(you have to read part 1 to catch up with the jist of this story)
The rest of that summer, about two weeks, Larry and I managed to get the canoe in the water several times. Next summer would be the big test.....we ourselves would actually get in it and paddle around. The only actual people that got in the floating tank were my sister, shortstuff, and one of her girlfriends. We figured if it went down with them in it....no big loss.
The last day I was up there we carefully hauled the canoe up to Larry's house and put it in his Dad's workshop/garage. Over the winter we kept in touch (one letter from him to me) and one phone call (me to him) just before Memorial Day, our annual pilgrimage up to Eagle River to open the cottage.
The God's were with me that spring, and I had become the proud owner of a 1953 Dodge Coronet, with push button automatic transmission (which only Drive worked) and had half a backseat, which meant that I could only get 4 people in the back instead of the usual 7.
Larry was beside himself with excitement on the phone when I called him in early May.
"Bob, you won't believe what I did to the canoe."
"Jeez Larry, did you try trolling with it on the ice? You dumb-ass."
"No, dummy, I'm not that stupid. The ice was to thick to cut throw to get any good open water. I got some paint and camouflaged it. It's really cool. We can sneak around in the dark and spy on other fisherman, and Judy Benson over at High Point Resort."
"Isn't Judy the girl that split your head open with a rock from about 50 yards away when she thought you were making obscene looks at her?"
"Yeah, that's her. Lucky throw's all it was"
"How come she hit you twice in a row in a matter of 2.4 seconds.?"
"Never mind. Just wait 'till you see the canoe."
On Friday after school of Memorial Day weekend I headed out on my own, in my own car, a free spirit at last. My own car!! If Google Earth had been up and running then, or for that matter even computers, you could have followed my route. A thick cloud of bluish smoke from Hampton Ave and Lake Drive in Milwaukee, up Highway 41 towards Fond du Lac, across the Butte des Morts bridge, left on Highway 45, and North to Eagle River.
There were oil refilling stops in New London and Antigo.
I hit Eagle River about 8 pm that evening and headed out towrds Pickerel Lake and the cottage and the camo-canoe. As I hit our driveway I noticed a strange glow coming from Larry's old man's shop. I pulled over there just as Larry came running out.
"Oh man, Bob. Wait 'till you see this. A thing of beauty."
Larry opened the shop door and I have had blurred vision since then; Memorial Day, 1959.
"Good God Larry, what the hell is that?"
"Cool, huh?"
"Jeez, you just invented the Rainbow Coalition and Tye Dyeing."
The canoe was smothered in the brightest Green, Yellow, Red and Blue you can imagine. I was afraid to go near it in fear I would keel over dead from some kind of radiation or worse yet, my sister shortstuff would spring out from under it and strangle me.
"Whatta ya think Bob."
"How the hell we gonna sneak up on anything it that? Jeez, we put that in the water and all the fish in Northern Wisconsin are gonna go into hiding. Fishing will stink for a hundred years. God, Larry, they'll see this thing up in Hudson Bay."
"Naw, fish are color blind. They won't know the difference."
"Well, you're sure as heck aren't going to sneak up on Judy Benson in that thing. You might just as well call her and tell her you're coming. That way she can get her rocks ready."
"She won't throw rocks at me any more."
"Why?"
"She got a new 30.06 for Christmas. I ain't going near High Point Resort."
Being teenagers and fisherman who didn't look a gift canoe in the mouth, we used that thing for the next 45 years. Even after I moved to Montana, when we came back and went up to the cottage for a few days, we'd pull out the Psychedelic Canoe and paddle around. The last time I saw Larry was 2004, the summer we sold our cottage. Larry and I took old Psychedelic out for a spin, for old times sake.
"Hey Larry, want to go over by High Point Resort and see if Judy is still around?"
"Nope, ain't going near that place."
"Why?"
"Didn't you know Bob? She won three medals in the Olympics in shooting."
Anyone for a Weenie Roast?