Fondly remembering Dave!

When we arrived in Astoria in 2006 we were basically friendless...orphans looking wide-eyed for dear companions to share our love of the outdoors. One day a person at work said "you need to meet Dave Kruger" and she made the introduction. The common ground we shared was that he and his partner, Becky both were kayakers and we were kayakers. It took no time at all for Dave to suggest we get out on the water together and we set a date.

When the date arrived we woke to rain and wind. Being from Santa Cruz and used to kayaking in calm, sunny weather, we were sure Dave would cancel,. When we met at Aldrich Point, Dave said "you guys don't have the right gear for here" and out from the back of his vehicle came waterproof spray jackets. So with rain blowing sideways we launched our boats on the mighty Columbia and out we paddled through the islands just off shore. After a while it did stop raining and the skies cleared. We paddled out to the edge of the last island (Dave would definitely berate me for not knowing the name of the island) we as we looked across the river at Skamokawa he said "we are gonna cross the river". We thought now wait, aren't their huge ships that come up the river? Really? But you see Dave and Becky wanted a chocolate chip cookie that was baked at the little store in Skamokawa, so according to him we HAD to cross. Sure enough the cookies were fantastic and the crossing nail biting for us, but uneventful.

Then he started telling us about how big the wake is when one of these large ships actually comes across and there was one barreling down on us. We pointed our bows into the wake and bumped up and down on the waves and then crossed back over. Thus started our many years of wonderful paddling adventures with Dave.

Dave made sure that we felt welcome and was always generous with his gear and his advise of course. We always felt safe and he did his best to make sure that we experienced the best paddling the PNW had to offer. Camping trips on Long Island (clamming pictures on Bruce's post), many paddles on the Columbia and he even introduced us to paddling in the Broughtons in Canada.

Paddling adventures taken care of, Dave, on learning that we were also hikers, made sure that we were introduced to his ex-wife, Belinda. She became our best friend in Astoria and our very best hiking buddy for all of the years that we have lived here.

Oh yes and as you will see from the pictures below Dave was always a colorful dresser. Even in the winter you could count on Dave to sport shorts and knee socks. He did not disappoint.

I loved Dave for his generosity and inclusiveness of others. He delighted our visiting friends with special paddling trips, he loaned us his double so we could take our niece Sara paddling in the Brokens and he was not shy about inviting strangers to paddling adventures. He had a zest for sharing the places he loved with others.

It was very sad for us when he became ill and stopped paddling, we were sad for him and for us. We spent many, many evenings around our dining room table (also in Bruce's pics) where he and Becky got engaged (first picture below). He was a fountain of information about almost everything and he loved "mansplaining" stuff to me (much as I resisted). We had the privilege of sharing the special relationship that was shared between Belinda "his starter wife", Becky is wife and Dave. Very special, wonderful and unusual.

Dave was a very special person. We are so saddened to not have him on the planet any longer and will remember and miss him dearly.