a kayak, a concert, and a creature

Alliteration at its finest, for your viewing pleasure…

It’s been raining in our neck of the woods–a lot.  Torrential downpours have caused creeks to rise, and lots of people are bemoaning the gray skies and soggy shoes.  Not me.  When it starts to rain, I get excited.  Creeks come up, and the kayaks come out to play.  Some of the little local creeks really get fun when they’re filled by the spring showers.  My buddy Andy and I have made a commitment to get out and enjoy some of the places that we’ve only read about.

He and I are teaching an Intro to Kayaking class for a local Christian high school (Grace Prep).  We’ve got the basics of paddling drilled into their heads, so we thought we’d venture out into the world of moving water today.

Elk Creek was FULL!  As we made the drive along the river, we could see lots of swift moving water, complete with little wavetrains and even a little whitewater.  We scouted as we drove, noticing places where trees in the water would need to be avoided.  There was one sharp left turn that looked pushy, and we noted that.  As we put in, there was a buzz of excitement.  We had 3 experienced kayakers, one student who paddled with us last year, and a newbie.  We took great care to stress safety, and talked about what to expect as we made our run.  Andy led, Paul took the middle, and I swept, bringing up the rear.  We placed the students between us so that we could show them the lines and keep an eye on their progress.

They did great!  We paddled through the pounding waters, driving through the tops of little waves, and we were having a blast.  We navigated the tricky left turn without incident, but a few minutes later, the newbie got squirrelly in a big wave and went upside down.  He performed his wet exit just like we taught him, came up sputtering, and we got him to shore with little effort.  Andy grabbed the floating paddle, and I set out to nab the now waterlogged kayak.  It proved to be elusive, so Andy and I began to chase it down the creek.

A 56 gallon kayak weighs approximately 450 pounds when it’s full of water.  Couple that with us being in fast moving water, trying to wrangle this beast while in our boats turned out to be a Herculean task.  There were very few calm spots to try to push the kayak into, and we had no leverage since we were doing our best to stay upright.  Andy got rolled over and was off the chase, while I kept after it.  I had a couple of opportunities to try to push-pull the boat into an eddy, and almost managed to wedge it under a tree, but I just couldn’t get that boat to cooperate.  One last effort at the take out–I sprinted ahead so that I could get out of my boat, looking for an opportunity to jump in and snag the thing, but it was to no avail.  In the end, all I could do was let it continue its journey unmanned.

Everyone was safe and sound, and that’s the big thing.  We had a little hike to get back to the truck, but personal safety outranks gear.  Gear can be replaced; people can’t.  We lost a boat today, but we had a great time running a new creek, and we are all in one piece.

After a quick ride home and a shower, I headed over to the middle school to meet the fam for Lilly and Josie’s spring chorus concert.  They looked beautiful, and the choir sounded great.  They ended with We Are the World, to which the parents responded by raising our cellphones, swaying with the music.  Lilly had a part in the featured chorus, and she nailed it!  And you should have seen Josie’s smile all night–spectacular.

Kim snapped a couple of pictures tonight.  Can you believe how big our one-eyed wonder dog is getting!  I came home after worship team rehearsal to find her snuggling in bed with Sadie and Annabelle.  She’s a good dog, even if she does pee in the house when she gets excited.  And let’s be honest–who doesn’t pee a little when they get excited?  Am I right, or am I right?