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Show no picnic Staging the annual Friendship Cruise on the Green : and Colorado Rivers is no picnic, as anyone will tell j you who has been involved in the mostly-civic venture over the decade it has been staged. In addition to the almost insurmountable problems, of logistics moving hundreds of cars and trailers fifty miles and caring for them until the owners arrive; providing difficult rescue service for those who encounter problems; and many other services covered in the nominal nom-inal registration fee, the two communities wihich sponsor the event must deal with two other factors almost entirely out of their control. We speak, of course, of the capricious characteristics of the two wild rivers and their cousin, the weather. ' ' Despite the problems, however, the dozens of persons per-sons from both Green River and Moab who have served the event over the years, have carried on in a commendable commend-able fashion, bringing in new volunteers when old workers work-ers have run out of gas; and cheerfully looking to next year, even though at times it has been a forced cheerfulness. cheer-fulness. There are those, In any event, who always expect more than they can possibly get. Such was the. case this year with some boaters who were disgruntled over handling hand-ling of cars and boats, fueling and docking, etc. Visitors of this type, fortunately, make up only a small percentage per-centage of the total number of participants, even though they make the days long and tiring for local volunteers.' They are vastly outnumbered by those who sincerely I enjoy the trip and sincerely appreciate the efforts put I forth locally. This year's Friendship Cruise was probably no bet-' tor nor worse than others which have been staged in the past. Important at this point, is that the event was well planned, cheerfully staged and well handled, with a few minor exceptions. Also important is that plans will almost routinely be made within the next few weeks, we are sure, for the running in 1972 of another successful, success-ful, if difficult, Friendship Cruise. |