I had quite an experience today.  My son William says that I am never to speak to him of it again ever.  It began innocently enough.  William's Boy Scout troop scheduled a canoing trip to Pigeon River in Indiana.  He swore he didn't want to get into a canoe, but we talked him into it.  The river was slow and shallow, we told him it would be fine.

It started out fine, too.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, not too hot.  We let William sit in the middle in the bottom of the boat.  He didn't have to paddle, just sit there.  He seemed to be having fun, swore he hated it, but he acted like he was enjoying it.  We paddled around for a couple of hours, saw some great water lillies and a bunch of herons nesting in trees along a small lake.  It was wonderful.

Then it began to thunder a little.  I asked our troop leader what the safety procedure was if we got caught in a storm.  He laughed and said, "Go home."  We canoed a while longer, went to another small lake and on up the river.  It started to rain.  We kept going.  By this time, William was complaining about the thunder.  He was getting really nervous.  It started to rain harder.  We stopped under some bushes to wait it out.  There was only a 30% chance of rain, surely it would soon pass over.  It didn't. 

Finally the decision to turn back was made.  As soon as we turned around, the storm really hit us.  There was thunder and lightning, wind, and rain that I could barely see through to navigate.  It was coming down in sheets. The trees were thrashing around.  We paddled as fast as we could for what seemed like forever.  (I just looked on Google Earth to see how far away we really were, and it was .9 of a mile from camp.)  Not many of us were experienced canoers (canoists?), and we were running into logs and the shore and each other.  William lost his mind about the time we turned around and screamed and screamed, "We're going to die!"  and other encouragements.

We finally made it to camp, dragged our canoes up the bank and ran to our cars.  It was still pouring, but not in sheets anymore.  We sat there a while, stunned.  Then the hardier souls went and retrieved their tents, stuffed them in their cars, and we left. 

I didn't get to do any fishing, and William will curse me the next fifty times I mention canoes.  But I am happy to be alive.  And my camera still works. 

When I saw >>My son William says that I am never to speak to him of it again ever. >> I knew this was going to be good.

I'm glad you all survived, and I think it's good that William was able to keep his head well enough to "encourage" the rest of you! *snicker)

Seriously though- I'm glad you all are OK!  That had to have been scary, especially for the kids and inexperienced paddlers.

And most importantly, the camera works!

Ehhh... Just tell him "It builds character."  ;) 

Todd

*Snicker*   He's already a character.  

Oh wow!  I have a small trailer at a lake near Angloa, IN  which is near the Pigeon river.  I know that storm you are talking about.  It really shook my little trailer.  I'm sure it was NOT pleasant being out in it!

that is not too far from my folks summer place.  I have been down to the stream where it crosses Rt 20 west of Angola.  I thought about doing a bit of fly fishing there.  A few trout and small mouth can be found along there.

Last year we saw a twister roll over our Lake (a couple miles west of the river and not part of the chain) .  I would hate to be in a canoe for that!!!

Reminds me of the new zoo billboard- "The kids will never forget this!"

I'll never forget it! 

schambers said :

I'll never forget it! 

You should have seen the boy's look of horror when he was asked if he wanted to join us today on our fishing excursion. 

And we got drenched, too!  But it was nothing on the order of the Pigeon River downpour.