Yesterday morning, Mike was scheduled to do a talk at the long term care residence in Cabri, so Ruth and I took some time out of our busy schedule to go up and listen to him and what he has to say.
We were driving them into town and we had just been talking to him about some of the wildlife he's seen, when Ruth exclaimed "I think I just saw a moose!"... so I stopped the car and put it in reverse and we backed up for 30 seconds. Sure enough, way in the distance...
A moose on the loose!
Mike has so many great stories to tell about his trip and the adventures along the way, and he's a pretty outgoing guy, so between those two things he's got a good speaking presentation. He does a lot of talks to seniors and schools, but we were too late trying to get him in at Cabri school to do a talk because they have to do all these background checks and everything. But, the seniors and staff at the long term care home enjoyed his talk and video presentation...
Mike Ranta talking about why he does what he does.
Mike and David were going to head out yesterday evening and do some night paddling, but just as they were contemplating the idea, a storm blew through... and then another one an hour later. So they stayed the night and got on the water early this morning. We were down at the shoreline to say goodbye...
Getting ready to head out at 7:30 this morning.
Check out Mike's website at www.mikeranta.ca
A couple of camper girls signed his canoe.
And then I got to sign his canoe too!
Mike, Ruth, David, and Spitzi.
One final check on the gear.
And off they go!
Spitzi.
Mike. A modern day Voyageur!
David said that I could borrow a couple of his photos to post here. Fantastic young photojournalist and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot from him. He has a bright future ahead of him at only 23 years of age.
You can see more of his work here... www.davidjacksonphoto.com
Mike, Spitzi, and me!
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Great deal on a nice travel laptop...
And in Canada, the highly rated and popular with RV'ers vacuum is on sale. You won't get it cheaper. I'm tempted to buy one for Sherman! (Edit: I just did!)
Mike and David sure sound like two interesting guys. It would be pretty neat to spend a few hours with them.
ReplyDeleteCool moose photo.
They are a couple of very interesting men. It was fun to spend a few hours with them and listen to some of their stories and trust me, they definitely had some good stories to tell!
DeleteThe long range photo of the little canoe in the broad river really gives a nice perspective of how big the river really is.
ReplyDeleteIt sure does! Poor Dave has to really work to keep up with Mike because he has to paddle over to the river bank, hike up the hill get his picture/s and then get back down and paddle hard to catch up to Mike. Good thing he is about half the age of Mike!
DeleteYour lifestyle sure leads to you meeting lots of different kinds of people and other adventurers like yourselves. How neat to be able to sit and visit with people and hear their stories. Incredible photos and the moose sighting was a treat!
ReplyDeleteYes, we have to admit that because of our life style we have met some very interesting people and seen so many different ways of travel and how they do it. We think that we live a fairly minimalist lifestyle but when we see people like this, it almost makes us look like we live in luxury. ;-) We love meeting people like them and hearing their stories.
DeleteI wish the moose had been closer but it was still neat to see.
Every moose counts:)
ReplyDeleteIt sure does! :-)
DeleteThat sure is a picture of a rose between two thorns! :cD
ReplyDeleteAhh jeez, thanks for that compliment! ;-)
DeleteWhat another interesting day you had , love the moose.
ReplyDeleteYep, it sure was!
DeleteSo very cool.
ReplyDeleteYep, both the moose and listening to Mike talk at the Senior's home, as well as meeting Mike and Dave were pretty cool indeed.
DeleteWhat a fun day! Love these guys. What intrepid travelers! Love the moose too. there are moose here in Norway but they're smaller than the Canadian moose. Hoping to see one but they're very shy.
ReplyDeleteThey sure are! Mike is definitely one of the last of the voyageurs.
DeleteHope you get to see a moose in Norway. We are jealous of your two! :-)