Back home and it's still standing.....
Caught up on some mail this afternoon and sent off a couple of pictures to the guys. I have yet to get then on line and will post some here on an official report later. Bro Bar has given the priliminaies and I shall dig deeper into the selected topics fer each day. When my sides begin to recover from the laughter that is.... :shock:
Bro Bar, Yak, Joe and Al were the experinced whitewater dudes.... the rest of us were not ready for whitewater or what was there on the Buffalo river this week. But! Gallant we were! And fun was had by all, regardless if they paddled the last day ( twice the distance covered before) or not. Having flat bottomed boats and one with out any freeboard at all ( Chuck's), we handled the chop rat well. I believe there were several new low life names coined on the river. I'll mention them later... :wink:
I got rid of the nick "Snatch" when I bowed in with the last day crew and paddled empty with them. What a differance! I became un stable and laughed at the rapids and rocks... Bro Bar did mention that I waz gitt'in to uppity with mah wann'in to stand up in a rapids one time.... :shock:
Meeting up with ones who ya haven't seen fer over a year and meetin some new river geezers was absolutly the best thang ever waz. Tom waz a gentleman's gentleman, Dano waz a long lost friend. Young Harry and Joe waz old friends rat after we met at Steel Creek. Old Yaker iz mah long lost brother in crime and insanity. He's in my will now....
Don't let em tell ya that the rain spoilt anythang. It didn't. Pity I didn't have a water proof camera rollin.... there waz hay stacks, rocks, rollers, trees, and much more on that river. But the guys went through them with gustto and laughter but wit a belief that this waz fer younger and more experinced crews. But we did gain experince. Lotz of it. One young fella down at Kyles Landing told me when he saw what I waz paddling(?) loaded,"Damn! Ya had yer hands full with that one!"
Since Chuck's blowout went fine and his recovery will take a couple more weeks, I'll lean on the merry side of his mooning the ladies frum Wisconsin....
That one rock pile that 6 of us lined wazn't for the ones who had no control over their boats and loads. Took 3 hours of running those boats around the piles of very fast moving water and rocks galore. Yak's running it , wouldn't have changed my mind at all. To much gear that wasn't tied down for that rough water. A couple of knots weren't gonna save anything from being ripped apart and tossed on down the river. The ones in the aluminum canoes had more guts than a WWII fighter pilot hitting them rocks ans some water running around them. I am more than jest a little proud of em and their staying through it. Chuck's loss of a "T" shirt and a pair of socks was less than Harry's camera....
Funny thang waz said when we collected Sparkey's gear az it waz swinin by us... later with that... :lol:
Food. What can I say? There was a general store at every take out. We will have to meet up again to collect that much eatin and drinkin. Better than a Baptist Homecoming with snacks, camp foods, ect.
Gotta tel ya about the Society Hill vs the River People too....
Wished thar waz cameras to take the goings on at the first camp on the river. No reality show could cover such. It was type "A" meeting the extraverts.... old men ( Yak being the child of 57 and youngest in camp) having a hoop of fun and not letting some serious situations stop them frum laughing.
Bro Bar and us all leart some thangs on that river. Say all ya want about what kind of boat, how to tie down a load, control in the water you would have learnt a thing or two on this trip. Any person can pilot an air craft , it waz once told me, but the true pilots know what to do whan everything else falls to shit. ( sorry little parders, but thiz iz grown up talk fer when thangs ain't picture perfect)
There wasn't a person there you wouldn't want to miss the next great Geezers Paddle. The richness of personel and the river made volumes for me and the rest of my life to remember them in. When i die and go to Heaven, and I'll meet a bunch there, these men will be just as great to have known.
Yeah, it is a precious memory to hang on th' mind's fireplace and look at fer always.....
swampy