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May Be You Need A Change by Buck Conner
Have you ever wondered how a person can accomplish a task, or handle the pressure, or survive a particular situation?
Myself like many of you are history buffs, probably a better word would be nuts. Like many of us we have been involved for many years, doing the rendezvous, different encampments and local club functions.
Have you ever noticed how something's never change, like the boring monthly camp out at some of the bigger rendezvous and some of the local stuff seems that way anymore, many never change their appearance in clothing, equipage or stories, still repeating the same stuff from twenty years ago.
Well, a few stout hearted fellow re-enacter, skinners, adventurers or whatever we're called today decided to make a change a few years back, and started making plans for following our forefathers footsteps. Lewis and Clark was picked for starters and we did a 6 days canoe trip with everything new, clothing, canoes, camp equipment, weapons, I mean everything.
If we could not find where they had used an item, a piece of clothing or ate a type of food, then it wasn't even considered, end of story. 20
The only item that we were forced to use on the larger rivers that wasn't real period was a floatation device (life vest), per the US Coast Guard, they have the last word in what goes up and down any major rivers in the US. They can take your vessel, equipment and hand you a fine if you refuse to comply, we were read all the guide lines and the results of what would happen if we didn't put the vests on, by a young gentlemen of this government agency. Covering the vests with ticking and leaving the bottom edge open for their inspection seemed to be OK with people we have talked to.
Friends at the old rendezvous and encampments would stop by to see why we weren't coming to the different events or what we were doing, rumors had started that we were forming a new group of hard cores. After having been seen testing and trying out our new clothing, equipage and weapons, everyone was all ears to what was going on, we all started getting calls of interested parties. 20
Trying to not hurt any ones feelings we told them of our plans of following the trails, pathways and waterways of our forefathers, as close as possible in everyway, got quite a few raised eyebrows.
A years had passed before our first real attempt was underway, a canoe trip from Bonnet's Mill, MO down the Osage to the Missouri and then to the Mississippi and FT. de Chartre, IL. Would be a 6 day adventure on the water, trespassing at night for our camp sites and no backup support. We had very little experience with canoes and found after we hit the Missouri River, we had two members that could not swim.
To make a long story short, the adventure went well, nobody drown and we met Ron Robertson and a few other AMM brothers at the fort. It must have been better than we remembered, as the following year our numbers had doubled with people from a half dozen states getting ready for a period canoe trip, and its been that way for 8-10 years.
My point is we could have been still standing around at the rendezvous telling the same old stories, like so many others, if we hadn't have decided to get away from that type of thing and do something. I have had so many different people tell me how they want to do this or that, but are still standing and talking about what they're going to do and haven't moved yet.
One member said he had talked to at least a 125 interested folks in small groups, all wanting to go on one of our trips, but we only had 27 that were serious enough to make the move and come with us, not a very good ratio for those numbers. This will give you an idea what to expect when everyone start stalking and talking and talking.
This sounds a little demanding, but the ones that are of like mind, become the "doers", while the ones that talk of our adventure shave become the "talkers" as the name applies.
We realize it is a lot of hard work and expensive, as well as time consuming to get ready and then make the trip. But time goes way to fast brothers, if at all possible make those dreams happen, the hardest step is the first one, then bar the door, because you'll be surprised at what you and a few friends can get done and done correctly for the time frame, and best of all enjoy it, along with the tired old muscles that you hadn't felt for a few years. Good luck and go for it.
