The Loneliest Monk

10:15 am I headed out from Kelsey's house after church and a fresh haircut to meet Fluth and his buddy Tom at the launch point at Klondike.  The plan was to stop at the sandbar that Fluth and I had seen 3 weeks ago, set up some lawn chairs, and have a few beers.  I stopped quick at Jimmy Johns and added a sub to compliment my 6-pack of summer shandy. 12:00 pm We had a quick paddle to our destination.  Even though it was not quite as perfect as the first time Fluth and I had come across it (the water had gone a little bit too low) we had an ideal spot to spend the afternoon.  We got comfy in our lawn chairs and got to work on the beer that we had brought along.  It is pretty amazing how the conversation flows once everyone has a couple of beers.  I felt at ease right away hanging out with Fluth and Tom.  They had been friends since high school and shared some pretty funny stories about each to me. After we had worked through our beer we made a f...

This past week flew by.  I honestly felt like I blinked and it was the weekend again.  I was barely ready for it.  I have been so busy trying to stay afloat at work, have a relationship, workout, study for the CPA exam, and still have friends that I hardly have 2 seconds to take a breath during the day.  I am in constant "go" mode from the time I wake up at 5:30 til I hit the sack at midnight.  Anyway I guess that is what these trips are supposed to be for.  Help life slow down for 2 seconds. 9:00 am Boe picked me up and we head out in his dad's pickup to meet our friend Tyler at the bridge on highway 42 (entry point #3).  We were going to go south for 8 miles and get out at grand view county road (entry point #5) .  We couldn't go on a really long route today because we needed to be back in town around 2:00 pm so that Boe could make it to work on time.  We ran almost got stuck when we dropped off our kayaks and canoe because the area w...

Boe and I before we cast off 12:15 pm Boe picked me up at my house and we loaded both of out kayaks up into the back of his pickup.  Today we were going to get in at Lien Park and paddle to the Big Sioux Recreation area which is an 11.2 mile route.  When we got to the park the park ranger told us that the boat ramp was closed due to the flooding and that you could not even get under neath the bridge at this time because the water was so high.  We told her that wouldn't be a problem because we had been planning the whole time to get out before the bridge.  So we parked the car and headed back to Lien Park. 1:30 pm It was another great day to be out on the water and Boe and I were having a blast again. The water was extremely high and very fast a some points.  We quickly realized why the ranger had told us to be careful.  We came to a bridge and it appeared that we were going to have to get out and carry out kayaks past it.  But we decid...

Hello everyone or mainly hello to myself.  I don't really expect anyone to read this just a place for me to document my "adventures".  Back in the day I used to take all sorts of trips with my close group of friends from high school.  We all called ourselves The Woodsmen.  Most of The Woodsmen still hang out on a weekly basis. I lived with 3 of them during college and 4 of them are in my wedding next May. The Woodsmen (minus one) This blog however is less about my good friends and more about the trips that we used to take.  Those were some of the best times of my life.  This blog for me is a way to document and help encourage me to take more of these outdoor adventure trips. I want to be able to experience some of those same feelings I had with my buddies in high school with them again and hopefully share some of them with my fiance as well.  And maybe in time my children as well. The Woodsmen "last supper" But enough of the sappy stuff,...