This month our "Look Upstream" takes us back to the year 1994. The Houston Canoe Club was 30 years old. To mark this achievement, the club published its October newsletter as a special Anniversary issue in memorable style. It was distributed at Rendezvous that year as a way to promote the club.

The cover shows a color photo of founding members Sam Hare and Frank Hurd in Corpus Christi at the end of the 1963 Texas Water Safari, a monumental endurance race with its starting point in San Marcos. Two articles in the newsletter tell the ordeals of the Water Safari and its connection to the founding of the Houston Canoe Club:

• Origins of the Houston Canoe Club in the Texas Water Safari, by Philip Montgomery
• Safari Blues, by Robert Stricker

The many other articles tell stories of paddlers and paddling adventures.

• Paddling Rights in Texas, by Mary Carter
• Kayaks on the Gulf Coast, by Cindy Bartos
• Charlie Wilson talks about Rendezvous and the growth of Freestyle, by Anne Landabury
• In Search of the Wild Alligator - Nests,by Deborah Cowman
• Dutch Oven Cooking Heats Up in Texas, by Lolita Strickland
• A Marriage of Two Solo Canoeists, by Bill Grimes

Throughout the newsletter, the articles are illustrated with drawings, engravings and photos.

A scanned PDF file of this unique newsletter is available on the club website. Click on the cover photo above to get a copy and take your own "Look Upstream."

                   - Greg Walker