Learning valuable lessons through adventures with Dad

Learning valuable lessons

through adventures with Dad

    My dad, Mac Weaver, is very special to me. Even at age 82, he still has a spirit of adventure. Being the eldest of two daughters, I was the one who helped Dad with everything around the house and he brought me along on many “adventures.”
    It was the mid-1960s and my family, my Mom Viola, Dad, my sister Maxine and I were headed to camp at St. Froid Lake. We had to cross the lake to get there and it was early May. We were so anxious to go! When we arrived at the north end of the lake, it was clear of ice. Dad and I loaded up our 20-foot Grumman canoe. Dad decided that he and I would take the first load around the corner and over to the west side of the lake where our camp was located. Mom and Maxine stayed with the old truck. Off we went, Mom insisting we wear our life jackets, and Dad running the 7 1/2 hp motor at low throttle, hugging the shore. As I peered over the side, the water looked so dark and cold.

    When we rounded the corner and got near the mouth of Birch River, our cove was full of big sheets of ice! We still had a ways to go. It looked quite solid. Dad slowed the canoe down, idling the motor and I knew he was making a plan. The ice though solid, didn’t look very thick and suddenly Dad revved up the outboard and said, “Hang on Susan Ann!”
    I had both hands on the gunwales when Dad rammed the canoe up on top of a sheet of ice. Then raising the motor and using the pick pole and the paddle we shoved the canoe across the ice until we came to open water again. Then Dad started the motor again. We repeated the process several times. It took us awhile, but when we got close to shore by the camp, the ice was melted out a good distance. We came ashore, unloaded the canoe, carried the supplies up the lawn, and generally looked around checking out how the old log camp had survived the winter months. The rabbits out back on the lawn were contentedly chewing the spring grasses. Then we put a few rocks in the canoe for ballast and headed back to get my mother and sister. Much of the ice had disappeared on the way back across the lake and it was clear on the return trip.
    I often think of that trip and how I never felt afraid or doubted that with my Dad in the stern, he would get me to camp and back safely. It was just one of our adventures. Dad’s knowledge of the Maine woods, of negotiating a canoe in rough water, of hunting and fishing, carpentry and his many other skills, are a legacy our family is so lucky to have shared.
    Thanks Dad, and Happy Father’s Day!

Photo courtesy of Susan Maynard

SUSAN MAYNARD and her father, Mac Weaver, have shared many adventures over the years including a canoe outing at St. Froid Lake in the mid-1960s. Maynard said her father’s “knowledge of the Maine woods, of negotiating a canoe in rough water, of hunting and fishing, carpentry and his many other skills, are a legacy our family is so lucky to have shared.”