“ It’s starting to rain “ he whined and I had to explain that that’s a feeble excuse as in the rapids….“we’re gonna get wet anyway.”
We slid the canoe into the water at the start of a four mile paddle as the rain started to sting the unprotected flesh…and then it was too late. By the time we had reached the end of 500 yards the lightening was more than intense and as it struck a tree just to our left my brother turned back to mouth his disgust in me. I couldn’t hear what he said as the next crack of thunder was far more intense . Within a mile we had witnessed yet another tree get struck sending splinters and shards of wood everywhere and it was obvious we needed to get off the river.
We lucked upon a picnic table that had been washed down the river and we huddled under it as the thunder and lightning cracked again and again all around us . Some time later with precious little daylight left to finish the journey I had to tell my Brother….
“ We spend the night…paddle now …..or paddle out in the dark “
Turns out that what ended up preventing us from paddling out in the dark was the lightening. It would light up the river for us as we sped along dodging boulders and slamming rocks until eventually arriving at the pullout …wet , cold and suffering the adrenaline shakes. It was indeed ….a memory.
As happenstance would have it there are a few stories similar to this over the years involving my Brother David and I and each with similar results . And so it comes as little mystery he would answer my next request for his company on another adventure with a polite but concise….
“ I wouldn’t go to the effing mall with you “
