#but somehow the idea of mike not being as enthusiastic or eager as a lot of ppl assume is Weird. ok ❤️

[bylertruther]

man makes a post specifically about /mike's/ level of comfort to do overtly gay shit, and how often it's /will/ who gets written as the uncomfortable one, people read it on mike and will's ability to do public gay shit /together/ in hawkins. okay

stopppfbshsjsbsbd it's ok 💔 the mike angst jus doesn't hit like the will angst does on bylertruther.edu.gov i guess.. they were going based off of someone else's tags so thts why it steered tht way i think.

one day we will be able to acknowledge that mike's inability to withstand even the most innocent and brief of touches with will specifically and his constant pushing will away and hyperfocusing on el may be something more in the realm of mike struggling with his sexuality and his feelings and choosing to focus on the less scary and more "normal" thing as a means of trying to get control over his situation instead of just.... (looks at the gen tag) assuming that mike is a gay disaster with no depth who is in a relationship with a girl he knows he doesn't romantically love but obviously that's as deep as that goes and there's nothing more to it or troubling about that at all? okay ❤️

mike can't hug will, can't even brush arms with him, but that's just because.... (checks tag again) will is so unbelievably sexy that it melts his brain? ok. mike is in a relationship with a girl he doesn't like Like That or in the Correct way and he STAYS in it even though he feels like shit and tries his best to make it work and worries the entire time over it way more than even she does.... but nah. he's fine! he's got that shit on lock bc he's clearly the king of compartmentalizing and self-acceptance. he'll jump right into that gay shit easy peasy and kiss will on the mouth asap!!

like. jdvdjsnshahajsn. rambling in this ask bc my tummy hurty which is making me feel like my brain is a box of bees tht someone just shook but i just. mike as a character is so endlessly fascinating there's an entire WORLD to explore in him as a queer dude in his precarious position like. it's a wealth of angst it pulls at your heartstrings he feels so much but he can't express it he Refuses to express it until he has no other choice and they're at the literal end of the fucking line he ruins things and then he tries desperately to fix them he knows his loved ones so well that he knows just where to strike and what to say to make it better like he's just . he thought he had to let go of what he loved to be a man he quit holding and touching his gay best friend that he has feelings for and tossed him to the side in favor of his gf who is supposed to resemble him.

i just. HE LITERALLY DOES THAT WITH NO ONE ELSE?! AND YOU GUYS (/gen) THINK ITS WEIRD AND CRAZY AND OOC FOR HIM TO BE HESITANT TO DO GAY SHIT..... TO BE SCARED TO ENGAGE WITH THAT PART OF HIMSELF EYES WIDE OPEN KNOWINGLY WALKING INTO THE LIGHT AND EMBRACING THAT LARGER THAN LIFE CHANGE WHICH IS SO OFTEN A DEATH SENTENCE........ YOU THINK IT'D BE WEIRD OF MIKE WHEN WE ALREADY KNOW HE DOESN'T ALLOW HIMSELF THE SAME GRACE, UNDERSTANDING, OR ACCEPTANCE AS HE DOES OTHERS?

takes a deep breath and plops down on ur dash . i jus have a lot of Mike Feelings okay ...... i see an opportunity to speak on him n i Take it!!!!!!! there is so much to him and his experience and people just don't want to come anywhere near it or any of the possibilities and it Kills me it really does .

[dannofaust]

As I sit down to write this blog post it is Saturday, March 23rd. I have just returned from a most enjoyable little trip on the Vermilion River near Pontiac, IL. Spring has sprung. The weather is starting to get warmer and the days are getting longer. As we put Winter in our rear view mirror, I have been longing to get back on the river. So I enthusiastically welcomed the chance to go paddling with Lenore, a fellow member of the Mackinaw Canoe Club.

Lenore had posted on MCC FaceBook page that she wanted to paddle somewhere this weekend. I commented that I would like to paddle somewhere too and asked that she keep me informed if a group paddle developed from her post. Lenore messaged me back that I was the only one to respond favorably to her suggestion. Some folks were busy working or had with other plans. A few were doing a camping trip somewhere else. I suspect that a few more people might have shown some interest in Lenore’s suggestion if it were not so early in the season.

Being cautious and/or reluctant about paddling when the weather is still cool makes a lot of sense. In order to be safe you have to dress so that you can survive the ordeal if you happen to end up in the river somehow. It’s called dressing for immersion. Yep … it happens. I used to paddle all year round. If you paddle in cold weather enough, sooner or later someone is going to get wet. It’s not fun, but if you are dressed properly you will survive.

Believe it or not, there’s actually an advantage to paddling before the air temperatures get much warmer. In order to dress so that you will still survive if you fall into the river you will either be wearing a dry suit ( with insulating layers underneath), a wet suit ( with insulting layers over it ), or a paddling jacket and pants with layers of wool and synthetic clothing underneath. That tends to get pretty warm if the air temperature is much above 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s my opinion any way. Some people seem to be cold all the time ( that’s me ) and others get too warm very easily. The cool air temperatures keep me from overheating while I’m wearing all that insulating gear.

The real problems start to happen when the air temperatures get in the 60’s or above early in the year. Just like me, people are eager to get back out on the water after a long winter. They decide to do a trip on their local river or lake. They dress in regular street clothes because the the air temperature is at a comfortable level. Then something unexpected happens and they fall into the water. The water temperature is still very cold, probably in the 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit range, maybe colder. Falling into water that cold comes as a real shock. Some people may experience a gasp reflex. Almost everyone who falls into such cold water unexpectedly will experience some level of hypothermia. If you can not get out of the water and get dried off fairly quickly you could be in real trouble.

On the other hand, if you go out in those same conditions wearing enough insulating clothing to survive the cold water you can easily, and very quickly, get overheated. It’s a tough balancing act trying to find the right combination of clothing to keep you warm, even if you get wet, but not so warm that you overheat while you’re dry.

After a short exchange of messages, Lenore and I settled on a section of the Vermilion River that runs from the Humiston Woods Nature Center to the E2400 N Road bridge. This section of the river can be found in Mike Svob’s “Paddling Illinois” guide book. It’s the second half of the trip listed as “North Vermilion River 1”.

The North Vermilion River 1 trip, that Svob describes, starts at a small Township park on the northern edge of Pontiac, IL and ends at the E2400 N Road bridge. Right in the middle of that 11.2 river miles sets the Humiston Woods Nature Center. There are pit toilets, picnic tables, a pavilion, hiking trails, and more at Humiston Woods. This is the key factor in making this a great river trip. Having Humiston Woods right in the middle of the river section allows Paddler to choose to do the whole section, just the first half, or just the second half. It also gives you an opportunity to include a picnic and/or some hiking on any one of those trips. The first half of the river section is just over 5 river miles long. The second half is just over 6 river miles long. This means that paddlers can choose between a 5, 6, or 11 mile trip. Another great thing about this entire section of the river is that it has not been dredged or straightened, unlike parts of the river farther upstream, which have been severely altered. The natural twists and turns of the river through a mostly wooded landscape with little evidence of civilization makes for a most enjoyable time on the river. Wildlife is abundant. Svob knew what he was doing when he chose to include this section in his guide book.

  Looking down from the top of the steps towards the river.

The steps down to our river access.

Me carrying my kayak to the water.

Ok, on to the trip at hand. Lenore wisely suggested that we wait until 10:30 to meet up for this trip as the morning temperatures were going to be quite cold. I was glad that she did because there was frost on the ground when I got up in the morning. By the time we gathered at Humiston Woods and ran our shuttle, the air was warming up nicely and all traces of the frost were gone.

Probably our one least favorite aspect of this trip, or just about any river trip throughout the area, was the mud. It’s been wet. The river was high just a few weeks ago, so the river banks are wet and muddy. This is something that just comes with the territory. Literally. A little mud and water never hurt anybody, but it does pay to go slow and be careful. It’s very easy to slip and fall or twist something and get hurt. We made our way down the steps and over to the rivers edge, taking as little mud along with us as possible.

  The river was reading 4.75 feet and flowing 960 cfs on the Pontiac river gage. This is an ideal water level for paddling the Vermilion River anywhere in the Pontiac area. We had plenty of water to carry us over all of the shallow spots. The river had plenty of current, but it was not so fast as to become pushy or dangerous.

We knew that the trip would go by quickly, so we took our time and explored the mouths of several little tributaries. It was fun to reminisce about trips we’ve done before, our Canoecopia experience, and just generally shooting the breeze.

This time of the year here are limited opportunities to observe wildlife, but we did see Canada geese, wood ducks, and red tailed hawks, among others. Lenore is an avid birder, so it was nice to have her along to identify the birds we saw.

    Another advantage to venturing outdoors during these cooler months is that you can actually see much farther into areas that will soon be completely shrouded in thick foliage. I always find beauty in nature no matter what time of the year it is. I think it’s interesting to see how different the same area looks in January, February, and March as compared to June, July, and August.

All too soon we saw the bridge come into sight and the trip was over. There was a significant amount of mud to deal with at the take-out, but other than some muddy boots and a little mud on our boats, we escaped unharmed.

So, that’s nice, but what does this have to do with preparing for your Mississippi River trip you ask? That’s a fair question. First of all I think it was important to get out on the river and exercise some of those paddling muscles that I haven’t been using all winter. Sure, you can cross train and do all sorts of other stuff to stay in shape over the long winter, but there’s nothing like actually paddling to get your body back in shape for long days on the river.

Another thing that came to my attention after this trip was my lack of planning when it came time to tell the story of the trip. I didn’t even have an outline of important photos to take or anything else that I should document. That would be a problem on my Mississippi River trip because you only get one chance to document most of the areas as you are traveling through. As I was getting ready to write this blog post I found myself wishing that I had taken more photos. There were some obvious things that I could have photographed, but didn’t. With just a little bit of forethought and planning I could have done a much better job of documenting the trip.

On our little Vermilion River trip, Lenore saved the day by taking photos all along the way and at important times during the trip. I probably wouldn’t have taken hardly any photos if it hadn’t been for Lenore. When she would pull her camera out and snap a few photos it reminded me to do the same. Of course, Lenore has a bit of an advantage. She is, after all, a professional newspaper journalist who documents events, and a myriad of other newsworthy happenings, almost every day. I need to start thinking like a journalist. What is the story I want to tell? What photos should I take? Of course, there will be things that I won’t be able to plan ahead for, but hopefully most of those unexpected photo opportunities will be obvious once they occur and I will be able to document most of them.

My idea is to use all of these little days trips and overnighters to sharpen my skills so that I will be more prepared for my big trip. I try to think about each experience as if it were part of the big trip and how could I do any part of it better?

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

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Early Spring Vermilion River Day Trip. As I sit down to write this blog post it is Saturday, March 23rd. I have just returned from a most enjoyable little trip on the Vermilion River near Pontiac, IL.