One of the perks of this business is seeing return guests, especially the kids. Kids can change so much year to year!

Tom and John and their daughters have been canoeing with us for the last four years. The first time they came, the girls were about 10 or 11 and very into their American Girl Dolls. This year
when Tom called to schedule their trip, we had the same conversation we have every year, "This is Tom, the American Girl Girl's dad.." I knew exactly who I was talking to! One of the priceless perks!


The girls are getting so grown up and probably too old for dolls. That's the beauty of canoeing & camping with your dad, you are never too old for it.

Jim a.k.a. Hilly/Hill/Jimmy has left for college along with several other "Borchers Canoe Dudes". Jim started as a Labor Day replacement at about 15 years old has been with Borchers for over 5 years. He let us know that as much as he loves his job, he needs to seek an internship next summer.

Years ago, one of our past crews started "Hugs for Hill". For whatever reason, Bobby asked the crew "whenever you are feeling it, give Hill a hug". Much to Jimmy's chagrin, it grew to asking customers to "hug Hill". It had been forgotten, but telling the old canoe stories one thing led to another and "Hugs for Hill" had a revival.

Jim & Allie

Terry from Carlisle's Canoes hugs Hilly

We are missing Jimmy this morning, so if you see Hill give him a hug from Borchers!

Visitors are the highlight of our season

August has been a blur! So many familiar faces, so many canoes & kayaks!

Here are just a few of our great families, friends, churches, & other assorted groups.

Steve Kowalski & daughter

Indiana National Guard

The Douglas Family

Macomb Baptist Church Youth Group

The Sadin Family











Past Staffer, Lindsey, with husband, Jeff











Pat & Jill, Mel & Denise, Cindy & Barry,




The Ferrell's & Bernadotte's

and more.....

We are often asked, "Do you get to go down river?" Yes, we do! We took an evening paddle trying to take advantage of the "almost" full moon.

Ryan was done with the marathon
and Alex had not left for school yet.

Ryan, Allie, & John

Alex & Matt

Mark & Crew

Sara & Jim

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Just because the rest of the staff is not racing, doesn't mean we are not busy.

Mark had to sprint about a hundred yards to catch the ice cream truck and direct him into our driveway.
Maybe we should call him the "Good Humor Man".

We continued launching canoes and giving our customers the "thumbs up" sign.

Longtime customer, Donna.


We had obstacles to overcome and occasionally, we were between a rock and a hard place!

Working at a canoe rental can be exhausting, but it's the best job you will ever have!

A canoe rental's summer is measured by Memorial week-end, 4th of July, Labor Day week-end and in Grayling, Marathon. It is a busy week starting with the Spike's Challenge and ending with the big race. In between are the business race, sprints, the Casey Challenge and a lot of preparation.


Over the years, we have had the pleasure of hosting many different teams at our B&B and this year was no exception. One of the women's teams, Kate & Christina, stayed with us along with return guests Peter Heed, Matt Meersman and his wife, Danielle.



We are in awe of all the preparations that the teams and their pit crew make during race week. We enjoy hearing some of the strategic planning regarding where to feed, what to take, how to run the sprint.

Kate & Christina with their pit crew pre-race.

Borchers was well represented in the race by current staffer, Ryan, along with past staffers, Sean Casey, Matt McDonald, and Lee Barnett.



Lee and his partner came in 5th, Sean and his partner came in 12th.

Matt Meersman and his partner, local Josh Taylor came in 4th.

Ryan finished his first marathon at a very respectable 27th!!!









Matt, Ryan, and Sean

Marathon Madness

Wow what a crazy week it has been. Marathon week here in Grayling and at Borchers is action packed , full of activities, and keeps us extremely busy. Besides launching boats this week the entire crew had to prepare for the under 18 kids race, "The Casey Challenge", held annually here at Borchers. This race is an 8 mile, aluminum canoe race that normally takes about an hour or an hour and a half depending on how fast the teams paddle. Borchers had a great turnout of 24 teams of boys and girls ages 12 through 17 competing in this race. It was not a big year for records with only one record broken by Naomi Kolka and Mikayla Ashton in the girls 12- 14 division.

Alex Gabriel did a great job of organizing the
Casey Challenge this year.
From the pre-race organizing,
through the briefing,
to awarding medals,
Alex kept the event running smoothly.
Alex has been on staff at Borchers for four years
and took over this event last year.



Sheriff Kirk Wakefield fired the starting gun for each heat and the paddlers churned up the water.

Alex had some great help from the rest of the staff and a couple of great volunteers.
Our long time guest and friend, Charlie Cole and his fiancee, Joyce, kept everybody on track at the "cut across". Sean Casey, marathon paddler and past staffer who re-energized the race many years back, and current staffer and marathon paddler, Ryan, swept the river making sure that all of the competitors crossed the finish line.

It is a Borchers tradition that any staffer that completes 5 or more summers with us is awarded a plaque to be displayed in the canoe shop. These young men & women become an extended family and their commitment to customer service has contributed immeasurably to the growth of our business. It is also a Borchers tradition to feed the crew and volunteers after the Casey Challenge. This year we had the honor of awarding Sean Casey a "Lifetime Achievement Award". Sean was on "regular" staff for over 10 years and continues to assist us with our website, t-shirt designs, and variety of other issues. We were delighted that his family could join us for lunch and that Sean had time out of his busy paddling schedule to sweep the Casey Challenge and lunch with us.