Welcome to the History of the Canoe Trip!
Posted by John on 12/23/2009
The Early Years of the Muir Family Canoe Trip (This was roughly put together from Marilyn Nelson's and Joanne Haymaker's memory.)
The Idea
Les Muir and Bob Haymaker canoed Sugar Creek from Crawfordsville, past Turkey Run, and through the Shades State Park one weekend in the late 70s or early 80s. They had such a great time that they organized a family canoe trip and invited all sides of the family.
Sometime during the next year, we attended a funeral for either Glen Kistner's mom or dad. Again the family so enjoyed being together, even during such a sad occasion, that we vowed to create an annual family event that was a happy reason to get-together. Thus the Annual Family Canoe Trip was born.
The first year or years?
The first year was 1973. Joanne remembers because it was the year she was pregnant with Beth. The 1st year was great fun with all meeting at Joanne Haymaker's house, eating a great meal, and sleeping in every bed and on every floor available. As I recall, we all were exhausted but thought it uncivilized to go to sleep before 9:30 p.m.
Chuck Thompson was especially vocal about not giving in to such an early sleep time. In fact, Chuck refused to go to bed before the news came on at 10 pm. So Chuck and Leo and a few others stayed up to watch the news. Rumor has it that Chuck and others didn't make it through the news.
Joanne Haymaker also remembers that Uncle Ken got up in the middle of the night to go downstairs to sleep because brother Lester's loud snoring kept him awake.
Basically people who continued to be invited and attended in the early years were those who came regularly and on occasion brought their friends and family.
Lester and Marion Muir; Bob and Joanne Haymaker; Margaret and Gene Erwin (Bob's sister and brother-in-law) Chris and Beth Haymaker; Marilyn and Leo; Dan and Leslie Nelson; Glen and Margaret Kistner; Autumn and Kevin? Roger and Irene Nelson; Nerissa Nelson; Leo's mom Clara; Russell and Adeline Muir; Bob and Sharon Muir; Ken and Caryl Muir; Maureen and Chuck Thompson; Ken and Sue Muir; Mike Muir, Marsha Muir. This is before Mike and Marsha were married and before many of the current generation of Muir offspring were born.
One vivid memory from our 2nd trip was at canoe loading time. Marilyn Nelson, who had experienced a chilly dip on a canoe trip in northern Michigan the year before, came with a triple garbage-bag-wrapped change of clothes. Uncle Ken said, "I'm not riding with anyone who has as little confidence over tipping over as Marilyn does." The "Gods of Sugar Creek" must have been listening because within the first 15 minutes Uncle Ken and trusting canoeing companion Marsha had tipped and were drenched from head to toe. Uncle Ken joined the triple wrapped garbage bag group the very next year.
It had been chilly that morning. I also remember Cousin Maureen heading out with her beautifully manicured nails protected with a pair of fur lined gloves. We chuckled a bit but were also impressed at her preparedness
Again we had a great feast at Joanne and Bob Haymaker's house. Marion, Adeline, and Caryl presided over the food as I recall. Marilyn Nelson made something called "Chicken Surprise" for breakfast for several years. Dan and Leslie said it was always a surprise that it tasted so good.
The other great memory was the football games held out on the Haymaker lawn? with Bob Muir, Glen Kistner, Uncle Bob, Leo Nelson, Chuck Thompson and the kids that were old enough: Eric, Kevin, Dan, Leslie, Chris? (Corrections anyone?)
John and Elaine Paulsen (college friends of Leo and Marilyn) brought their daughter Christine who also played a key role in the football action. Calling all cousins: I know I'm leaving someone out so fill in the blanks.
An Excerpt from Dan Nelson
I was on the first canoe trip, and I seem to remember being about 10 years old. That would have been 1975, or maybe 1976. It was always a great fall event, that was incredibly safe since the deepest water only came up to my knees. This, unfortunately, led to a lot of walking the canoes. The low water made is especially difficult on Uncle Bob who took great pride in stopping for EVERY piece of garbage along the creek. It was great to see how much garbage could actually be packed into a Grumman canoe. You'll have to ask him what the record is for old tires in one trip.
Part of the problem with canoeing in the Fall was the cold weather. It's beautiful, but can be nippy. Since Aunt Marilyn can't stand being
cold, wet, or unprepared, she developed the spare clothes in double wrapped garbage bag technique. This was always very amusing to Uncle Kenny who couldn't understand how someone could get wet in water that barely covered the rocks. One year, I seem to remember Uncle Kenny getting only past first bend in the river when the canoe he was piloting got caught on the top of a rock, created an imbalance, leading to a swamped canoe, and a wet Uncle Kenny. Glen and Margie still hold the record for the most swamps of a canoe at two swamps in one trip. I think that's why Margie doesn't like to actually canoe any more. Most unusual head gear goes to either Cousin Bob with his red and white polka dot hat or Uncle Bob with his pilot skull cap. We have movies of this stuff if you don't believe me.
There was a period of time in the early 80s when we didn't hold the canoe trip for a few years. Since it was something that I remember kept the family together and talking, I started it up again in 1986? with help from my mom and Aunt Joanne. I'm glad to see you guys are keeping it going.
An Excerpt from Susie Muir
It was one of the "early" years because I remember sleeping on one of those floors in Joanne's beautiful house... It was a looooooooong journey down the river that day. The water was down and Kenny had said early into the trip that if I didn't follow his instructions, we would certainly end up on the rocks. Of course we did. I've never been very good at following his orders, oh I mean, directions. That's when he proclaimed that he would not be getting out of the canoe to help. So, conceding that it must in fact be my fault that we were hung up, I proceeded to get out of the canoe on at least five occasions throughout the day. Needless to say, by the end of the trip I was not a happy woman. When we came to the unloading area, in those days, the canoe had to be hauled up a fairly steep incline. When Uncle Kenny didn't help me as quickly as I thought he should have, after being such a brute all day, I took a nice level backswing with the paddle and let him have it....right over the head!!! He did not lose consciousness, thank goodness, and I have never had to get out of the canoe again. I don't think we were even married yet. I have always thought that after that day the family must have prayed that our engagement would in fact end in a wedding and not a murder!! I can only hope that no one has a picture of that day.
An Excerpt from John Muir
I am going to be different and add something more modern, like this past year, 2004! We made a lot of changes that will hopefully benefit the trip for years to come. To start with I took the trip under my wing and revolutionized the way we plan and run it. Things are all based through the internet now and it is helping everyone and making it easy to manage. We are splitting up the responsibilities and adding new activities. We are now having a Saturday night picnic, which was a big hit, to keep the family together and avoid hunting through Indiana for a descent place to eat. We have officially adopted the 11 mile trip and it should be leading to a canoeing revival! This year's trip down the river was a very interesting one with many stories to tell and we topped Saturday off with a great battle of Trivial Pursuit.
If you have something to change you can email Joanne Haymaker and Marilyn Nelson our official history buffs. If you have anything to add you can email John.
