My fear becomes reality

• Posted on August 19, 2008 at 11:29 AM
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OK, so one fear I had when I decided to take on another water hobby was that I would fall madly, deeply in love with my new canoe and life as I know it would change... fortunately this has become a reality.

Last week I was planning on spending the week up in the lake Superior region doing some hiking and camping with my dog Chevy. A last minute phone call from PaddleShack saying my canoe would be ready for pick up some time late in the week threw a wrench in everything I had planned. As a result of this news I decided to stay a little more local, cut the week in half and come home a little early to pick up my new canoe (I was just too anxious to get out on the water!). I ended up deciding on 4 days in Killarney and heading back home on Thursday night. On the way home I received the long awaited phone call saying my canoe was ready to be picked up and since I would be passing through and didn't have my straps and transporting gear for the canoe, they would lend everything to me to save my going all the way home to Cambridge and then back to Oakville (marked on the map) to pick up my canoe; this is exactly the kind of reason why I have now bought 3 boats from paddle shack (formerly Langford Canoe and Kayak when I bought my first 2 kayaks). There was however a problem, and they mentioned I should really come in and have a look at it before deciding to take it since I may want to have another boat made. Apparently 2 fly's got into the mold when they were making my canoe and my canoe now has 2 silhouettes of fly's in the paint job. I could either take the canoe 'as is' and they would knock $150 off the remaining balance, or I could wait patiently for another 3 weeks as they made a new one for me... I decided since the fly's were merely cosmetics and not to mention it added originality and character, I would stick with what they shipped (not to mention I don't think I could have waited another 3 weeks). One of the great aspects of outdoor adventures is the stories that are created and shared long after the adventure is over, and what better way to start off a life of canoeing then with a canoe that had a story about when it was made!