Let the Summer Adventures Begin!

Here is the Happy Man with his new (to us, but definitely not "new") boat.



Here he dropped his family off at a remote beach at the back of a remote bay. (I had to crop the photo to censor it because the youngest son saw no urgent need to put on swimming trunks. Floaties first!) The Happy Man with his new boat motors off to continue fishing. Under strict orders to stay within earshot in case of a bear, he moves far away, but still within the large bay.
After swimming and reading for awhile, his family got hungry. On the count of three, the mother and two sons screamed to the Happy Man, "Come back!" Listening carefully, they could barely hear, "...as soon as I can!...the motor!" Upon further observation, the mother notices that there seems to be a problem with the boat. (Later she will learn that the battery died.) Hmm... After watching awhile longer, she sees the Happy Man pick up a paddle. He kneels down on the front of the boat and begins to paddle.

Unfortunately, nature seems to be working against the man. The wind is definitely NOT in his favor. He paddles furiously and his wife becomes concerned. He's probably not the Happy Man anymore. At one point, it appears that he is moving backward as he paddles forward.

Finally the ??? Man gets to a point where he lets the wind push him into shore. This photo picks up the story there.
Oh good! He's still the Happy Man.

Oh wait, as the Happy Man discusses the situation with his wife, it becomes apparent that he's actually the Crazy Man. He's prepared to settle in for the night! True, the bay is huge and the wind is blowing against us. But Karen has another argument: (Lots, actually.) We're not prepared to camp! It gets chilly at night! I have my contacts in! It's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow! There are fishermen out beyond the bay tonight! If it's raining tomorrow, we will have a lot of trouble finding fishermen to rescue us! Let's go for it now!

Another slight problem comes to mind: We're hungry now. We have exactly one peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Other than that, we have 1 raw onion, 1 raw potato, 5 raw fish, dry bannock mix, butter, water, and juice. So the mother gives the sons exactly 1 quarter of a sandwich each. They complain and she explains that we are in a Survival Situation. Using their admiration of Survivorman to her advantage, she reminds them that Survivorman doesn't eat a lot when he is surviving. Maybe we can find some juicy worms for them to eat later.

The family hears the sound of an approaching helicoptor. We'll be rescued! But, like so many people that find themselves in this kind of situation, the helicoptor turns and heads off into the distance before it reaches the stranded family. What despair!

Karen successfully convinces the still Happy Man to make a break for it NOW. The boys stand on the boat and are outfitted with distress signals. In case of a distant passing boat, they are to wave those ever-important floaties. Here they practice:


We shove the boat away from the shore and put down the anchor to avoid being immediately blown back to the beach. The Happy Man will try yet again to start the motor manually. He wraps a rope around something-or-other on the motor and pulls with all his might. Time and again he repeats this action. Karen prays and holds the key in. Finally, the Happy Man thinks he hears something different as he pulls. He tries one more time.
It starts! Karen screams and jumps up and down! The family is so happy! (Well, mostly Karen, who was most against staying out all night and/or paddling like crazy for an hour or two.)

So we slowly motor out of the bay and the battery charges as we go. Kendall tells Karen that the battery is okay now. Shall we go back into the bay to fry our fish?

No! she begs him. We made it out and she wants to stay well within sight of other boats for this evening.



It turned out to be a beautiful evening. We stopped at a place along the river where other boats passed from time to time. There we built a fire and ate a delicious meal of (cooked) potatoes, onions, fish and bannock.



Happy to be going home before the next day's sunrise, Karen speeds her family home.