We had paddled a half mile of flat calm river before we heard it. At first it was just a hint but as we rounded the bend of the Contoocook River we more than heard it…we saw it. A frothing churning endless stretch of what would prove to be near class 4 whitewater leading into the famous Devils Elbow. This was truly experienced kayakers country…. but we were in an open canoe meaning failure was beyond likely.
Perry and I did ourselves proud however in the distance we covered before the inevitable out of boat experience occurred. We were washed quite a way in the raging water before finding ourselves stranded in the middle of the river on a large boulder, shaken, bruised and cut but luckily with the canoe and paddles still death gripped in our hands. With much tactical planning we did eventually find ourselves safely back on the rivers bank where I made a nasty discovery……
“Perry ….the car keys are missing from my belt loop ….must of got ripped off going over that last fall “…….and Perry looked more alarmed than we did back on the river.
“ What the hell are we gonna do now ?” he asked but I already had a plan…
“ We thumb back to the car and break into the trunk through the back seat to retrieve my tools….then we cut the speaker wire and use it to attach the coil to the battery. Then we cross the starter with a screw driver and presto…..we’re driving home .”
“ You can really do that Richard ??”……Perry needed to know because we were a long way from home.
” Sure I can ” was my boast and that’s exactly what we did and I basked in the glory of endless praise from my friend as the engine fired up and sat there purring like a kitten as we giggled like school kids and smoked a calming cigarette.
“ All right “ I said….. “ Lets get outta here and go pick up the canoe”
At this point the happy smiles were wiped clean as we discovered the transmission of the 1971 Dodge Duster was still locked in Park……
