Don't Give Up
The Ship II

Before it was ours it was Mark's. Nigel's dad ran this trip when Nigel was a kid — no group text, no RSVP link, no headcount spreadsheet. He handwrote letters to his friends, hung a flag where the river could find it, and hoped enough of them showed up.

The flag said Don't Give Up The Ship — Perry's battle flag off Lake Erie, 1813, which is a lot of sentiment for a stretch of Oregon basalt and that is exactly the point. We kept the flag, the name, and the hoping. The letters are now a Google Form. Sorry, Mark.

The Grasshopper Fire closed the road to Maupin, and for about a day and a half DGUTS '26 was canceled. Then Jeff re-read the flag and found no fine print about roads. New orders: camp is booked and paid at Cottonwood Canyon State Park — the End of the Road Group Camp, on the John Day River — Thursday Aug 13 through Sunday Aug 16. One canyon east, zero fires adjacent.

We're going to the river. Not necessarily rafting — the John Day doesn't do rapids in August, and neither do we on thirty-six hours' notice. Swimming, fishing, floating whatever inflates, and eating like people who did absolutely nothing to deserve it. The ship part was always negotiable. The river part never was.