I met Mike and Daryl on paddling trips, canoeing with local whitewater clubs. They paddled tandem at first. As is the case with many couples I know, they transitioned to solo canoes.
We hit it off right away. Was it our common New England backgrounds? Mike was regularly encouraging me to go on this or that paddling trip. He clearly loved the canoe camping scene.
Mike organized a regular Memorial Day weekend trip to West Virginia. He coordinated with the campground owners at Teeter's to accommodate what was frequently a large contingent of multiple paddling clubs.
Then there was the campfire. Was Mike a pyromaniac? Well, he certainly enjoyed building and maintaining a roaring campfire, while enjoying a cold one.
We had a couple of other common interests: Music and Food. Mike would often enlist me to go to this or that concert, for which I needed little encouragement. We especially favored live jazz at Blues Alley. I particularly remember the Four Generations of Miles concert, where members of various Miles Davis ensembles got together and performed classic Miles Davis numbers. The last concert we went to at Blues Alley, in May, was to see Buster Williams, the renowned bass player.
As for food, Mike had a strong preference for seafood—no surprise for someone raised on the coast of New England. Raw oysters and steamed crabs were his favorites. Our last dinner together was at the King Street Oyster Bar in Leesburg—a common rendezvous of ours. I can still see Mike slurping down a dozen mixed oysters.
Cheers, Mike!