Table of Contents
June 14 General Meeting Minutes
Trip Reports
Cecilia Gill: Labor Day on the Sabine River
by Cecilia Gill
My family
and I went on the Memorial Day Sabine River Trip this weekend. It was
a lovely adventure! We did not get to camp at the LA state park like we
had originally planned because that place and another campground nearby
were all booked up. There were a few people who camped out under the bridge,
listening to the gentle rumbling and soothing trumpeting of the wild 18
wheelers that roam free over the bridge all night. If I had known that
there would be a group camping out there, we might have joined them. But
there is no way I would want to camp out under a bridge alone... or, just
us 4. So instead, we got up at the late hour of 3:am Saturday morning
and got on the road at 4:am.
While Joe unloaded gear out of the trailer and Jeep, I began putting together
our rig. We had 2 canoes and lashed them together in a sturdy fashion
(I'm not going into "How to Build a Raft/Catamaran/Barge" here.)
and loaded up the gear and the boys. After I set my motor mount and put
our little 2.5 mercury on there, I drove off for the shuttle while Joe
stayed with the boats and the boys. And there were BoyScouts everywhere!
Disclaimer for those opposed
to motors on canoes...
On with the tale.......... After we got the cars to the take out and hopped
on the shuttle back, we met a sister and brother who found the trip on
the internet. The brother lives here in Texas (not sure where), but the
sister lives in Mississippi! She made the trip all the way from there
for this weekend event! She had an interesting set up on her sit-on-top
kayak that I never even heard of before... FOOT paddles! Talk about being
able to get a full body workout!
We stopped at every sand bar we could see, just about... and took really
long breaks to snack, have lunch, swim, play with the minnows and the
clams, run around on the beaches, etc. Sure 'nough, someone was tired
and hurting, and needed a little help. Joe tied the bow of her boat to
the bow of ours, and she held on to our gunnel. We just putt putted down
the river. Then, we picked up another who needed a little help, so we
had 2 in tow. It was really rather nice. Yes, it's a motor, but its not
so loud you can't have a normal conversation. So we chatted all the way
to the next stop. One of our tows decided she had caught her breath and
decided to paddle on to the campsite, so then there was one.
After we got to the campsite, we found out that one lady thought she could
do the trip in 2 days instead of 3... she had some appointment she had
to make on Monday. If I and others had realized that that was why she
was asking how to I.D. the take out sand bar, we would have said something.
But I thought she just thought she might be one of the first ones there
or something, or the last, and was afraid that there wouldn't be other
people around for her to know that it was the take out. It was suggested
that I haul her butt out (w/ my Merc) and come back... I said that if
she was hurt or sick, I definitely would. But I'm not going to alter MY
plans to play with my kids because of someone else's lack of judgement.
Someone else's bad planning does not create an emergency on my part.
We had a great dinner Saturday night, and all crashed early. There were
no damn releases, so the river just kept dropping the whole time. We staked
out our rig while everyone else dragged theirs up the beach, but it really
didn't matter.... we were well dry-docked in the morning anyway.
Sunday morning, after a great breakfast, we packed up and headed to the
next campsite. We had a lovely time going down the river, and had one
canoe in tow. We stopped frequently again, just enjoying our time with
the boys on the river. I like to stop at every sand bar i see, just about...
and play in the water!
There was one point where the BoyScouts had stopped to take a break and
were swimming around, playing with a football and a frisbee in the water.
I had the motor down as slow as it would go. I couldn't get the air horn
in time, so I just yelled for them to get out of the way! Even if I shut
off the motor, I can't just stop, and I didn't relish the idea of crashing
our rig into the downed tree in front of us. I had to yell a couple of
times to get them to get out of the way so we could pass. Good thing I
have a loud mouth! Shut up, Joe!
After we got to the campsite and started unloading, a BoyScout canoe with
2 men and 2 boys paddled by. I was toting gear up the beach, so I didn't
hear anything. But they just kept on going. Then, I was told that they
were asking for a motor, they had 2 injured boys that they needed to get
out. We got the rest of the stuff out of the boat in a hurry, and Mary
Z, her extensive 1rst Aid Kit and me and my Merc 2.5 went into action.
We caught up to the BoyScouts quickly and towed the 2 exhausted men and
the 2 hurt boys out as fast as the river would let us.
On the way out, we passed a group with 4 wheelers, and they had buried
one seat deep in the mud! A good laugh was had by all.
After we got them to the take out, Z checked the boys out before the men
took them to Leesville to the hospital there. One had gotten whacked in
the face with a paddle and his chin was split open. The side of his jaw
hurt, too, so we were a little concerned with a possible fracture. The
other boy, when they said he had a fish hook in his hand, I just thought,
"Ow!" But what he had was a big arse TROT line hook imbedded
in the palm of his hand between his middle and ring fingers... right smack
dab in the MIDDLE of his hand! It was rusty as all git out, and he had
a red line going up his arm already. (blood poisoning had started, for
those who don't know what that means.) Z repacked him and put him in a
sling, and they were on their way to the hospital.
We headed back to the campsite. As we were going around the bend where
the now unstuck 4 wheeler was, I ran out of gas. Z paddled as I filled
up the tank. There were some fishermen camping out there, and they had
big ole Merc 40's on their boats. They had about 3 large tanks on the
beach. We putted over to them and made some new friends. They let us have
about a gallon or so of their premixed gas.... the same mix that my baby
Merc takes. The tiny Merc I have doesn't drink much, but it did need more
to fight the current going back. We made it back before dark, and in time
to have another great supper. Lonnie and Morgan would neither one speak
to me until i explained to them how we had to go help two other little
boys that were hurt. Oh. It was OK, then.
At some point either in the middle of the night or early in the morning
Monday, it started to rain... not just drizzly rain, downpour rain! Our
poor ole tent has just about had it... it wants to cave in when a light
wind hits it, and it has not one, not 2 but a few leaks, we discovered.
Well, we've had the tent a couple of years now, I think, and have used
the heck out of it... we definitely got our $50 or $60 out of it a long
time ago! We decided it is now a State Park tent... mostly for the boys
to play in.
Anyway, we got our breakfast and started breaking camp and loading gear
in the once again dry(?) docked boats that I had to bail a lot of (rain)
water out of. We didn't bother stopping to play this rainy Monday morning.
We just putted on out, and we didn't tow anyone, either. I'm getting pretty
good at maneuvering around obsticles with a motor if I do say so myself.
Even with the rain, the river kept dropping. There were a couple of places
where i believe the river was only about 6 inches deep all the way across,
so i propped up the motor and we got out and dragged. It was fun. No,
really! It was! Not sarcasm! I can't wait 'til next trip!
The boy with the chin injury is ok, just a little sore, but last i heard,
the boy with the trot line hook was in surgery for an hour and was still
in the hospital as of Monday.
On the way back down I-10W, we noticed lots of flooded out places... neighborhoods
near the freeway, cars halfway under water, flooded houses, people with
stuff in boats floating down the roads... The things you are blissfully
ignorant of until you get off the river........
We didn't sleep on the boat this time like I wanted to, but we will on
the Labor Day Trip. In the meantime, I have lots of gear to wash and to
try to air out, but its STILL raining right now. Everything's gonna be
lemony fresh by the time i can clean and air it out..........
SYOTR!!!!