Crazy Day Canoeing

Howdy y'all!!

Yesterday we had plans to go canoeing with some friends, two other families. So we did.

Well - what a day we had.

Friday evening, Doreen and I got our canoe out from behind the shed and put it on top of the pickup and strapped it into place. The next morning we threw the rest of the stuff in the bed of the pick up and away we went.

We all met at a gas station and convoyed to the river.

Once we got there, I noticed a 'trail' of ants on the inside of our canoe, but didn't think too much of it. Then we took the thing down and saw that it was infested. Our canoe is an old Mohawk built back in the early 60' so it's got a 'bulkhead' at either end of the canoe. Therein is where these creatures nested and once we put it on the grass they emerged like crazy.

Not knowing what to do we decided to put the canoe up and head home, we weren't gonna ride in that thing. Then one of our friends, John, had an idea - let's drown them. So we hauled the canoe down to the river and submerged it. Not an easy thing to do. All the ants and eggs that were in the hull of the canoe were washed away.

No more were coming out, so we all loaded our gear up and up the river we paddled. What fun. Well, a little fun anyway. I'm not that good of a canoer, so I'm a bit stressed when we get into tight situations cuz I'm worried about turning the thing over with two girls, 1 dog and 2 adults in it, plus gear and other things. We enjoyed it though.

So we went as far as we could upstream, about a mile and turned around and headed back. We got back to the dock about lunch time. So we got out picnic out of the canoes and ate. Then up to the restroom with all the kids, and in doing so we noticed that John & Tami's window of their vehicle was broken out and it was discovered that her purse, stashed under the seat, was stolen. A call to the police was made and then to some credit card companies.

They were done for the day, with no way to lock the vehicle, so we loaded up their canoe and gear and they headed for home. We decided with Kalvin, Kristine and kids to go on another trip downstream then call it a day.

Well, when we got back down to the dock, we looked in our canoe and everywhere, ants, ants, ANTS galore. They were swarming everywhere. We decided not to ride in it, nor take everything out, submerge it again, then load it back up and canoe. So the kids all got in Kalvin & Kristines boat for a short trip while we packed ours up.

I submerged it again to 'wash' out all those 6 legged creatures before putting it back on top of the pick up. Then we hauled everything up the hill and loaded it all up.

We got done just in time for the return of our friends and kids, to help them unload and haul theirs up. Turns out on the return trip, the battery on their trolling motor died. So they had to paddle the rest of the way back.

Ayi yai yai!

What a day, what a trip.

What a story to tell! :)

This is one for the memory!!!