Traveling by bus has really allowed us to change the way we get around. On our way to our campground, we spotted beautiful Cranberry Lake and decided that it was a perfect place to stop and put our boats in the water. We made our way to the free public launch and decided to try something new. Winston can be a little fussy when he’s in my boat, so we tried putting him in Emily’s. It often seems like he’s fussing in order to get to Emily or perhaps because he feels more trapped in mine, so we figured we’d give this a shot. Reese’s typical paddling experience involves sitting up, looking around for about five minutes and then sleeping and snoring in the bottom of the boat.
After paddling around for a bit and realizing that Winston wasn’t going to settle down and with Reese still enjoying his upright view, we decided it was time for a photo and then to turn around. As I leaned over to put my phone away (thankfully in a waterproof bag), Reese decided he’d had enough. Instantly we rolled and the two of us were in the water.
Because Reese doesn’t love the water, he decided to swim away towards some unknown oasis full of snacks and dry land. We called him back and set to work trying to salvage the situation. We put Reese on the back of Emily’s boat while I rolled mine back over. As I climbed on top of the righted boat, a wave sent me back in and the kayak back over. At this point the boat had taken in too much water to bear my weight. I finally decided to get my life jacket on so that I could do more without having to tread water. That was a fiasco in itself - the straps were not well adjusted for me (the life jacket definitely fluctuated, not me) and the front and back kept straining away from each other as they fought to keep afloat. It was both hilarious and frustrating as I cursed the flotation device for performing its sole function - flotation.
After I struggled my way into the life jacket, we attempted to bail out the kayak with a small collapsible dog bowl, but that didn’t pan out the way we hoped and added “Buy a bilge pump, you idiots” to our to-do list. We realized that bailing out in the middle of this lake was going to be an impossibility, so we started coming up with Plan C (A being “stay in the boat”, B being “get back into the boat”). Plan C involved tying my barely floating boat to Emily’s with Reese sitting inside. Because my boat was tippy and contained a very displeased dog, my job was to swim alongside the boat and keep Reese from tipping it over or taking in more water. Emily paddled towards the shore, towing my boat behind her. We made slow progress towards shore and were about 50 feet from land when Reese got excited and decided to get as close to the shore as possible - by walking right onto the bow of the boat. The boat - basically a submarine at this point - nosedived and went completely under the surface. The foam blocks in the bow and stern, or perhaps some trapped air bubbles, are the only reason we were able to get the boat back. Reese paddled off towards the shore, I eventually got my footing (and promptly lost it) and we dragged the boat to a point where it could be drained.
The boat was so heavy and full of water that it was slow to drain. Having lost my dignity somewhere in the middle of Cranberry Lake (if found it can be returned to me) and listening to the flowing bilge waters, I was struck by a need to pee, and at this point in this tale, I just let nature take her course. I was soaked from head to toe and could easily splash away my secret shame, but the story was way too funny to keep to myself! Assessing what had happened, we realized that the only losses were my water bottle, a single sock and a shirt. After righting the boat and settling Reese inside, we had a very uneventful paddle back to the launch. As we approached the launch we noticed something - my water bottle. Standing right in the middle of the launch as though it knew what was going to happen and decided to remain ashore. From there we made our way to McDonald’s (to purchase Reese’s forgiveness), a beer cave (see missing dignity, above) and our campground. It should go without saying that the next time we passed a sporting goods store we purchased a bilge pump.
Emily also did her first real stint of driving!
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