a reflective paint thing than an actual glow but close enough. The house also has the lights on and the door unlocked.

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ACA Canoe Instructor Training – Level 3: River Canoeing

Start: Oct 23 2009 – 9:00am

End: Oct 25 2009 – 4:00pm

Timezone: Etc/GMT-6

Adventure Canoe is hosting an ACA instructor certification course. Visit this link ACA Canoeing Instructor Course for more information and to register or email jdixson@adventurecanoe.com

The course will be led by Pat Owens and cost $300

6 Worst Diet Fads

If you’ve visited a bookstore this month, you probably weren’t able to avoid the giant pyramid of diet books that magically appears right after Jan. 1. Whether you find those titles inspiring or just guilt inducing, one thing is certain: many of them sound too good to be true. And often they are. These popular weight-loss fads usually aren’t all…

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F.D.A. Finds ‘Natural’ Diet Pills Laced With Drugs

Food and Drug Administration says those weight-loss capsules, called StarCaps and promoted as natural dietary supplements using papaya, could be hazardous to your health.

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6 Reasons Why a Glass of Wine Each Day May Do You Good

Already well-known as heart healthy, wine in moderation might help you lose weight, reduce forgetfulness, boost your immunity, and help prevent bone loss. … just don’t pound the whole bottle in one sitting.

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Women’s breasts getting bigger

New Zealand women are getting bigger breasts, with D cups and bigger accounting for nearly half of Bendon bras sold in New Zealand last year.

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The reason fat people find it hard to lose weight is found

Scientists have discovered why fat people find it so hard to lose weight, which will lead to many new approaches to weight loss.

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Fattest, Unhealthiest US City is… Yep, in West Virginia

Nearly half the adults in Huntington’s five-county metropolitan area are obese – an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

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Aspirin vs. Marijuana

When Bayer introduced aspirin in 1899, cannabis was America
’s number one painkiller. Until marijuana prohibition began in 1937, the US Pharmacopoeia listed cannabis as the primary medicine for over 100 diseases. Cannabis was such an effective analgesic that the American Medical Association (AMA) argued against prohibition on behalf of medical….

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Orgasm on a Bike?

I posted this over on Paunchiness as well but I thought it was fitting here.

I’ve always wanted my wife to get a bike so she could go on rides with me. Unfortunately, she’s not really into the whole idea of riding and doesn’t really get it. I’ve thought about sneaking one in for a birthday or christmas present. I feel that getting someone exercise equipment in any form for a present sends the a mixed message. Even though my wife looks incredible and takes care of herself I think she’d figure I gave her a bike because I thought she was fat and needed to work out more.

Either way, this is a funny video. Show it to your loved ones for a laugh not to butter them up in preparation for buying them there first bike since childhood.

If you’re still thinking about buying a wife or a girlfriend a bike it’s probably ok as long as it’s an arbitrary gift sometime in the spring and not in any way related to a holiday where they expect something that they want.