Forty years ago in 1982 my son and I saw the Steven Spielberg movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” about a young boy’s quest to help a lost alien (E.T.), a botanist, return to its home planet. This movie became part of one of our father-son adventures. My son Matthew was 6 at the time and we had joined the YMCA Indian Guides in St. Louis, a group designed to strengthen bonds between father and sons, kind of a pre-cub scouts group.
We used American Indian-inspired names, rituals, and imagery as the glue to hold our members together. (Today we would be deemed cultural appropriators and racists.) We were in the Redskin tribe of about 8-10 father-son pairs, part of a nation of 15 or 20 local tribes. Our tribe met about once a month at each other’s houses and dressed with Indian headbands, did crafts, played games, and planned for nation events like the Pinewood Derby and the Trout Lodge weekend retreat.
The Pinewood Derby event challenged fathers and sons to build cars out of blocks of wood, decorate them, and race them down a track. Our nation had a lot of engineer fathers working at McDonald Douglas who “helped” their sons build real racers. I had no clue how to compete until Matthew took a different, artistic approach. His focus was on putting a plastic ET figure in the driver's seat, attaching a small plastic watering can, and covering the car with painted geraniums- all based on the movie. He lost the race competition but won a trophy for best artistic design. That was our tribe’s only award.
Our tribe joined all the nation tribes in the spring for a weekend at a YMCA camp in Petosi in southeast Missouri called Trout Lodge. Matthew and I drove there Friday afternoon, and the boys from our tribe settled into a dorm area and the fathers in a dorm area next door. The next two days were father-son nature walks, crafts, games, and preparation for the final nation skit competition- all to help grow the father-son relationship.
Our tribe was given about 6 hours notice before the skit competition. Fathers and sons met together and decided on a skit to combine themes from the 1981 Bill Murray war comedy movie Stripes and the 1959 Johnny Preston hit rock and roll song Running Bear. The tribe marched to the stage in military style singing the lyrics Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Matthew and the other sons then grouped on stage chanting “Ooga chucka” and the dad group singing the first verse of Running Bear, after which all yelled, “Go Redskins!.” We won the competition by acclimation.
I searched for other father-son adventures. When Matthew was about 10 my older brother Warren who lived in the northern part of Michigan mentioned a 2-day overnight canoe trip he had taken with Adam, a friend’s son around Matthew’s age. I told my brother Matthew and I were interested in such a canoe trip. And so was Adam again. Warren suggested the Sturgeon and Pigeon Rivers near his home in Bay City. There was a place in between the two rivers where we could leave the car, rent a canoe, and then pitch our tent without taking all the camping gear in the canoes.
The Sturgeon River is 120 miles north of Bay City. crystal clear, 46 degrees year-round, and one of the most beautiful and challenging canoeing rivers in Michigan. It is 16 miles long from the put-in spot to where we got out after about 6 hours of challenging paddling. It drops 14 Ft/mile making it a Class 1-2 river with a consistently quick current. It is narrow, combined with tight turns, leaning trees, and occasional obstructions. A few narrowing chutes created some light rapids with standing waves. It was not a beginner stream and my brother and I were experienced with canoes- the boys not so much.
Matthew and I drove from St. Louis to Bay City in June. Both our memories are vague about the trip. I doubt we talked much as I was preoccupied with thoughts of work. I regret I did not engage him about his interests and feelings and would try to do so if I had a do-over. We joined up with Warren and Adam and drove to the canoe rental, taking with us only what we needed on the river like a map, water, lunch in ziplock bags, and sunglasses with a cloth protective chain in case of canoe tipped over. The outfitter took us upriver to the put-in spot, helping to push us into the river. Warren and Adam went first, and Matthew and I followed. It was very fast water and Matthew and I had to paddle hard to avoid grounding going around corners and tree limbs above and in the water. There is little time for reaction in a current like that and when we started to tire, we yelled out for rest time. Extra snacks are great to have at those points.
I do remember it was a great feeling being with my son, out with dense forest on either side of the river and the sound of rushing water and paddles slapping it. We found a place downstream to pull off where there was a meadow to have some lunch- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, water, and a candy bar.
Warren relented to Adam and let him take the rear of the canoe. The most important position is in the rear as you can use the paddle to steer when needed, especially in the turns. After heading back downstream there was a tree with a broken branch sticking out of the water 100 yards ahead. Adam hit it perfectly and the canoe climbed up it and rolled over, dumping all but the paddles in their hands overboard. Warren took over the steering and we spent a half hour to collect all the items floating ahead of us.
By the time we got to the pull-out at the outfitter, we could feel the soreness in our backs and shoulders. The paddle was a good one, but we were glad it was over. There was a Dairy Queen a couple of blocks from the canoe rental, so we celebrated with hot fudge sundries. We then got out of the tent Warren brought. It was the Smith Family Tent which was a large Sears and Roebuck canvas tent which, when folded up, filled a military seabag. It had made a few family trips from the East Coast. We pitched the tent at a nearby state park campground and made an evening campfire. Everyone was starved. Warren opened a couple of cans of Denny More Beef Stew and we emptied them.
The next day we ate breakfast at a nearby MacDonald’s and broke camp before heading off to the Pigeon River. The Pigeon was about half the current speed and a relaxing day of paddle time.
When we got back to Bay City, my brother continued a tradition he started with Adam following his first canoe trip- burgers at Hooters. This place has a lot of college girl waitresses with an outfit to show off their figures. The boys did a lot of looking around while eating as did the brothers.
We declared the adventure a success.
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