Oh, the places it will go

The flat, fertile Ohio River valley where I grew up was a great place for growing soybeans and corn, but I always dreamed of wilder country.

That’s why I bought the canoe.

A 17-foot aluminum Grumman, it cost $239 at Beard’s Sporting Goods and came with a lifetime guarantee. I paid for it with money from my paper route.

That first summer, with the canoe tied on top of my friend Johnny’s car, he and I and another buddy traveled to northern Minnesota where we launched the craft on Moose Lake, and disappeared into the wilderness for a week.

I was 15 and the canoe and I have been inseparable ever s...