This was my first attempt at kayaking since hardware removal - tiring but undoubtedly good physical therapy. Fortunately, we were off the river for several hours before the TC area got hit with the big wind and rainstorm of August 2. I asked our neighbor Matt Failor (age 14) to do the trip report; he has been going canoeing with us for almost ten years. Lois
Summer was coming to an end and I realized I hadn’t yet gone on a canoe or kayak trip with Lois and John. There were only a few days that would work and one was August 2nd. Luckily there was a great half day trip down the Boardman from Brown Bridge Landing to Shumsky. On this trip we had Lois, John, my dad John, Anne, Marvin, Jackie, Tracie and me. We set off at 9:30 AM, hoping to beat the rain. So we were paddling along and then out of nowhere the rain started. We quickly paddled under a tree and pulled on our raincoats. Of course, as we pulled out from under the tree, it stopped.
I was in a canoe in the back of the group with John Heiam, and we pulled up on most of our kayakers just beyond a bridge. It turned out that my dad, an inexperienced kayaker, had flipped! He had gotten a bit too close to Marvin, who had paused to pick up some trash - a deflated inner tube. Also, it turned out Anne had gotten her paddle stuck under the bridge and almost flipped herself. She released her grip on the paddle, which Tracie recovered, while Marvin caught Anne's boat before she could float away.
All too soon, we pulled up to the takeout and started to unload. As we were unloading, Tracie mentioned that she saw a beaver. I didn’t even know the Boardman had beavers. Finally, just as the shuttle returned and the cars were packed a couple big of rain drops fell. That seemed to be the end of the storm for now. We left the take-out place and headed to Bob Evans for lunch. Delicious! This was a really great trip. Glad we were home by the time the big storm arrived later that afternoon.
Matt Failor
The Group
John Failor - Matt's dad
Anne and Linda
Tracie
Jackie
Lois
Matt and John