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Angle to Key West: Against the Flow (6/19)

Rainy River, MN – June 19, 2012 When you fight the current, there is a moment when you realize you will lose. The world stands still for an instant, hangs there balanced, your paddle unable to pull it...

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Angle to Key West: Rain (6/20)

Loman, MN – June 20, 2012 The first rain drops shatter the river’s glass surface with a thousand ripples. More drops come, more ripples, now with conviction. The river seems to boil. The air turns...

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Angle to Key West: The Machine Sputters to Life (6/21)

International Falls, MN – June 21, 2012 My body flows like the engine of an old car gasping to life. Rusted gears grind together, smoke spurts out, belts slip as they spin. My body is a thousand pieces...

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Angle to Key West: Dilemma Emma (6/22)

International Falls, MN – June 22, 2012 Emma and I sat on the tailgate and neither of us said a word. We just stared at the boat sitting in the library parking lot. I first met her a half-hour earlier,...

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Angle to Key West: Other Perspectives

Three weeks in and I’ve almost flipped in waves, been mauled by mosquitoes, and yelled at by otters. I’ve also had the fortune to meet some fantastic and unique people along the way, some of them...

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Angle to Key West: The Best Cuban Restaurant in International Falls (6/23)

International Falls, MN – June 23, 2012 For one night only, I opened the best Cuban restaurant in International Falls. Located in the Pavleck’s kitchen, it featured a limited menu of my abuela’s arroz...

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Angle to Key West: Packing My World (6/24)

Island on Rainy Lake, MN – June 24, 2012 The kayak exploded open like a pinata, spilling a hundred pieces of gear instead of candy. A lot of chaos comes in and out of two long hatches. My equipment...

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Angle to Key West: Gold Rush (6/25)

Rainy Lake, Voyageurs National Park, MN – June 25, 2012 In 1894, 214 people lived in Rainy Lake City. It smelled of fresh-cut timber, canvas tents, and muddy streets. 11 of the people living there were...

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Angle to Key West: Nudge (6/26)

Rainy Lake, Voyageurs National Park, MN – June 26, 2012 From fifty feet up, the water looked like concrete. I leaned over the edge of Anderson Bay’s cliffs and felt blood rushing into my head. The...

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Angle to Key West: Kettle Falls (6/27)

Namakan Lake, Voyageurs National Park – June 27, 2012 A twisting maze of channels, bays, and islands connect Rainy and Namakan Lakes. I counted every turn and stared at my maps to keep from getting...

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Angle to Key West: Ice Cream (6/28)

Crane Lake, Voyageurs National Park – June 28, 2012 The wind ripped across Namakan Lake sending wave after wave crashing against my small island. I’d arrived after sunset last night, worn thin by miles...

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Angle to Key West: The First Portage (6/29)

Lac La Croix, Boundary Waters Wilderness – June 29, 2012 Gravity holds for a moment, then gives way and the Looksha’s yellow hull rises toward the sky. The boat shifts above me, sliding side-to-side as...

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Angle to Key West: How to Stop Time (6/30)

Iron Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness – June 30, 2012 I know how to stop time. It’s tricky and only lasts for an instant, but in that moment, you can have a thousand different thoughts. One of them...

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Angle to Key West: Water and Sky (7/1)

Crooked Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness – July 1, 2012 The still air leaves Crooked Lake’s surface a sheet of glass. The Looksha’s hull cuts through reflections of puffy white clouds and blue sky. It...

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Angle to Key West: The Match (7/2)

Basswood Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness – July 2, 2012 I held a single match between my fingers. It felt like my world hung on that match. I felt frail and beaten thin. I needed it to light. I...

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Angle to Key West: Old Friend (7/3)

Moose Lake, MN – July 3, 2012 Megan called me on the phone once and said, “why don’t you come to Kenya for two weeks.” “Can’t,” I said. “Why’s that?” she asked. I didn’t have a good answer, so...

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Angle to Key West: Ely’s 4th of July Parade (7/4)

Ely, MN – July 4, 2012 My favorite part of the Ely 4th of July parade wasn’t the synchronized lawn chair performance team or the drum-heavy clown band, though both were inspired. It wasn’t the Viking...

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Angle to Key West: Back to the Wild (7/5)

Sucker Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness, MN – July 5, 2012 The sun just set when I pushed the Looksha into the water. I thought about spending another night at Canoe Country Outfitters, but I knew I...

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Angle to Key West: Can’t (7/6)

Cypress Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness, MN – July 6, 2012 They looked too fresh to have been out for long, but unlike a weather-beaten man at one of the portages, I kept my mouth shut long enough to...

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Angle to Key West: Moving Shadows (7/7)

Saganaga Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness, MN – July 7, 2012 My eyes saw a flicker of movement just beyond a shadow. I stared and saw only branches, leaves, and light, but something felt off, some...

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Angle to Key West: Burnt (7/8)

Pine River, Boundary Waters Wilderness, MN – July 8, 2012 The branches are gone. The leaves are gone. Everything is gone. Only lines of blackened trunks still rise into the sky. They stand and wait...

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Angle to Key West: Height of Land (7/9)

South Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness, MN – July 9, 2012 It’s strange to turn a corner, watch the water open, and feel like you’ve jumped three hundred years forward in time. Imagination runs wild...

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Angle to Key West: Love and Hate (7/10)

Mountain Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness, MN – July 10, 2012 The roar of water drew me in. It rushed across the lake, crisp and clear, singing like the voice of a siren. The falls were off the route,...

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Angle to Key West: Meet Wally (7/11)

Moose Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness, MN – July 11, 2012 “This is some bull…” Let me introduce you to a friend of mine. He’s that heavy-set fellow with thick arms and a belly hanging out of his...

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Angle to Key West: End of the Map (7/12)

Pigeon River, MN – July 12, 2012 I know the world doesn’t end at the edge of a map, water doesn’t stop flowing, trees don’t fall down like dominoes and disappear, but it almost feels like it should....

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Angle to Key West: Fort Charlotte (7/13)

Fort Charlotte, Pigeon River, MN – July 13, 2012 Fort Charlotte is nothing now, just a bend in the Pigeon River, a turn with a small wooden dock and a few scattered campsites. There is nothing but the...

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Angle to Key West: The Grand Portage (7/14)

Grand Portage Trail, MN – July 14, 2012 The trail is all utility. It doesn’t rise to a mountaintop or follow a ridge. It isn’t seeking out a perfect view or diving into a canyon. There are no...

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Angle to Key West: Lake Superior (7/15)

Lake Superior, Grand Portage Bay, MN – July 15,  2012 I imagined the moment a thousand times before it happened. I pictured the richest green forest giving way to the deepest blue water. I thought...

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Angle to Key West: The Cuban Comet, Part 1 (7/16)

Havana, Cuba – 1960 The ’58 Oldsmobile rolled toward the heart of Havana’s harbor, towards the sloped ramp of a ferry bound for Key West. Cuba’s ties with the United States were crumbling, but not yet...

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Angle to Key West: Up Rapids and Jumping Off Cliffs (7/17)

I’m off the water for a few days, but the adventure will continue as soon as I get back and the Looksha accepts my apology for abandoning her. That doesn’t stop me from reminiscing about a few things...

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Angle to Key West: The Cuban Comet, Part 2 (7/18)

Gainesville, FL – 1969 Nine years after the ferry from Havana to Key West, everything changed in about four seconds on the third play of Florida’s game against number one ranked Houston. The Florida...

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