T-Storms, Trees & Tim

          

S-o-o-o…where the heck was Tim?

  

After looking for glowing embers in the sleeping bag or a smoldering outfit nicely laid out in situ, we decided to head up to our cars which were parked in a large area underneath some trees.

  

Big trees.

  

As we got closer, the first thing we noticed, draped across the hood of Bob’s brand new Saturn, was a fairly large branch nestled in an even larger dent underneath. After a quick assessment of the damage, it appeared 99.9% of the damage was to the hood itself and not the top of the quarter panels, so as repairs went, all that was needed was a new hood. As we were checking the other cars for similar damage, the back hatch of Tim’s van opened and out popped a rather wet-looking Tim.

  

Seems his old canvas tent was not waterproofed, or if it was, the treatment had long since degraded to the point where it was raining almost as hard inside the tent during the peak of the storm as it was outside. When it became obvious that he was waterlogged and the storm was getting closer and stronger, he opted to head for his van and spent the rest of the night sleeping on the floor in the back. As we had no access to facilities beyond the wooden outhouse…suffice it to say that although he had dry clothes to change into but no dry blankets or sleeping bags, Tim didn’t catch too many Z's that night.

  

The cold front that brought the storm along with it really cleared out the skies, and Sunday turned out to be an almost picture perfect autumn day. After an early breakfast, we shuttled up to Tunkhannock and paddled back to Falls. We caught quite a few smaller bass and walleyes that day, and what I remember the most about that trip was the smallies banging the bottom of my kayak as they followed the lures up until the last possible second before turning away. There were many times when Bob and I both had “fish on” at the same time. Bob was a longtime trout stream ( wading ) fisherman, but once he learned how to read a large river from a boat, he was definitely in his element. Eventually, I stopped telling him what spot to target as he was in the front seat of my tandem kayak and usually took the first cast at the choice holding spots anyway.

  

The following year, with a few more paddlers added to the fold, we made a return trip to Victory Pig Pizza.

  

But that’s another story for another day.
 

 

 

October ~2000 @ Tunkhannock

Tim, Mike, Me, Bob & Tom

Photo by Chuck