The Great Getaway: Run Your Own Canoe Livery!

(Page 5 of 5)

July/August 1984
By Rob Justis and the Mother Earth News editors 
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DAY BY DAY

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Once you get your livery set up, don't forget to advertise so folks know you exist! And don't be discouraged if customers don't flock to you right away: It takes time for the word to get around.

When the customers arrive, your daily operations begin. Here's an example of a basic business transaction: A couple drives up, ready for a paddling excursion. You quickly size them up to determine their experience, ability, and physical condition (your skill at performing this important job will improve with practice). Taking into account their level of proficiency and the river and weather conditions, you suggest a route that will provide them with the best possible trip. You fit them out with equipment and shuttle them upriver to the planned put-in spot. With a few last minute instructions ("Be sure to notice the osprey nest in the cypress tree just past the old railroad trestle!"), you send them off and return to headquarters to take care of other Customers.

The twosome you loosed upon the river are free to spend the rest of the day leisurely paddling downstream, taking in the beauty of their natural surroundings. Several hours later they'll float lazily into your livery or take-out place (you'll be there to help them dock), eager—you hope!—to return to town and spread the word to their friends about your terrific operation. At the end of the day, you'll clean up your canoes and paddles ... perform any necessary repairs ... bed everything down for the night ... and amble on home for supper.

Running your own canoe livery isn't going to make you a millionaire overnight. In most areas of the country, it won't even provide you with year-round employment. But this sort of work can provide you with an independent, self-supporting, outdoor lifestyle. You can work alongside your family near a beautiful waterway, and you can give (well, rent!) others not so fortunate as you a vehicle capable of transporting them far away from city woes and down streams of natural beauty. And that's not a bad life ... not bad at all!

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