Running shuttle used to irk me. You could run a front-end shuttle or a back end shuttle. And you usually weren’t lucky enough to be camping at the put-in or the take-out. If there were a lot of vehicles moving a lot of boats, you had to figure out who was driving what with what boats strapped on and whether you were going to the put-in first to drop off boats or the take-out first to drop off shuttle vehicles, which had to have enough racks to carry away all the boats unless you wanted to leave one vehicle there with which to take all the drivers back to their vehicles at the put-in… Oh, it’s baffling.
Running shuttle is a logistical mess, at least the way we used to do it. I particularly don’t care for shuttling that involves hitching back to your vehicle, either at the front or back end of the paddling. I’ve been very lucky and gotten rides from some very nice people, but I still feel goofy standing on the highway in paddling clothes with my thumb stuck out. Which isn’t to say I mind picking up other paddlers. That’s never bothered me. Weird.
So where can I take an old beater van with a rack on top and a trailer out behind, and make money picking up people and boats to haul back somewhere at the end of the run and maybe make a few bucks? Heh?
Where I live it looks flat but from the nearest towns you climb in altitude to get here; and it doesn’t look it. I don’t know how many people that have ultratuned cars stop here and are scratching because it doesn’t LOOK like they were having to do extra to defy gravity…
I can totally understand something so outdoor-experienced-savvy as Mr. S-C being confused about being in heavy woods, not seeing the hill he’s on and not realizing there has to be a reason that water flows… um… down.
When I was in the Boy Scouts, the fathers would be doing the camping and canoeing and stuff with the kids, and the mothers would be the ones driving shuttle. The mothers would drop everyone and thing at the put in point, then drive off to get breakfast at the closest restaurant. When the scheduled pick-up time approached, they’d drive to the take-out point and read books until the canoers arrived. If the trip was to take the entire weekend, the mothers would just go home for the duration.
Smythe-Cholera may still get to have his heart attack at this rate.
Smythe-Cholera is not exhibiting any danger signs of stress, just stupidity and gullibility. Was he conned or is he lying?
and for the girl scouts, the dads were the auxiliary.
Niiiiiiiiiiice. This is gonna be a fun week. LoL
This sort of thing never occurred to me, but then I have always stuck to calm meandering rivers in a canoe; where if there are any rocks or rapid currents, you just portage around them.