Fall Canoe Trip

It's a beautiful fall day in Kentucky. The temperature is about 76 degrees with a cool breeze and lots of sunshine. It's what I call a hot fudge sundae day. Warm sunshine with a cool breeze. The leaves are turning, creating a visual feast of yellows, greens, reds, oranges, browns, golds and tans, spread out over the hills.

Hubby just ran through the house to tell me that he was going with our son to move his truck. Huh? Translate please. It seems that the boys are going to take a canoe to one spot and float down the river to another spot. Hubby is going to move a truck to the getting out spot, so they will have transportation home. It's a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, lazily floating down the river enjoying the peace and quiet. With no outside noises you can hear the calls of the birds, see the fish jump, and maybe even catch a deer coming to the river for a drink.

However, the last time we were involved in a canoe trip it was a little different. My son's best friend, and owner of the canoe, decided to take his girl friend on a Sunday afternoon canoe ride. He loaded up the canoe,with a picnic lunch, a couple of bottles of wine and his fishing pole and off they went. The afternoon was perfect and romantic. They drifted down the river, ate lunch on the river bank, napped a little and then canoed a little further. The afternoon progressed and the girlfriend was getting a little sunburned, the shadows were beginning to lengthen and the air was getting a little cooler. Questions of "how much further" were met with "just a little further until we get to the place to get out."

It seems they had entered the river at a place described by a friend with instructions on how far to float down and where to get out. Unfortunately either the directions were a little skimpy or the navigation was a little off because they couldn't find the spot they were to leave the river. It was late afternoon when we got the call. "Hey, could you come and get us?' "Sure, where are you?" "Well, that's a little tricky. Do you have a map?" I was pretty sure at this point we were in trouble. "Check on the map down river from this point, where we put in. We're beside a road and a bridge and we've passed two or three bridges. I think we might be in the next county." Now I knew we were in trouble.

It took 30 minutes, a call to the local game warden (who had been down most of the rivers), another call to the friend who gave them directions but we finally figured out where they were....sort of. Off hubby went to collect the explorers and bring them home.

I sure hope they took a map and a compass this time.