Getting Started

 June 14, 2021

Two things happened this week. 

Of course, the beat goes on around the world….a fourth Covid vaccine has been shown to be effective, the G-7 met in a reset, Netanyahu’s on the sidelines, the west still suffers from terrible drought, Biden and Putin are about to take a corner table for a little chat…but as far as my row is concerned, two things happened.

First, I actually climbed into my boat for the first time since last October, making a perhaps overly optimistic 14-mile round trip to Bolton that included most of what I’m likely to see after I start on July 5th: glassy calm in the morning, a breeze by 10 AM building some chop, and the maddening mish-mash of boat wakes as the day proceeds. All of this affects the progress of a duffer like me; the glass makes me look pretty good as I cover ground at a good clip, the chop makes me look like I’m approaching 70, as I am. But it was heartening to feel some muscle memory coming back, and an Adirondack guide boat is real a joy to row- so forgiving of mistakes, so generous in her translation of effort to speed. Later on I’ll be writing more about my beloved old boat, but I’ll just say for now that I can’t imagine heading off into the aquatic unknown in anything else. Guide boats rock. Take that as you will. 

The second thing that happened this week that has pushed me closer to the start was finally settling on a name for this blog so we can finally go to press. We’re going with Lake(r) to Lake(r). It was a split decision.  

Gentle Reader, please, cut me some slack here if you will. I’m a retired English teacher, and metaphors and symbols and such are by now baked into my writerly DNA. Here’s where I’m going with Lake(r) to Lake(r) thing:

First, and obviously, without the parenthesis, I am literally rowing from a lake to a lake, from my home waters on Lake George to Hammondsport on Keuka Lake. Both of these jewels share “Grade A” water quality ratings (more on this later), and the idea that I’ll start and finish on two pristine bodies of water while traversing everything from Superfund cleanup sites to the storied YooHoo-like patina of the Erie Canal…well, there’s a bookend quality to it all, right? 

So Lake to Lake without the “r’s,” is literally what I’m doing.

But then there are the “Lakers” at each end of this trip on Lake George and Keuka Lake, and everyone in between: the lockkeepers of the Champlain and Erie and Cayuga-Seneca Canals, the shoreline residents and merchants and canal workers I’ll meet along the way, the kids racing along on bikes, waving, I hope, and the farmers who might permit me to camp out on shores along the way. If I’ve learned anything from rowing thousands of miles over fifteen years, it’s that there is a connectedness of community along waterways, a sinew of sociability, a sense of being on an artery of circulation. People living along the water see the comings and goings, the work and play, nature blooming or in distress, and maybe they feel a sense of being a part of something bigger than themselves as the cavalcade of humanity passes by their yards. Perhaps a life of journeying among strangers without having to leave home leads those on the water to their generosity of spirit?

I’m getting all soapy here, I know…but almost four thousand miles of waterfront have been authentically kind and compassionate to this oarsman. It’s true.

Finally, the third Lake(r) to Lake(r) hook is the serendipity that draws me to my destination - my host, actually - on Keuka Lake. In 2001, The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland hired me to teach English and, a year later, Alan came aboard to teach math. Each of us had come from business backgrounds, each of us found extraordinary gratification in teaching and learning with our students, and for years our classrooms were located right across the hall from one another. These were very happy years indeed and while we’ve stepped away from teaching, the friendship remains strong. Knowing that Alan will be waiting for me on the south shore of Keuka Lake (and cheering me on as only a football coach can cheer one on) makes me smile. 

Boys’ Latin is located on Lake Avenue in Baltimore, and students and teachers alike are “Lakers” forever.

So, Lake(r) to Lake(r) is literal as well, with or without the “r.” Make sense?

Anyway…. Go, Lakers!