Spring is Coming! - Canoecopia

JIM PIPPITT
Taking Robbie Camping Part 2
I’m lucky enough to have a very
forgiving family. Last year’s camping
trip to Wisconsin for my Florida-bound
nephew, Robbie, was a bit of a shock for
him. He has a lot of happy memories of
the outing, but also remembers losing
pints of blood to swarms of mosquitoes.
Later, when I asked him whether he’d
like to try camping again, his first
question was, “Are there going to be
mosquitoes?” I told him I didn’t think
so, but I couldn’t promise it. His second
question was more favorable, “Will there
be any whitewater?”
(Readers of last year’s essay will
remember that he had been promised
some whitewater. Luckily, I had the Brule
up my sleeve.)
“Yes Robbie, there will be whitewater.”
Robert, his dad, asked if he could come
along. He was curious to see the camping
thing. On our first day of camping,
Robert totally surprised me. He asked
how hard it was to kayak, and whether
I had a boat that would fit him. I never
dreamed he’d want to kayak. I knew he
liked powerboats, now paddle boats too?
Heck, he had back surgery a year ago.
We took the super easy run first. Class
1+ rapids that looked so dull to my jaded
eye were really exciting for them. After
a somewhat shaky start, Robert handled
his boat with ease. Robbie had a harder
time of it, but did way better than I did
my first time. At the end of the run, they
were grinning ear to ear. Robert asked if
we could shoot the middle difficulty run.
I threw caution to the wind and loaded
the boats.
It started out great. Cat took the lead
in her kayak, followed by Robert, then
Robbie, then me in a canoe. They looked
like pros, until the first real rock garden.
Robbie hit a submerged rock sideways
and flipped. As I went by him I saw he
was fine. He even managed to keep a
hold of his paddle. Cat spun around,
nabbed his boat, brought it to me then
inexplicably gave me her paddle. The
water took her away downstream with
the most puzzled expression on her face.
I could see her wondering both why she
gave me her paddle and how she was
going to get out of this one using only her
hands to control her boat. (She did great
and eddied out around the next bend.)
I made my way upriver, made sure he
was fine, took a picture of the intrepid
boy, and then helped him back down to
his kayak. “My shoe! I’m missing my
water shoe!” said Robbie. I pulled the
shoe out of the boat. “Gosh, Uncle Jim, is
there anything you can’t do?”
I paddled the rest of that trip with one
heck of a fat head. It felt great. I even did
a perfect eddy turn to return Cat’s paddle
to her. No reason not to look like a Super
Uncle.
At the end of the run, they were almost
giggly. They had survived! They were
bushed, but totally happy. We made a
huge roaring fire and I showed Robbie
the finer points of Dutch oven cooking.
We made Robert a perfect Father’s Day
cake. Then because we “needed” more
sugar, we made cinnamon rolls.
Robert and Robbie thought it was one
of their best days ever. It was one of my
best days too. We retold the stories of the
day over and over again, perfecting them
in the retelling. We made plans for the
next day’s adventures and even discussed
what we might do next year. I can’t wait
to see what we’ll do.
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