Day 4 #highlights – August 4

Sail away.

It rained most of the night. When we were ready to get going it stopped. So we set out about 10:30, once again having packed up without battling the rain.

We had to cobble together some rain gear with things being wet. Jaron looked great in his poncho dress.

The sky was overcast for our paddle but didn’t drop more than a sprinkle. The wind was strong but in our favour. This led to many a makeshift sail.

K&A and the boys were first out on the water. We were the last (Lisa, Lilli, and I). The Fishers were with us. The boys and K&A crossed the lake and we weren’t sure if they were in our party and couldn’t find the boys at all – we thought they may be way ahead of us. It soon became apparent as this white canoe came cruising closer with a tent fly as a sail that it was in fact K&A and Jaron and Steven were with them. They had lashed themselves together and were making decent progress down the lake. We caught up to them and lashed ourselves 3 abreast. I was impressed at the speed we were getting when the wind was strong. We kept up fairly well with the other 3 canoes in our group. We had lots of fun singing songs and generally being merry.

When the wind died we broke up and forged ahead. In the remaining 300 meters we found ourselves in a race to the shore against the Fishers. They won handily. Later Ted and I took a canoe to the wood lot. We were happy to find wood this time but they sure don’t like to stack it or put it under a tree where it won’t rot or get water logged. We managed to get a good haul. It was a different experience paddling with Ted and an empty canoe. We flew across the water.

K&A, Jaron and Steven, and Matt all opted to try the chute today. They all did well with a little coaching. Matt took Ted through. The water in the chute is high making it relatively gentle. The rollercoaster proved more challenging but they all made it. In fact, Dave took Steven and Tommy too. Jaron steered when the two boys went. I was proud of him.

The shelter was a nice reprieve from the rain and the tarps. We all did well to dry out wet things and get prepped for further adventuring.

We finished our terribly long game of Phase Ten. I believe Steven won with no end of hi-jinx from Andrew. Poor Jaron was several phases behind and he and I finished with the highest score counts. This was not our game.

We met a couple families in the shelter. I did my good turn of the day and gave them a pack of cards. The cards app I downloaded does not work offline which is a shame.

There was some heavy rain after we got through with playing in the chute. So far, we have managed to hit the best part of the weather we’ve been given everyday. I am anxious for the river with everyone tomorrow. I’ll be happy when that section is over and hope we all come through unscathed. Tommy loved the chute. He told me many times.