The Saga of the Yellow Boat

Sound, please!

https://youtu.be/_2e2kC-geMI

For those who may have wondered about how the little yellow boat I keep referring to was lost, it was kind of like this…

Right click link and select “Open Link in New Tab : http://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/video/water-rescue-on-pigeon-creek_20170503020337/705235866

Please do not go out on flooded creeks if you aren’t an accomplished paddler who knows the dangers of paddling in flood waters, and even then, if you look away for one second you can find yourself in trouble very, very quickly. And no, I was not hugging the log. I was sitting on it quite comfortably talking to 911 on my cell phone IN ITS WATERPROOF BAG hung around my neck. (Don’t forget your phone, and make sure it is fully charged when you set out.) And it was more like two hours before they were able to locate me. If you do go out there, watch for every nuance that indicates something ahead of you in the water, and check behind you too. Logs coming down the creek behind you are moving faster than you. I’m pretty sure that’s what got me, or a river monster bumped me while I was leaning over for my water bottle that had fallen out of its holder. I towed my boat behind me for twenty minutes swimming to get to shallow water, and then I saw we were going to be swept into a log over which water was pouring, and I knew I could be crushed between the boat and the log, or sucked underneath the log with the boat. I got on the back side of her, kissed her goodbye, let her go, and as she was sucked under I grabbed onto the log, HELD on until I could free my right leg from the current trying to suck me under with her, hooked my leg over the log and hauled myself up. Then it was a matter of sitting butt deep in cold water for two hours waiting. I did manage to hang onto my dry bag and my paddle. The rescue squad ended up with my paddle. They forgot to take it out of the raft, and I told them if they could use it, please keep it.

https://youtu.be/9epgm4R2c8k

I hope to have my replacement boat the first part of August. People wanted me to promise I would never go out on flood waters again in this new boat. I told them I could not make that promise, but if I do, I will be wearing my life jacket. I might not have lost my canoe if I had been. I would have been able to come up under it and lift it over my head into the air, flip it and climb back in. Ah well. Hindsight is 20/20 vision.

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