We will open the 2009 RRCC season with an organizational meeting at Greer Stadium next (Thirsty) Thursday, April 9 - which is Opening Day for the Sounds, too. There's just no better way to prepare for a river baseball trip - unless it's a game of riverball.
So in two consecutive months we'll see two of the best scoreboards in sports.
It's just too bad we can't paddle up to either one of them. We could drop a dutch oven anchor and catch some homerun splashdowns.
However, we'll still need to meet at Brown's before the game. We have to do some real planning for Chicago, plus Mullowney's welder is going to meet us there to take the trailer and complete some unfinished business. It needs to be perfect before we drive it down the Miracle Mile.
The remaining improvements include:
Move trailer jack to tongue Weld diamond-pattern steel platform onto frame Attach water cooler mount Get locks for cargo boxes New tie-downs Touch up auto paint after modifications Also we'll probably want to remove the 10-place racks for this trip.
Try go get to Brown's between 6:00 and 6:30 on the 9th. Should have some news about Cubs tickets from O.M.I.C. very soon.
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Monday, March 30, 2009
It looks like we're going to have 10 going to Chicago which is more than Rob's Suburban can comfortably take. But Roy has a conversion van he takes up to UT games in the fall he says we can use.
He may even donate it to the Club as a tax write-off. Belle Meade has been giving him hell about it anyway.
We're going to need to have a special, emergency pre-trip meeting at Brown's next week to decide how we're going to get our Cubs tickets. We got shut out trying to buy tickets the honest way, even with several RRCC members manning the phone lines and MLB.com
Who set this thing up anyway?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Better let us know ASAP if you want a Cubs ticket. Buying them tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, our man in Chicago has already had a pre-trip meeting....with Ralph Frese!
Single game tickets for the Cubs go on sale next Friday, February 20. Since they will sell out the same day, we're going to have to get some kind of head count for the Spring Trip by then. If you can't commit yet, that's fine, but you'll have to find your own ticket to the game later.
Although this trip sounds exotic, we are implementing some cost saving measures to make it affordable:
1. Instead of paying the usual per trip dues, we'll only collect based on actual costs for the fixed price items and then it will be every man for himself on food and drink.
2. We'll sit General Admission in the bleacher seats at the Cubs game.
3. General Admission means Old Style, not Heineken.
4. We're taking the trailer because that's what we bought a trailer for, not to cut costs. However, the savings will be significant. No airfare, no canoe rental, no shuttle, no cabs.
5. Instead of multiple hotel rooms, we'll just bring along the fart sacks and sleep on the floor of one room (although we may splurge and get snoring and non-snoring rooms depending on who's going).
So here is a best estimate of cost per person (based on an arbitary number of 8 members):
- Food will be more pizza-and-beer-at-Lou-Malnati's than steak-and-merlot-at-The-Palm. In fact, dinner Saturday night may be at the ballpark. Estimate: $100 each
- "Depends" Adult Diapers (part of a proven seat saving strategy in the bleacher section at Wrigley - more details later). Estimate: $5 each
- Ready-rolls: $2 each
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Total estimated cost per member including travel, Cubs game, Chicago River trip, lodging, food and drink for three days: $200
On the Spring Trip, not only do we get to paddle the Chicago River, we'll also be visiting one of the most unique and historic outdoor sports venues in the world. A place on the north side of Chicago whose ivy covered walls draw fans from all over the world.
And we're not talking about Wrigley Field.
What makes the Chicagoland Canoe Base so special?
For one thing, it is...
Not just because they say so.
What if you broke the rubber mast grommet on your 1947 Grumman sailing canoe while sailing around Dale Hollow Lake? Where would you look for one?
Or let's say you needed a 12' spruce canoe pole with a brass setting shoe so you could float down the shallow Middle Tennessee rivers the traditional way (and pole upstream when you don't have a shuttle). Where would you get one of those if you don't live in Maine or New Hampshire?
(Notice they even correspond about canoe transactions the traditional way, just like this)
Or maybe you discovered that those simple foam block canoe carriers you got at Wal-Mart don't fit plastic gunwales and aluminum gunwales and wood gunwales all the same way . Who would carry all the specialty foam blocks you need to solve that problem? Who even knew that was a problem?
But C.C.B. is much more than a store. They have over 100 rare and unusual canoes in the "Not For Sale" collection including dugouts from Florida, pirogues from Louisiana, a Caribou Eskimo kayak, outriggers, folding kayaks, a knock-down sectional rowboat found stashed at the top of Chilkoot Pass during the gold rush, a Russian folding baidarka, and many, many many beautiful wood-and-canvas, lapstrake, cedar strip, and rib-and-batten canoes.
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The only thing with more character than the Chicagoland Canoe Base is its owner, Ralph Frese.
Ralph is a blacksmith, a canoe designer, a paddle sport historian, and probably the most famous flatwater canoe personality in the world since Verlen Kruger died.
Even though we will be arriving after business hours on Friday, Ralph is going to meet the RRCC at the store Friday night, show us his famous workshop and the canoe collection, and then, as we always like to do with paddling celebrities, join us for a few (Polish) beers around the corner at The Jolly Inn.
ABOUT RALPH FRESE
It ought to be enough just to say that the section of the Chicago River we are floating has been designated the "Ralph C. Frese Canoe Trail" by Illinois Resolution #07-R-01-10-04.
But, since you are going to meet him, you should also read this: Urban Voyageur and watch this: The Canoe Guru. Just don't call him a farrier.
More great Ralph Frese facts:
He is the designer of the classic hull shape called the Canadienne, which is a model used by many canoe manufacturers like Bell and Old Town. The RRCC once came close to owning one.
He was the driving force behind the 3,000 mile reenactment of the LaSalle expedition from Montreal to New Orleans on its 300th anniversary.
He makes reproduction birchbark war canoes. Some of which are currently for sale in his shop:
That is Ralph in the bow on Lake Michigan (and we are going to need a bigger canoe trailer).
So all of you jessies who are thinking about going to some damn college reunion or something instead of Chicago, this is a rare opportunity to meet someone truly important in our hobby. Ralph is 80 and about to retire. Chicagoland is for sale. It is probably your last chance.
And if our Friday night with Ralph is even half as much fun as this one was it will be well worth it.
