Canoe trip in May

“ok, so just a quick review....the plan is to leave hasty...?.....and then float to.....? ....and camp..and the next day float to....?

we would have to leave on sunday.”

“this is going to be great!! to bad chili and grunt.”

“yeah chilie, i mean geesh, 23 million freekin dollars...big deal!”

“The downside to work is that sometimes duty calls when it is least wanted. The upside to work is that it pays for all this cool stuff we like to do and all the cool gear...the exchange rate is just a little bit of work, and sometimes a bit of inconvience. Sorry to loose those that are not coming.

Grunt is still a maybe. We spoke and he is attending to loose ends, whether he manages to tie them up or they tie him up, remains to be seen. If he goes, he'll drive and float with me.

Sonja, Prowler, Josh and crew (2) looking forward to seeing you, Strat...be good to have you on...and bring the guitar. I have a flute, but I don;t read nor play any traditional songs...I play from the whim. If you are a good guitarist, maybe you can adlib something to my lousy flute playing, at the least we can try on Fri night after playing with the cars.”

“Are you and Josh staying till monday or sunday.

Oh yeah, the Jambalaya is killer.”

“monday. i aint drivin longer than im canoin.

oh yea im a picky eater so im thinkin im gonna feed myself. i'll give it a try though.”

“Recommened River Float Levels
Current River
http://165.83.172.121/cgi-bin/levelreport">weather

Have fun...looks good.”

“I've been there too (work priorities) so I hope Chilie-breath knows i was jus teasin him. I was looking forward to meeting him. We'll take some awesome pics for ya chilie-dawg!

guitar-oh hell yeah! i have a 6 strang & a 12 strang, so i could bring them both and if anybody else plays they could use one. dang stikmon, i feel a stairway to heaven jam session comin on(guitar n flute). My band does several Jethro Tull songs....heh heh.

i know it's a hassle but could you please briefly brief me as to the itennarary. i know were campin at Hasty on Fri night, but are we just gonna find a placce along the river to camp or go to a designated campground for Sat night? If I'm not mistaken, I think on the upper portions, you HAVE to camp at the campgrounds.”

“Everything that I read, says that camping on the river can be on any gravel bar. So, we will float downstream @ 10 miles or so, maybe a bit more, and find a nice gravel bar, maybe even a bit of sand, and pitch camp.

I have made a batch of Jambalaya, but it seems that I will be feeding myself...as OTHERS are not interested in my fine cuisine...fine, be that way...hrmppppppffffff. Jambalaya on sat nite and ribs for sunday...ya'll can stick to your power bars, which aren't that good for you according to the New England Journal of Medicine. I'm gonna eat real food.

Chili, was gonna bring 4 cases of beer, I think we should still obligate him to do so...Chili...send them UPS to the buffalo HQ, we can pick them up there...so, we won't need 4 cases, but we will need some...any volunteers?

Still waiting to hear from Grunt as of this morning...will hear from him later today and will post up a final list...

Stratdewd...I wish I played a real flute, what I play is Native American flute...made from western red cedar, so, I won't be playing Tull...although, I wish I could. But, We can make some music for the river god's. That would make them happy.”

“are there places to stock up on ice along the way?

so we're camping in the middle of the river? cool.

im really siked. i got a job interview in an hour and then i think were gonna loadt he truck up tonigth since we're leaving early. im not a morning person. ill probly have prowler pick me up and go right back to sleep in his truck. he'll love that im sure.”

“oh yea a radio. does someone have one or what? we got to have tunes.

stikmon, did you decide to bring your husky since you got the canoe all to yourself? ( you do, don't you?) you should bring him. i'd bring my dog but sit still doesn't make sense to him.”

“Sit still, sit down, stop moving around...would you stop that, put that down your gonna poke someones eye out with that thing. don;'t do that...sit down!!!

I don;t think you all want to hear me saying these and many other quote...ALL DAY. so, to save you guys aggravation...he is staying home...he is not sea worthy yet.”

“that's why im not bringing mine. it's gonna have to be personal canoing for a few trips before my dog comes wit anyone else”

“who IS eating from my kitchen? I made chicken/sausage jambalya, and will make BBQ ribs tonight, but I will only bring what I need to. So, who is in on my menu? Please let me know.

And...is anyone bringing beer in some kind of quantity to share?”

“beer with us but not much. also bringing my special jack, and my buddy may -may- bring some moon shine!! wait until you see our canoe it may sink!!

I have breakfast Sat morning so I can leave the stove in the truck.

Stikmon , Ill eat some BBG ribs on Sun. night!

Campsite I will be there some time so what are you all drivin?? so I know who you are.

RED DODGE w/ green canoe on top for me!!

Im gettimng off river Monday, but mt friend and his wife need off Sun. can we drop off his vehicle at the Sunday section??”

“Direction needed from ST RT.65, 62, 412 to camp ground!! Or addess to camp??”

“I’m sorry guys I am still out I have been working on it all day but it is just not to bee. I hope you guys have a great time and you will have to tell me all about it.”

“so we're leavin(meeting at) from hasty?

i think we're gonna just rent canoes after all. but we'll still take 2 vehicles so we can help shuttle oourselves at least.

stikmon, thanx for the offer but we got a full crew & it would be too much to ask for you to feed us all. we'll bring our own grub......and our own drinks(adult beverages)

buckshot, the nighty dalmation will be in attendance. he has gone canoeing with us many times & does pretty well......for a dog.

somebody asked, and there is ice nearby, but not alchohol. it's all dry county there. so if ya'll want beer or booze, bring it with you. missouri has killer beer if yer goin through there.

sorry, i'm not link-wise yet, but here is the address of a good map of the river & roads leading to it.

http://www.ozarkmtns.com/buffalo/buffmap.html


so....hasty....right? lol”

“i am still planning on being there, at hasty campground. i will be late as i dont get off work til after 5 and need to take my daughter to branson and ahve dinner with my mom. i will likely not arrive at hasty til around 10 or so. can someone wait for me to get there to shuttle? i will need to get off the river on sunday to go get my daughter. see you al lthere. i will be driving a yellow ford escape with a yellow kayak on top.”

“ok, i scrolled up and soembody said boxley.......hellllllp me”

“oh yeah, we'll be driving a new black honda crv & a 99 tan chevy pickup”

“if I stay off too long, the thing falls apart...can't a person just read a book without worring that the participants of this trip will end up all over the country side.

Man O live!!! lol at you all.

WE ARE CAMPING AT HASTY!!!! MEETING AT HASTY!!!
GETTING ON RIVER AT HASTY!!!

Did I mention Hasty???

Directions: I gave them in great detail YESTERDAY!!!! All the way from Cinci for cryin out loud. Look back a day or 2 on the posts...its all there, including the low water bridge you will be crossing at, oh yeah...HASTY!!!

See ya all there...you better not be planning on eating all my ribs. I only made one rack (14 ribs).

Grunt...sorry to have you bail on us...you suck!!! no seriously, we will toast all those that aren't with us on this trip...you all will be missed...

Pssssstttt....more river for the rest of us...and food too.

Ok, I will bring some beer for myself...german...Im a snob...no moonshine for me...I don;t want to stunt my growth or go blind, or even put hair on my toes, maybe my head, but not my toes.

Prowler, if you really need directions...better use map quest or something? seriously, if you need directions, call me or something.
but I did post it up

Prowler, are you doing breakfast on sat only?”

“you better move on it. they were almost sold out yesterday, when I called around.”

“so what yer sayin is....hasty?”

“we'll prolly arrive at hasty around 9-9:30”

“I think I'll be there when I'm there, and not a moment sooner, but I won;'t be later than that either. I'm sure of that!

Now I have have 13 ribs...ohhh boy oh boy oh boy”

“we would be eariler but our 10 yr old has a baseball game at 5:30. i'll be all packed up so we can roll as soon as they tell the other team good game(we're 8-0 on the season so far)”

“GULLEYWASHER ALERT! !!

DANG! I could hardly sleep wif all the thunder. kept dreamin i was on the manhatten project. I'm gonna check da river level, but it can rise alot in a big hurry. my yard is now a swamp.”

“i just checked the radar loop from last night & the whole river got HAMMERED with rain(it will be raining there for anothere hour or 2)

the geological station is showing no rainfall, but it must be a lag in the updating process cuz we are just west of there & we gat nailed & it all went thatta way. the forcast is for dry weather all weekend but i'm worried about high dangerous water(my boys inna canoe). if it's too high they will shut the river down(they had a drowning last year due to high water). we could always just enjoy camping & i know of some kick ass day hikes nearby if we get landlocked.

ok, i'm goin ta work. will check in later.”

“at least my boys' baseball game will be rained out! we can leave eariler than expected. 8)”

“I'll be thinking about y'all while I'm selling off everything I own and a few things I don't (you think the neighbor will miss his lawnmower???).”

“your incorigible...sell the mower.

the cinci boys have left and are probably in the middle of the storm, It came ripping through my kitchen this morning...got a new leaky ceiling, with a huge pot under to catch the dripping water...fun fun fun...lets go jet skiing in the kitchen, thank god the socks weren't on yet.

gonna call the ranger station in a few minutes.”

“we have been blasted with non-stop rain all day here in springfield, everything is flooded. i have no idea what it is like along the buffalo. i am planning on being there regardless of the weather. like someone else said, if it is too up, we can always camp and hike.”

“well, we tried but things went to chit. i couldn't get the second canoe we usually use so we were forced to consider renting & were too poor to take that route as we had some unexpected medical bills pop up. so we bailed on friday & went camping at hasty on sat night. we looked for ya'll at mt. hersey, but no luck. i left a note on a yellow subaru, just in case it was one of ya'lls. sorry to have missed out on meetin ya'll. the water was WAY up, WOW! hope everythang went well.”

“Did they all stay on the river through today?

High water and a canoe full of gear don't work to well for me. This latest crisis at work might have come at an opportune time.”

“it was WAY high, but their were people floatin anywayz. one guy told me they saw a couple guys jus sittin on da bank, & they said their canoe was lost in a bigtim tupm episode. they saw the guys' canoe 2 miles downstream! it was actually so high that it wasn't rough, cuz all the rapids were to deep unnerwater. but it was movin fast n furious.”

“well well well,,,all youno shows missed a great show.

Where to begin...

This will be halarious if I can get the time to sit and write it all down...fast and furious...hehehe...not too much, but enough to rock this boat into the drink...oh, but I'm spoiling the beginning of the story...which will not be told exclusively be myself...so, stay tuned and read later on as its still daylight, and I'm technically still on a vacation day, so, I'm gonna goa nd play with Khatru, who did not go on this trip, which turns out to have probably been one of my smarter moves. Be back soon...to tell the tale.”

“You tease.....”

“in a far off galaxy...sorry, wrong story...Buffalo National River, Arkansas, originally to be held at the 11 Points National River, but the 11 Points was a raging fury, so at the last minute we moved it to the Buffalo, For Josh and Prowlers part of the story that involves their cross country road trip from he!!, I will let them tell that side of things. As I was driving from Missouri and into the cross country Arkansas trek...it rained, poured, stormed, wind, and water was seaping into my car via the straps that were holding the canoe onto the car...this had happened during the week, while the canoe was waiting for its first voyage...rained during the week, water seeped into the car (oh yeah...lots of water) and then the sun came out and made my car smell like rotten wet socks...yumm...cleaned and deodorized the car, (can't have TT'er think I drive the stink mobile). Gear...cant' forget the gear...grab this, grab that...no, don't need this, but maybe I will, cripes...I got too much stuff, oh well, better bring more, and the kitchen sink (really and plastic wash tub to wash the dishes)(make note to self..."get a better bottle to hold the dish soap, present container leaks all over everything in the dry bag"). At least its all clean, and a rusty saw and hatchet. nice!

and we ain't even in the water yet...oh yeah...before I forget...I HATE chiggers!!!!!!!!!

ok, arrive at the Buffalo..Josh, Prowler and friends...Brian...and , for the life of me, I can;t remember Brian's wife's name...a little help please!!! shame on me. were there and setting up camp...they got there @ 10 minutes before me...@9:00pm...long drive for them...less long for me, but still 4 1/2 hours in the rain, and I only have one eye and one left foot. Sonja shows up later in her Banana Yellow Escape with a yellow Kayak on top...and we hang and swap stories with each other. After a short bit and 15 beers, Prowler passes out in his tent, Josh, Sonja and I, go over to talk with 2 of our site neighbors, who have taken the experience of canoe camping to a new level...I'm talkin stainless steel kitchen racks...tubs upon tubs of supplies...alchohol, food that can only be gotten at the VERY finest resturants, chairs, tables, canopies, tents...coolers, I mean these guys were professionals! every comfort including remote control tent lights. This was the #&%!$!!! It made us look like amatuers, and we had some pretty good stuff.

Sonja noticed a sign that the rest of us either ignored, or didn;t see..."River Closed due to high water"...damn!!! now what. Oh well, were doin it anyway. Words to doom us all, except Sonja...kayaks are the way to go.

We made it through the night, some were cold, some were tired on the morning...we shuttled the cars in the AM, hit the water @ noon. We were supposed to practice paddling, but did we do that??? NO! we headed straight to the low water bridge, where, we saw the water just churning away, now just a little bit before, we were looking at this spectacle with our cars, and decided that it was TOO risky for big trucks, that they might be swept away, so we went the long way to do the shuttle, but here we are with our little, overweight canoes, and me, being the leader (remember this is the first time I am in this canoe and on a running river, facing the turbulet water that we wouldn;t take our trucks into) went right into the thickest part of the chruning, frothing, grinding water and was immediately ejected (along with all my gear) into the seething water. the canoe did the gator roll, the cooler flew open and all my food went EVERYWHERE, although, the string cheese stayed in the same place and is probably still there, dry bags, cups, sandles, shoes, hat, gloves, went floating down river, where Sonja was rapidly recovering items that she could rescue. Among the items lost were a nikkon camera, tripod, binoculars, camera case, folding aluminum chair, thermarest with chair harness, new frisbee, OJ, milk, hersey kisses, 1 hiking shoe, 1 sandle, 1 five gallon container of water. I was frantacally trying to save as much stuff as I could, when Josh and Prowler decided that they were going to come into the same space that I and my rolling canoe were standing in, I abandoned my place VERY quickly, they barely made it through the froth, they jumped out and quickly came to my rescue and helped salvage what we could. Saved were the cooler with beer (a must save), all the food that I had prepared, the BROWNIES, fruit, 1 five gallon container of water, my camel back with my car keys, wallet and other goodies. But this bag was all I could think of, lose it and I could not get home as all 3 of my spares were in it...not smart, that situation is now rectified as I have stashed a key on my vehicle, but the wallet and credit cards, no credit cards, no replacement of lost gear...one must always keep an eye on the priorities.”

“we got everything together, Sonja came up with the lost sandle, so I at least had a matching set of something, sandles...cool. Now remember, this ALL happened within the first 5 minutes of taking off of shore...it was hystericle. All I could do was laugh and curse at the same time...The biggest loss to me was the camera. That is the only real bummer, and the frisbee, The camera had just been repaire, the frisbee was new. oh well, I got credit cards. I see big brown making a few visits to my home, in the not too distant future.

We are on our way after piling back what was recovered into my canoe. It was clear sailing for quite some time, The scenery was awsome, but Prowler took loads of shots and even lent me his camera for a roll, so I will have some photo's soon. The river was up, but still not to the levels that it had been earlier in the week, nor even the previous day.

OH, I fogot...When Josh and Prowler were putting thier canoe in, they almost sunk it, as they had @ 1000 lbs gear and Prowler was sitting in the front of the canoe, the entire tip of the boat was immersed into the water, and Josh kept pushing the canoe in and the front went deeper, finally with one massive push it was in, but so was the water...”

“the views were great, all the rain of the previous days, and now the clear blue sky and raging sun, brought all the greenery into full bloom. It is truely amazing how many shades of green there are.

We started at Hasty Campground and ended just before MtHersey Camp site, a float of 11 miles. It took us @ 5 hours. Along the way, there were some interesting happenings, like another tipping, and such a struggle with getting the canoe righted that death was probably a thought. Brian and his wife, tipped and the rest of us were upriver of them and could not fight the current to go back and help them, Sonja and I tried to walk back up the banks in the water, there were snakes and things that kept Sonja jumping and me her jumping made me nervous, Josh and Prowler, turned and ran away when they heard snakes, pulling there shorts way up, so they wouldn';t get wet and they looked so funny, that I almost fell down laughing. Finally, Sonja and I turned and were heading back, when Brian came floating by us, and then an ugly snake poked his head up right in front of me. Sonja came to my rescue and splashed water on it and it sway off, oh yeah...recovered my bilge cup at this moment too...no thermarest though. We got back into the canoes and headed down river and had no more indidents that I can remember to what would be our campsite for the night at Mt Hersey

....and since I'm so tired, I will leave off for now and write more tomorrow. The saga will continue...”

“rule # 1---bungie the cooler lid closed!”