Title: The Seventy-Thousand-Dollar Outhouse
Author: Donald D. Yackel
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
ISBN: 979-1645757078
Pages: 274
Genre: Memoir / Outdoors
Reviewer: Susan Brown
Pacific Book Review
I love a good travel story. I also love to kayak, seeing the world at sea level from the viewpoint of the wildlife inhabitants is an incredible experience. If you share these sentiments, or think kayaking might be for you, or even if you’re content to be an armchair traveler, as I am about many places in the world, you will thoroughly enjoy author Donald D. Yackel’s accounts of his paddling adventures. Plus, as someone who loves the outdoors, I was intrigued to find out what makes a $70,000 outhouse any better than the ones that don’t cost that much!
The narrative is broken up into reminisces of his trips in spots in both Canada and the United States, plus Costa Rica and Mexico. Actually, his stories are more than just reminisces, they are detailed accounts of every aspect of his trips, from gear to meals to wildlife to local history and, most importantly, the people he traveled with. He writes, “If it’s a good trip, people are always the best part.”
Of equal importance to this memoir is, of course, the outhouse. Located on Georgina Island on the St. Lawrence River is a marvel, a “hi-tech, solar powered, composting toilet outhouse, that was the pride of the island.” Although the outhouse was impressive, unfortunately the camp area the author’s tour group was given was not of the same caliber. But the group made do; that’s a common theme in the author’s telling of these stories, that adapting to challenges is a necessity with travel of any kind. In tandem with the positive there is also some negative.
Mr. Yackel writes eloquently about that balance, “And you come to know that the only way you can experience the quiet beauty of a place like this is to endure these hardships for the reward of something truly elusive and special.” His personal feelings accentuate the positive. He writes, “Alone, I stood there for the longest time, looking at that ancient land, trying to take it in, to absorb it, to see its timeless, yet unchanging nature, so that I could carry the feel of it when I left.”
His writing captures his joy of being on the water, with friends, paddling to his next adventure, absorbing the sights and sounds around him, stopping along the way to experience local culture and gain an understanding of the history of a place. The magic of his writing is in the details. As a reader, I truly felt a part of each adventure, snug and warm in a tent cocoon, mesmerized by a campfire, fighting a rip current, being in awe of seeing a Frigatebird of Beluga whale, visiting an ancient Indian burial site. As a kayaker, however, the best parts of these stories is his unabashed joy of being in his tiny boat on the water.
The best part is this statement, “I know that even if no one else ever reads this account, I can meet these people again and relive this adventure once more through these pages.” If you’re looking for the answer to what makes a travel journey worthwhile, this book captures it. Donald D. Yackel brings readers along for the ride, sharing the people, places, unexpected obstacles, and discoveries that make each expedition a story worth telling. The Seventy-Thousand-Dollar Outhouse by Donald D. Yackel would be best for readers who enjoy outdoor adventures, travel memoirs, and true-life stories.
