Classic Duluth Culture "Geek Prom"

http://www.geekprom.com/info.html
Some really funny Duluth Culture here for sure, a tradition that is rooted in D-town but has moved on to bigger venues. Well worth a look. Sounds like this year the Geeks decided to show some true skin and got busted for it!

The Unforeseen. A must see movie.

This movie distills everything that I thought about developers and developement. Lately I have just been wondering if I am going crazy. Can we really be cutting, tearing and trenching away our land and our earth so fast? Are the consequences as dire as I think that they are? Is there a better way? Well watch this movie and you will have a bunch of answers and you might even feel a bit less crazy once you do.

Got some press for paddling

The Duluth News Tribune put in some great press on our paddle trip up the North Shore. Thanks Sam!
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=46992§ion=outdoors,outdoor%20news

New tool for Mad River Glen

I saw this on the Ski Hut team site but they found it on http://drunkcyclist.com WOW, this could revolutionize the ski industry, especially the single chair at Mad River Glen!

Thanks to Pro Video

http://www.provideoproductions.com/index.php?page=biographies.php#Tom
I just wanted to say thanks to Tom, Steve and Jack at Pro Video for all thier help on the production end of making my stupid little flick possible. If not for them it would not be showing tonight at the Free Range Fest (maybe we should regret that!). Also because of them we are going to be able to have a few extra copies to sell and give away. So stay tuned if you want a copy of Cross Country with the Snakes as it maybe available on Chairkickers.com in the next month or so.

A sweet Summer day in Northern Minnesota

The temps are just out of control here this week. However, yesterday I spent the day on Lake Superior with some great company. While the rest of the world broiled we were hanging on water that was in the high 50's, almost chilly. We paddled past the Pallisade Head, Shovel Point and all the sweet arches and terrain in between. I was with a bunch of cool people. Scott Nuestel and Sam Cook took the time to organize the paddle and I thank them. On the return I realized that if I hurried I could meet Marg at the Tuesday night ride at Mont Du and did just that, then joined Sherri Nelson and Dave and Kate Stenjem (Sp?) for dinner at the Wobegon!
Could be the best day of the summer I have had so far!

Free Range Barn is getting ready!

Last week,
Annie, Mike and Val had a sneak preview of some of the flicks for this years Free Range Film Fest at the barn. I love hanging at the barn before the fest, you can sit on couches and you have the whole place to yourself. Although I must say, seeing it full of film fanatics is usually cool too!

My Wife is a berry picking maniac

So Margaret has already picked something like 13 gallons of Strawberries, she had me outside this morning picking Rasberries and soon we will be picking Blueberries! I like to complain but man the all taste great in they daily smoothie. Last season the berry picking surge gave us a full year of smoothies.

How Tough is a Kevlar Wenonah?

So this Spirit Two Kevlar Ultralight Canoe took a high flyer off the top of my trailer yesterday. The top of the trailer has to be 10 feet or so and the speed I was going had to be close to 70mph. A strap snapped when I was passing a semi truck. Luckily nobody was following close behind me at the time. The amazing thing is, is that I could most likely paddle it right now if I had to. A new set of gunwales and some patches and it will be back on track.

Ember Photography, a sweet way to dream of future adventures

Some of my best friends are amazing photographers! Take a gander at these babies, always leave me dreaming. Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson! http://www.emberphoto.com/

Picnic with Nikolai and Roar by the Shore

So there are a couple of really cool things going on this weekend that I wont be able to attend. The bummer of being a kayak rep in the best time of the year. Anyway first we have a really cool get together with Nikolai Anikan at the Snowflake Nordic Center here in Duluth. If you remember my previous post Nikolai is the guy who has multiple Olympic medals and was also a nordic ski coach for the USSR. He is currently battling cancer so this is a time for people to get together and support him. Here is where to get the beta http://www.duluthxc.com/singleplus.php?page=Community_News/NikolaiSrSnowflake
The other milestone this weekend is the last Roar by the Shore at the soon to be defunct Red Lion Club. The last time I stepped into the Red Lion Club the first thing I saw was a Dwarf dancing with a rather shabbily dressed lady of the night. Changed me forever. In any case the Black Eyed Snakes are going to be playing there and that makes it worth it all over again.

Big Assed Ride Blogspot

A bunch of my friends are doing the TransAlp Mountain Bike Race in Europe. I cant even begin to explain where they are riding but suffice to say it is insane. You are in two person teams, you have to be at least two minutes from your partner or you are cut and it is all about huge climbs and massive vertical. Check out Tyler and Katherines Transalp blog at
http://www.bigassride.blogspot.com/

New State park Proposed in Minnesota!

Huh,
How often do you hear that a new chunk of land was bought by the state and then turned into a park instead of building condos on it? Almost never. So you can imagine my surprise at reading this......

"St. Paul, Minn. — The 2,500 acres is adjacent to the Soudan Underground Mine State Park in northeastern Minnesota. If the state acquires the land, the two parks would provide more than 10 miles of recreational shoreline, and 3,700 acres adjacent to Lake Vermilion.

Lake Vermilion is a 40-mile long lake that is considered one of the premier fishing areas in the state. It also overlaps with the Boundary Water Canoe Area and the Superior National Forest."

The rest of the story is at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/07/17/newstatepark/

Enbridge Oil plans pipeline through our neighborhood

Huh, sometimes you read the craziest things in the paper. I was sitting down to lunch and saw this in the Wall Street Journal. Looking at the map it looks like this freaking thing is coming straight on through either the BWCA, Voyageurs or close to it and then straight down the St.Louis River Valley to the Twin Ports. My head spins with the fears of what beautiful places are going to be crushed by this for a few last gasps of using oil to run our economy and our world. How pointless is this going to be in 20 years? So stupid.

Cross Country with the Snakes first showing at the Free Range Film Fest!

So I am finally done with my documentary called "Cross Country with the Snakes" it will be shown for the first time to the public at the Free Range Film Fest here in Wrenshall, MN. If you have not been to the Free Range fest you need to go. It is in a huge old barn, BYOB, you sit in the hayloft and it has some really interesting flicks. By far the best film fest I have been to, so needless to say I am really happy to have my trainwreck of a flick shown there. The last time I had a film in this fest it received national air time on "Weekend Edition" with Scott Simon!
www.freerangefilm.com/

Death by ballot box

I am not usually one that dives into politics but this was just too interesting a story to pass up. It comes via
http://wickedoutdoorsy.blogspot.com/
The story is found at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/chapters/leaving_no_tracks/index.html
There is not a jail ugly enough for the crooks that rob us of our resources, our eco-system and nature, especially when it is in regards to making money instead. These are not the same republicans that Teddy Roosevelt made famous through conservation and social change, these are in fact the people that he worked so hard to distance himself from.

A-Fib it is not

So some of you close to me know that I have been having some interesting heart problems over the past few years. Well, in the last two weeks it has really taken a turn for the worse. I have Atrial Fibrilation, something that is more common that you think. The problem is that it really takes a toll on you both day to day and certainly in any outdoor activity. It feels like hell, you have no power (sort of like your car running on only three cylinders instead of four!). Originally I was having maybe one attack a season, then maybe one every few months, every few weeks but now it is happening every time I hit the trail. Needles to say most events I have done in the past year have been with a heart that is beating and moving blood at a less than effecient rate.
With that said my motivation has been fairly impaired, especially if I am riding or running with others. Sort of bums me out and others when I have to walk up every little hill and I am pain the whole time. Huh. I have already been in to see the docs, I am seeing a specialist next week and am exploring the options of treatments both chemically, electro shockingly and surgically as we speak.
Other famous people we know about dealing with A-fib are as follows......Scott Baackes. Must be more too, maybe we could start a support group. Some great info at this site........
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/atrial-fibrillation/DS00291/DSECTION=1

OVerhead Fern Skiing in Vermont

It was crazy fern skiing in VT last winter.
Brian Mohr caught this overhead shot during one session. All I remember is coming through this tight tree slot and then it opened up and I was just chest deep in some of the most succulent greenery I have ever had the pleasure of ripping.
The green room baby....

Great old history found

Had a great tim last week reliving some old history!