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Chapter 13: Leaving the River

Our leaving the river I think surprised us both,
But the seeds were sown early in our preparations,
And shared philosophy of following our bliss,
Simply stated, the trip stopped being fun,
Prairie du Chien, Iowa, was just where it happened,
Three days of an unending slow drizzling rain
That wet our spirits and soaked us through.

To save weight our small canvas pup tent just held
Our cold weather Coleman zip together sleeping bags,
Lightweight down bags and backpacker’s tents,
Unknown to us if even available in 1968.
Room to stand up in a lightweight tent
With rain proof over fly to keep tent walls dry,
A luxury we had not even dreamed of

The river’s two-mile width cut pleasure in half
As now only events on one bank could be viewed
The opposing bank so distant as to be non-existent
The river’s reality imposing itself on our desires. (1)
Adventures are not something that you stumble into
A sadness or a great joy that life thrusts upon you
No, adventures are the imagination that you bring to life!

Brian Johnston
October 31, 2014

Poets’s Notes:
Although this is the final stanza of the poem it is possible that additional stanzas will be added before I am through with it. In particular I want to write a stanza #12 on Harvesting Wild Rice. This is pretty much a local event but at one time outsiders properly equipped could participate as well if they had a license and the proper equipment.

(1) Reality always imposes limits on imagination and our imaginations are never really as free as we might like to believe. Some circular logic here I imagine. Ha! Because we live in this reality though, we are usually unaware of how constrained our imaginations are, like a fish trying to imagine living outside of the water that defines its life. Pretty difficult!

The very word adventure carries with it a suggestion of thrill, danger, unexpected happenings, etc., all closely connected with pleasure and pain. Even defeat teaches us valuable lessons for the future. Those who only follow the easy course in life may be safer, but my guess is that they are also more bored and boring.

Finding life to be a pleasurable adventure may even be independent of the paths you chose, having much more to do with the possibilities that you are open to on your path. Imagination is one key to a well lived life. Give yours a chance! Adventure happens when you embrace your own life, when you choose it, ideally even own it. Disaster is what happens when you absolve yourself of any responsibility for what has happened to you.
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