One of our favorite hobbies is kayaking on the Deschutes River. To simplify the logistics of a kayaking outing we usually find a launch spot, park the car and paddle upriver for as long as we can or have time for and then we turn around and let the current carry us back to where we came from. While there is every so often paddle boarders or kayakers like us most boaters follows a different schema – with the help of a rental outfit, friends or just by leveraging multiple family cars people start upstream and float and paddle down and collect their launch car after the journey is complete. One benefit of our method is that on busy days we get to meet and greet many other boaters. In most cases this is a nod or a friendly hello, but sometimes little conversations are being struck up. Usually, they start with the other folks taking note of us paddling upstream and then it goes like that: “You are going the wrong way!” or “You are working too hard – look at us – this is the right way!”. This year it happened for the first time last weekend. By all measures it is late since we have been out kayaking perhaps already about fifteen times. This first “wrong way” encounter in 2025 serves for me as a reminder to prepare some good answers. My annual personal challenge is to come up with different answers to this statement each time. The simplest one is to say – “We will turn around soon and take it easy also”. Here are some other candidates: “The beer is that way” – a materialistic one, or along the same lines – “My cousin upstream invited for dinner”. Or the philosophical one – “Right way or wrong way depends on the perspective”, Or the fitness one – “We ate too much last night and need to work that off now” – it could also be “We are practicing for a marathon”.
You get the picture, and these examples start the portfolio of ideas for the next few encounters. Since the season is still long, I better add to my ideas for responses.
“The hard way is never the wrong way”