Some people find themselves helping little 'ole ladies across the road. Not I. Apparently, I get to help fish little 'ole ladies out of a river. Not at all how I thought my day was going to go down...
It all started when Margie and I got invited to kayak the Payette river near our place Tuesday morning with the (now dubbed) Kayak Ladies. I couldn't go because I had to take the kiddos to their swimming lessons in the middle of the afternoon. Margie was all excited to catch up with the group of Ladies, each in their late 50's to early 60's, who are the main reason our family is hooked on kayaing. Now these ladies are no ordinary "Little 'Ole Ladies"; they are more active and outgoing than most people I know half their age, and usually nothing stops them from getting on the river when the weather is nice. Move over, Red Hat Society. These gals tend to stick to quieter river runs, but this time the river obviously had its own intentions. They set out from the Washington St. bridge headed around Gem Island to cruise down to the town of Letha, just a few miles down the river. It was a beautiful overcast morning, and I figured I'd catch up with Margie later in the afternoon so she could tell me all about how much fun I'd missed.
She called me at 10:45am saying first (as is custom in our accident-prone family) that she was perfectly ok. Then she mentioned how everyone was on one side of the river or the other because the current had caught them into some trees and a few of the Ladies had been dumped from their kayaks. It was more harrowing than that as I found out later, complete with rope extractions up 8ft banks and Margie climbing up, over and down rocky river sides to help out here and there. It seems the river got wider as it went around the Gem Island, but then more narrow and faster as it came back together and the recent flooding had moved large trees and made new paths the Ladies hadn't anticipated running into. No one was hurt, but they were trying to get themselves out of the river and trying and catch the one kayak that had gotten away from them. I grabbed kids and dog and headed to where I thought they may be to try and see if I could help them get out. Getting into a river may be easy, but getting out of one usually leaves you completely disoriented, because nothing looks the same from the middle of the river as it does from the roadside. Another of the Ladies called 911 to get help getting out (a very wise move indeed) so I was actually able to find them by looking for the ambulance that was sent to help too. I found the rescue crew at the far side of the water treatment plant down the road from Gem Island. We had one fire truck, one ambulance with two EMT's, two water treatment plant workers (who had muck boots handy, bless them) and two police vehicles, including the County Sheriff and assorted helpful fire and rescue guys. Not bad for a few hour Scofield Adventure, if I do say so! I was there to help pull kayaks out along the muddy bank and throw them into the back of our new gigantic truck, Goliath, to get everyone and their gear back to their vehicles. By this time everyone was euphoric just to be off the river and safe, even if one dear Lady lost a shoe in the process. I think most of them would have gotten right back in and continued along if the rescue crews hadn't made them get out. Its never a dull moment around here, regardless of age or activity.
And what should arrive just this afternoon, a day late, that should have accompanied Marige down the river? Why the throw rope bag I bought to help us fish folks out of the river when needed. The only other Lady who had one of these with them was one of the ones who's kayak flipped. Next time, Payette River, the Ladies will be ready for you! (I hope)
It all started when Margie and I got invited to kayak the Payette river near our place Tuesday morning with the (now dubbed) Kayak Ladies. I couldn't go because I had to take the kiddos to their swimming lessons in the middle of the afternoon. Margie was all excited to catch up with the group of Ladies, each in their late 50's to early 60's, who are the main reason our family is hooked on kayaing. Now these ladies are no ordinary "Little 'Ole Ladies"; they are more active and outgoing than most people I know half their age, and usually nothing stops them from getting on the river when the weather is nice. Move over, Red Hat Society. These gals tend to stick to quieter river runs, but this time the river obviously had its own intentions. They set out from the Washington St. bridge headed around Gem Island to cruise down to the town of Letha, just a few miles down the river. It was a beautiful overcast morning, and I figured I'd catch up with Margie later in the afternoon so she could tell me all about how much fun I'd missed.
She called me at 10:45am saying first (as is custom in our accident-prone family) that she was perfectly ok. Then she mentioned how everyone was on one side of the river or the other because the current had caught them into some trees and a few of the Ladies had been dumped from their kayaks. It was more harrowing than that as I found out later, complete with rope extractions up 8ft banks and Margie climbing up, over and down rocky river sides to help out here and there. It seems the river got wider as it went around the Gem Island, but then more narrow and faster as it came back together and the recent flooding had moved large trees and made new paths the Ladies hadn't anticipated running into. No one was hurt, but they were trying to get themselves out of the river and trying and catch the one kayak that had gotten away from them. I grabbed kids and dog and headed to where I thought they may be to try and see if I could help them get out. Getting into a river may be easy, but getting out of one usually leaves you completely disoriented, because nothing looks the same from the middle of the river as it does from the roadside. Another of the Ladies called 911 to get help getting out (a very wise move indeed) so I was actually able to find them by looking for the ambulance that was sent to help too. I found the rescue crew at the far side of the water treatment plant down the road from Gem Island. We had one fire truck, one ambulance with two EMT's, two water treatment plant workers (who had muck boots handy, bless them) and two police vehicles, including the County Sheriff and assorted helpful fire and rescue guys. Not bad for a few hour Scofield Adventure, if I do say so! I was there to help pull kayaks out along the muddy bank and throw them into the back of our new gigantic truck, Goliath, to get everyone and their gear back to their vehicles. By this time everyone was euphoric just to be off the river and safe, even if one dear Lady lost a shoe in the process. I think most of them would have gotten right back in and continued along if the rescue crews hadn't made them get out. Its never a dull moment around here, regardless of age or activity.
And what should arrive just this afternoon, a day late, that should have accompanied Marige down the river? Why the throw rope bag I bought to help us fish folks out of the river when needed. The only other Lady who had one of these with them was one of the ones who's kayak flipped. Next time, Payette River, the Ladies will be ready for you! (I hope)