Kayaking washout
Eric has finally gotten me into kayaking. And I love it. It's the second outdoor activity that we can both be passionate about. Unfortunately, he is much, much better than I will ever be. However, I am certainly doing my best to make up for lost time. We have been attending weekly roll classes and I have mastered the roll. In fact (brag alert), last class I managed to avoid needing any form of rescue and did over 10 rolls both sides.
As a family, we have been paddling the Hawasi as much as possible. This weekend was the last chance to run the Hawasi for the season and so Eric and I decided to take the kids for a final run.
Michael and Amy were informed about our exciting plans at breakfast. Michael immediately lost all appetite for his food and told me he felt, "sick." He moped around all morning. Michael tipped over the last time we ran the river and had to wet exit. Apparently he is still a but traumatized. Amy made up for Michael's lassitude. She eagerly helped us get ready.
We all piled into the car around 11:00 and made it exactly 2 miles down the road when Eric remembered he had forgotten his contact lenses. We turned around and got them. We made it another 10 miles down the road and stopped at a friends house to pick up a key (I'm watching her cat while she is gone). Eric remembered he had forgotten his wallet. We would need cash for the shuttle to the river. I talked him out of turning around assuring him that we could go to Walmart and get cash-back using the Walmart pay set up on my phone. We continued another 20 miles down the road and stopped at Walmart. Unfortunately, Walmart pay does NOT give cash-back. Didn't get this figured out until AFTER I'd bought the $16 sunscreen (that stuff must be laced with gold). I almost took the sunscreen back but we had forgotten to bring that as well, so I came out with sunscreen but not cash. Tried to stop at a Walgreens and couldn't get cashback from apple pay, either. Then I had the brilliant idea of calling the outfitters and seeing if they took "apply pay." They assured me they did so we continued our drive without further fruitless stops.
When we arrived at the put-in we discovered Amy had forgotten her shoes. Oh well, too late now. I dropped all the gear off then headed back down stream to drop the car off at the outfitters and take a shuttle back up. After vainly trying to find a shady spot to park the car, I finally gave up and parked it in the sun, then headed over to pay the $5 for an upstream shuttle. That didn't get very far. Apparently the outfitters do NOT take apple pay like I was told. Fortunately, I have a "wallet" app on my phone that has two different credit cards stored on it. I was able to talk them into manually entering my credit card number. After three attempts, the teenage gal behind the counter was finally able to make it work. I rapidly signed some random consent form and jumped onto a shuttle.
The ride back to put-in was uneventful. Eric was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I made it back. But when he went to put in his contacts he discovered he had left them in the car. Oops. Too late to get them now. Eric would just hope he didn't tip over and lose his glasses. We geared up and started down the river.
Eric is a fabulous teacher and was really working with us on paddle strokes, "ferrying" and "eddying." I'm not sure how much the kids understood, but I was really working on the strokes. In fact, I was working so hard on "ferrying" across the river through a class 1 rapid that didn't realize that I had gotten behind the family. That is until I hear Michael screaming and sobbing incoherently, "Momma, HELP!" I looked downstream and saw Amy stuck under a log with Eric trying to free her kayak. Michael was in an eddy screaming for me to "get her paddle." I saw a yellow paddle bobbing down stream so immediately set off to fetch it. The current was quite swift and we were entering some class 2 rapids so it took me a minute to catch up. I finally got ahead of the paddle and planned to wait for it to get to me. Fortunately, it got snagged on a rock. Eric grabbed it on his way down to meet me and that's when I discovered he had lost his paddle as well.
By now, both kids were crying and sobbing about how daddy made Amy fall and lose her paddle. I secured the kids in an eddy next to the bank and started down stream to try and find Eric's paddle. Eric pulled his kayak onto the bank and headed upstream to see if it had gotten snagged somewhere. The paddle was gone. After a fruitless search I headed back to the kids. We prayed that Jesus would help us find the paddle and then I tried to calm them down while we all waited for Eric to return. He returned paddleless. We had no choice but to continue on down the river. I ferried back and forth looking at every snag hoping we would find a paddle. We never found it but I very much wore myself out looking for it.
As we continued downstream, Michael assured me he was "really sick" and that he was having a "really bad, terrible, no good day." I told him that he should enjoy the moment since this was a great adventure. To cheer him up, I started singing "Rejoice in the Lord always." It didn't have the desired affect and he continued morosely down the river.
Despite Eric not having a paddle, he made it without further mishap down the rest of the rapids. Just before take-out, I decided to practice rolling. Unfortunately, my water bottle wasn't secured. When I rolled, it banged against my leg. I got disoriented and thought maybe my spray skirt had come off. I ended up not evening attempting a roll but rather did a wet exit. I swam with my kayak to the bank, emptied my boat, secured my water bottle, and then did several rolls when we got to the take out just to prove to myself I could still roll.
Thankfully, we had not lost keys or cell phone on the river. Eric started loading kayaks and I worked on getting all our gear together. The kids paddled around the river while we loaded the car. Eventually, we were (I thought) ready to roll so I called both kids to the car and got them buckled in. The car was hot. Eric hadn't gotten in yet and I didn't have keys to start the air conditioning. Michael opened his door to let in some fresh air and suddenly there was a yell from Eric who had been standing on the tire adjusting the ropes holding our kayaks. Michael had opened the sliding door right onto Eric's leg, nearly crushing it. Eric managed to pull it out before the door completely opened, but it was a very close call.
We almost ran out of gas on the way home. Thankfully, we knew of a gas station that would take apple pay and we were able to get gas for the car.
As the crowning finish to our eventful day, when we arrived home, we discovered our electricity was off and we were unable to open the garage door. Fortunately, we did have a house key and Eric managed to get the door open.
Believe it or not, we plan to go kayaking again this Thursday (provided Eric gets a paddle). Maybe we are a little nuts.
As a family, we have been paddling the Hawasi as much as possible. This weekend was the last chance to run the Hawasi for the season and so Eric and I decided to take the kids for a final run.
Michael and Amy were informed about our exciting plans at breakfast. Michael immediately lost all appetite for his food and told me he felt, "sick." He moped around all morning. Michael tipped over the last time we ran the river and had to wet exit. Apparently he is still a but traumatized. Amy made up for Michael's lassitude. She eagerly helped us get ready.
We all piled into the car around 11:00 and made it exactly 2 miles down the road when Eric remembered he had forgotten his contact lenses. We turned around and got them. We made it another 10 miles down the road and stopped at a friends house to pick up a key (I'm watching her cat while she is gone). Eric remembered he had forgotten his wallet. We would need cash for the shuttle to the river. I talked him out of turning around assuring him that we could go to Walmart and get cash-back using the Walmart pay set up on my phone. We continued another 20 miles down the road and stopped at Walmart. Unfortunately, Walmart pay does NOT give cash-back. Didn't get this figured out until AFTER I'd bought the $16 sunscreen (that stuff must be laced with gold). I almost took the sunscreen back but we had forgotten to bring that as well, so I came out with sunscreen but not cash. Tried to stop at a Walgreens and couldn't get cashback from apple pay, either. Then I had the brilliant idea of calling the outfitters and seeing if they took "apply pay." They assured me they did so we continued our drive without further fruitless stops.
When we arrived at the put-in we discovered Amy had forgotten her shoes. Oh well, too late now. I dropped all the gear off then headed back down stream to drop the car off at the outfitters and take a shuttle back up. After vainly trying to find a shady spot to park the car, I finally gave up and parked it in the sun, then headed over to pay the $5 for an upstream shuttle. That didn't get very far. Apparently the outfitters do NOT take apple pay like I was told. Fortunately, I have a "wallet" app on my phone that has two different credit cards stored on it. I was able to talk them into manually entering my credit card number. After three attempts, the teenage gal behind the counter was finally able to make it work. I rapidly signed some random consent form and jumped onto a shuttle.
The ride back to put-in was uneventful. Eric was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I made it back. But when he went to put in his contacts he discovered he had left them in the car. Oops. Too late to get them now. Eric would just hope he didn't tip over and lose his glasses. We geared up and started down the river.
Eric is a fabulous teacher and was really working with us on paddle strokes, "ferrying" and "eddying." I'm not sure how much the kids understood, but I was really working on the strokes. In fact, I was working so hard on "ferrying" across the river through a class 1 rapid that didn't realize that I had gotten behind the family. That is until I hear Michael screaming and sobbing incoherently, "Momma, HELP!" I looked downstream and saw Amy stuck under a log with Eric trying to free her kayak. Michael was in an eddy screaming for me to "get her paddle." I saw a yellow paddle bobbing down stream so immediately set off to fetch it. The current was quite swift and we were entering some class 2 rapids so it took me a minute to catch up. I finally got ahead of the paddle and planned to wait for it to get to me. Fortunately, it got snagged on a rock. Eric grabbed it on his way down to meet me and that's when I discovered he had lost his paddle as well.
By now, both kids were crying and sobbing about how daddy made Amy fall and lose her paddle. I secured the kids in an eddy next to the bank and started down stream to try and find Eric's paddle. Eric pulled his kayak onto the bank and headed upstream to see if it had gotten snagged somewhere. The paddle was gone. After a fruitless search I headed back to the kids. We prayed that Jesus would help us find the paddle and then I tried to calm them down while we all waited for Eric to return. He returned paddleless. We had no choice but to continue on down the river. I ferried back and forth looking at every snag hoping we would find a paddle. We never found it but I very much wore myself out looking for it.
As we continued downstream, Michael assured me he was "really sick" and that he was having a "really bad, terrible, no good day." I told him that he should enjoy the moment since this was a great adventure. To cheer him up, I started singing "Rejoice in the Lord always." It didn't have the desired affect and he continued morosely down the river.
Despite Eric not having a paddle, he made it without further mishap down the rest of the rapids. Just before take-out, I decided to practice rolling. Unfortunately, my water bottle wasn't secured. When I rolled, it banged against my leg. I got disoriented and thought maybe my spray skirt had come off. I ended up not evening attempting a roll but rather did a wet exit. I swam with my kayak to the bank, emptied my boat, secured my water bottle, and then did several rolls when we got to the take out just to prove to myself I could still roll.
Thankfully, we had not lost keys or cell phone on the river. Eric started loading kayaks and I worked on getting all our gear together. The kids paddled around the river while we loaded the car. Eventually, we were (I thought) ready to roll so I called both kids to the car and got them buckled in. The car was hot. Eric hadn't gotten in yet and I didn't have keys to start the air conditioning. Michael opened his door to let in some fresh air and suddenly there was a yell from Eric who had been standing on the tire adjusting the ropes holding our kayaks. Michael had opened the sliding door right onto Eric's leg, nearly crushing it. Eric managed to pull it out before the door completely opened, but it was a very close call.
We almost ran out of gas on the way home. Thankfully, we knew of a gas station that would take apple pay and we were able to get gas for the car.
As the crowning finish to our eventful day, when we arrived home, we discovered our electricity was off and we were unable to open the garage door. Fortunately, we did have a house key and Eric managed to get the door open.
Believe it or not, we plan to go kayaking again this Thursday (provided Eric gets a paddle). Maybe we are a little nuts.
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