Johnny Panther Quests. Ecotours

Emotion can be a powerful tool if used correctly, if the feeling is strong enough, I call it passion. Racing has been a huge part of my life for over 25 years. While I have never been naturally gifted or talented, I have tried to make up for it with heart and determination. I see it that way too with clients I take out on my trips. Some people are just so happy to be there, and can see the trees through the forest, if you will. Others show up, stressed out, wishing for sunshine and flat water. Every day we wake to experience these feelings is a good one in my book, the alternative is not so good. We choose how we react to different environments and situations. I can be all gloom and doom for sure, but finding the positive to a given circumstance is much more pleasurable. When I have clients out that are as "passionate" as me, it makes my "job" a whole lot easier, if not, I try to help them appreciate how lucky we are, and hopefully they leave more relaxed and happy than when they arrived. If I can make just one person smile each day, it is a good day! Yesterday I had the pleasure of riding with my ol' buddy Joe, we have been racing together for nearly 20 years. We can ride elbow to elbow with complete confidence in each other, what a high! Afterwards we do a track walk, reminisce, and fight off the mosquitos. My family, tours, and riding are my "therapy". When I get home at night and my kids throw their arms around me, it makes those stresses that can pull us down melt away. Positive attitude is contagious, let's start an epidemic!
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By the Steve Miller Band. Yesterday, I attempted to get a couple of motos in at Bulldogs before our meeting. Unfortunately, the rains started before I was even loaded and ready to leave the house. When I reached the track the sand was perfect, but the rains continued for another hour and turned perfection into a quagmire. While I wondered in the pouring rain digging small trenches to help the track drain, "Jungle Love" kept repeating in my head, it was pouring warm rain and little riverletts were everywhere. I was able to sneak about 45 minutes of riding on an abbreviated track before our meeting, just what the Doctor ordered! My greatest stress relievers are boat trips and riding my dirt bike. Boat Tours are my passion that people actually pay me for. Riding is also a passion that usually leaves me tired, sore and feeling somewhat bullet proof. I consider myself so lucky to have this in my life, and be able to share it with my family, friends and clients. I was going through some pictures today of past trips and clients, smiling as remembered our recent adventures. This time of year the weather is almost like clockwork, with afternoon thunderstorms building up with the high humidity and evaporation. I love weather, and find severe weather especially exciting. Many afternoons when I was young we would watch the storms roll over the mountains in upstate New Hampshire with my grandparents and cousins on the big screened porch of their farm house. How sweet the air would be with cedar, spruce and freshly mowed grass. We have been weathered off the river a couple of times during the past week, and almost off the track yesterday. I have been lucky with my clients as they have been patient or excited about the weather like me. It can really stir things up in the Refuge, and make for some spectacular wildlife viewing. The rain and wind through the trees is like a huge generator, recharging my "batteries". And almost always, just like the line from the song; "Everything's better when wet!"
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Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few thousand from near Oscoda, Michigan!

Normally reserved for larger groups, the "big boat" proves its metal for one couple. Before reading my blog she was apprehensive about boats and water, after, she was a confirmed nervous. The couple requested my "big boat" for the stability and comfort it provided versus my smaller and more practical boat "JPII". Me being the worlds greatest salesman(not!) tried to encourage them that the smaller would be much more practical AND economical. My margins are much better with the "big boat"(Don Wun), and finally they won out. As is the case this time of year the weather has been very volatile, with isolated severe thunderstorms forecast for nearly every day this week. We headed out at 7am under mostly overcast skies. The water was down about one foot from my previous tour, but calm and flat as glass. We spotted a mature Bald Eagle and several deer including some bucks in velvet and some fawns in "spots". After about an hour we heard the first rumble of thunder and the skies darkened. We opted to make for the marina at speed, about triple of what JPII could do. We arrived with a huge clap of thunder, and my clients waited it out in their vehicle as I checked weather.com. After about 30 minutes of downpour, we headed back out. The really amazing thing about this morning was the amount of deer laying next to the rivers. I don't think I have EVER seen so many does and fawns at the waters edge. We spotted at leasts 10 fawns, some twins laying in the cool mud, probably trying to escape the insects in the woods. The lady remarked how wonderful and beautiful it was to see them in the wild, and not chasing them out of her garden! All in all it was a great trip, and their apprehension paid off dividends as we expedited our first departure out of the refuge!
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Acting on impulse can be a wonderful thing. We rarely get a full weekend off, and I convinced my wife we should take a trip up to Cook Pond for a little skiing and tubing action. The drive up was laid back with little traffic on a Saturday afternoon. We reached the launch around 4pm, with the skies starting to cloud up. We made our usual stop at my favorite creek, and the wife and kids did a little "Johnny Panthering" up a small creek, with bright yellow sand highlighted by the cedar swamp it flowed through. It was cool to see them weaving back and forth up the up the little streams valley. As we departed the creek, my wife spotted a solitary Loon fishing near the mouth, it dove once and went nearly 100 yards beneath the surface before reappearing at the opposite side of the mouth. As we were taking turns with the binoculars, she spotted a Bald Eagle soaring above us, riding the updrafts created by a storm sucking wind into it. My wife took turns with the kids on the tube, what an adventure it was for them. They were "all teeth" as they climbed back into the boat. My wife went out and promptly got up on skis, then dropped one to slalom for her first time behind the new boat. She was ten feet tall and bullet proof when she climbed back into the boat! Finally it was my turn as the sun began to set, and the water was like glass. It was one of those; "it doesn't get any better than this!" afternoons, punctuated by awesome food and suds at "Whiltse's". The next morning we played on the beach of Lake Huron for a few hours before heading back "down state". A very nice escape full of family bonding and adventure.
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