Connecting the Storylines

As a boy not much younger than the main characters of the movie, I related to the 1986 film Stand By Me through the hijinks pulled by the youths, and also, strangely, to the notion of the main character writing about his youth later in life from a distant perspective.  It occurred to me that I might someday write something of value.  I quickly realized upon considering it, however, that I'd have to get some living under my belt before I had the perspective to come up with anything of substance.

That notion to write faded with time of course, but I did start journalling intermittently in middle school, and more frequently in college.  Upon living in Ecuador for a two year stint with the Peace Corps, I regularly maintained a record of my experiences and perceptions.  

February, 2006 found me freshly moved back to Stevens Point from Ithaca, NY after a starting the build of a rowboat that would take me down the Mississippi River.  I was almost a year out from my return from Ecuador.  That notion to compile something significant and perhaps publishable was also being revisited.  I figured that with the canoe I built, my experience abroad, and a

second boat 2/3 finished, I probably had some stories and perspectives worth hearing.  The resultant collection of essays had no beginning, no end, no title, were dismally depressing, and overtly preachy. A friend’s aunt offered some copy-editing services, but to no avail.  I tried interjecting more positive stories, but it simply was not coming together.  It was set aside, revisited every few years, but eventually abandoned. 

I had not lived out the completion of the story line.  Whisper, the rowboat, was christened that July, and the Mississippi River trip took place the following spring.  A year later I landed a

job teaching at a boat building high school in Milwaukee, completing the Big River Trifecta of building a boat, having an incredible experience in it, and sharing the passion with others.  There was a wholeness to the set of undertakings.  A complete Endeavor. 

10 years later, I wanted to document more about the model, but I needed fresh memories.  A new endeavor was needed to provide as a test to the template.  To structure it, I rolled in a few other concepts I had conjured up along the way, such as the duality of Art & Rugby and established a website and blog by which to record the story. 

Concepts were loose, detatched, and repetitive, but at least I had everything down in one place.  Something had me trying to make sense of this non-descript hodge-podge of ideas, notions, components…of what?  I had lots of time to think about it as I restored a barn and intermingled boat building with community programming.  I was following a path that logic dictated I stray from at every turn over the course of the previous 20 years. At long last, I was following my gut.

The model came into focus.  I navigated a divorce.  I built a studio in the barn loft as the launch pad to my new life.  The boat took shape.  I reunited with an old acquaintance.  The core components of Create, Experience, and Share became the essence, the framework of learning

and inspiration that happen at every step of an Endeavor.  The kayak, aptly named Endeavor,

took me to my childhood home of Green Bay and beyond, up the shores of Door County, to the end of Wisconsin.  That summer and fall, as I made my way up the shoreline of Door County on occasional weekend outings, this old acquaintance, Bridget, and I fell in love.

The poetry of the storyline was more than I could contain.  I had my happy ending. The writing of the story was already taking shape, slowly. I continued in earnest, compiling stories from my three boats I had built. After sitting with everything for a spell, the format of the book took shape and I met Ross Tangedal of Cornerstone Press at UWSP. Among other things, he helps others chase their passions of writing and publishing. The fact he had been hired to his current position by my old rugby coach indicated this was the right fit. The compilation took shape, Ross did the design and layout, I organized pictures, and Jeanne Salmon at Salmon Design Co provided indispensible help in compiling my sketches into maps. The book was published in late October, 2025.

The overriding vision is that as others are inspired to chase their dreams, the model of creating, experiencing, and sharing repeats, in whatever order it needs to.  Through the sharing of stories and experiences, skills and resources, the community could grow, the culture evolving. As people are able to live their fullest storyline, venturing farther than they thought possible, the colors of their character adopt the purest and boldest tones imaginable. Through collective encouragement and sharing of resources, we regain the path of our true selves and our lives take on their rightful meaning.  Our newfound strength and sense of abundance affords kindness and openness to others and different perspectives.  A global land ethic becomes apparent.  There’s nothing to

debate because the personal paths we all follow, guided by laws of nature, speak to the same truths.  We resume our evolutionary course.  The illness of our collective psyche, plagued with fear, anger, scarcity, and hatred, becomes a grey, shrouded memory, remebered in historical archives as a detour on our past.  We heal.  Our earth heals.

It will be for you, the prospective reader, to decide of what substance this perspective is that I write about.  We’ll see if this boyhood dream, or the conclusions that have come from it, are worth their salt.  Any way about it, I can’t wait to find out.

Connecting the Waters, The Gifts of Three Boats