Memorial Day – Sabine River Paddle
By Cecilia Gill

This past Memorial Day Weekend we did our annual Sabine River Trip with the motorized 2 canoe decked and canopy-ed barge. Those who read the last "Backwater Backwash" already know about the shear pin incident, so we won't cover that part too much.
(pontooning two canoes to create a larger house boat)

It started off with Lonnie having a bit of tummy trouble before the trip. Mostly as I was packing up to go. Lonnie has a touchy tummy anyway, and anything can and will set it off. Since usually he can get tummy trouble and no one else will get sick, and since there was no fever, and since he was starting to feel better, I figured it just something he ate and that it was better for us to do the trip we planned and were all looking forward to, rather than cancel. If we had to just scoot on out of there, pack up and go home, well, we had a motor.

We camped out under the Texas Hwy 63 / La Hwy 8 bridge over the Sabine River Friday night. Lonnie started feeling better by the time we got there. If he had still been actually sick or running fever, we would have not unpacked and just gone back home in the morning. But, he was OK, eating, drinking, running around, and seemed to be fine.
first night's camping -

And no one else had any indication of being sick at that time. If I even for a minute thought that Lonnie had something that we'd all get, instead of just a reaction to something he ate, we would have stayed home. This "reaction" thing is very common for Lonnie, although he does seem to be growing out of it, thank goodness!

It was a lovely day going down the river. Even though we have a motor, we are often the last ones. Partly because we stop and play so much, and partly because we kind of hang out, waiting for any "stragglers" who bit off more than they could chew. We had a grand ole time! The boys got to play with their new big squirt guns and a few other water and beach toys.

When we got to the first sand bar to camp for the night, the group we usually hang out with had picked an area that was icky and mucky to come out of the boat there, but there were trees for shade and to tie boats up to. We decided that we'd rather be in a more sandy area, and went back a bit. Besides, we were going to anchor off and sleep on the barge. We wanted the nicer sand to play around in.

The only problem was the Boy Scouts next to us. They didn't bother me, but I think they got to Joe a little. I started teasing him, "You darn kids get out of my yard! Turn that noise down! Why, when I was your age..." Joe was not amused.

Once we started getting situated and our elaborate supper going, the other shoe hit the fan. Morgan started getting sick. We figured that since Lonnie wasn't sick for even a whole 24 hours, that it probably wouldn't last too long. Plus, it was getting dark. On top of that, I had everything for getting sick with us. I have a very well equipped First Aid kit, and I always have crackers and ginger ale.

In the middle of the night was my turn. Oh, boy. It was a miserable night. In the morning, Lonnie was feeling great. Joe was feeling great. In fact, Joe never got sick! Morgan was better, but still not tip top, but I couldn't move. I could barely talk. Water made me gag. No one else was a sick as I was. I was dieing. We stayed put because Captain Mommy was out of commission for a while.

That was OK...Lonnie and Daddy had a great time together, playing on the big sand bar and in the kayak, while Morgan and I slept on the barge. I don't know what had us, but whatever it was it hit fast, hard, then left quickly. It was like a 12 hour bug. It didn't last long, thank goodness!

We also discovered that Off! in the orange can doesn't work very well. I'm not convince that they were MOSQUITO bites, because these started off as flat very red tiny dots, but whatever it was, Off! didn't help. I missed Lonnie's left arm, where he had actual mosquito bites to compare by. These red dots looked more like measles! But I knew they weren't, because they were only on exposed skin areas. But neither Joe nor I had them... What, we're not good enough for whatever kind of bugs bit the boys?
(check out the bug bites on Morgan's face)

Then, the rain started to come. I was feeling better by then, and helped Joe get a tarp around the canopy on the barge. Then we all got on the barge and slept through the rain. It was so pleasant, sleeping on the barge in the rain, we all slept like babies! When the rain lifted, we voted as to whether we wanted to stay put or just go straight on through to the next sand bar. We decided to go on to the next sand bar. I suppose it was probably around 4 or 5 in the afternoon when we left the first sand bar...

Between the two sand bars, alone in the middle of nowhere, is when the shear pin did its thing, and we discovered that we need to add a punch and a hammer to our tool kit. We managed anyway, and went on.

At the second sand bar, our group had already paddled out, because they all had to do things on Monday. So, we were now the only HCC people there. That was OK. We didn't mind. We're not shy...

We slept on the barge again. We decided that in the morning, instead of our usual piddling around and being the last ones out, we'd weigh anchor and beat a path down the river to the take out.... and THEN piddle around after we got unloaded and packed up. So that's what we did.

(Cecilia the captain of her family barg)

The Memorial Day Weekend Trip tends to be much smaller than the Labor Day Trip, and we didn't have the elaborate group meals, the games, the fireworks or the margarita barge. The funny thing is, even without all that, and WITH the getting sick, bug bites, rain and the shear pin incident, we had a great time and can't wait for the next trip! I'd say that says a lot for the Sabine River! So if WE can have a good time with all that going on, why weren't YOU there? See you Labor Day Weekend on the Sabine River, then!