We launched the heavily laden boat and oared it over to the dock and started pulling the cord on the old motor. It usually took one pull per horsepower to crank the ancient beast and that is what it took that day, I think twenty pulls before it came to life. Blue white smoke poured out with the familiar smell of oil mixed with gasoline and we were in business. Once the engine warms up, it will crank on the first pull most of the time. The boat was sitting very low to the water line almost coming over the sides with the load of stuff we had stored neatly packed. It was a strange unfamiliar site approaching the island with Len in the front leaning back on the cooler and the dog sprawled out in the middle of the boat with a happy pant and his tongue hanging out. We were free, free from the responsibility of the everyday grind with nothing but adventure on our minds, a trip talked about for years was happening on a spontaneous note. We motored down the south side of the island in the barge channel looking for a clearing, where people set up camp, there it was a small clearing with a sharp 2 foot muddy snaky bank, but at the appearance of other choices, this looked like the best landing site. The water was shallow enough to stand in approx 2 to 3 feet deep right off the side and I jumped in and waded the boat over to a root coming out of the muddy bank and tied the front to it, then waded around to the back and tied the back of the boat to a tree limb. Got the dog out and Len climbed out and I started handing him equipment from the boat, the tent fishing gear cooler groceries everything went on the bank and then to set up the site. Walked over the site and accessed the area for a possible tent site and found one close to the water. The nine-man tent had a stuff load of poles that had been taped for the past ten years without seeing any action. This is one of those old very, very large tents with two sides that come down low with the middle up high.
We unrolled the tent and started assembling the poles, sweating in the August temperatures with humidity approaching 100% it was hot, the mosquito’s were starting to bite and it was getting toward evening. Luckily deep woods off was in the grocery list and we set to spraying ourselves to ward off the hungry insects… we were dinner.
The island is notorious for snakes, with many tales of people who have went camping and woke up in the middle of the night with a family of water moccasins, cotton mouths, the dreaded snake of the river, warm water creatures who are aggressive in summer, especially August. Pour several more cold ones down and the thought of the old stories dissipated. Its getting late, I told Len to take the ax and start cutting firewood for the night, that the fire would keep the varmints away, and that I would go to the ramp and pick up the others.
I left him there sitting on a folding chair and untied the boat and started back up stream in the barge channel. The old boat would really fly with the entire payload out, it was gettin it up the river. Several miles to the ramp, I made it pretty quick and pulling around to the dock it was about ten till six. No one in site. Waited till six fifteen and still no body, on to the payphone I walked thru the park at the river bottom and called the others. No contact, waited till a quarter till seven and headed back to the island.
Upon arrival, there Len sat in the chair right were he was when I left, just sitting there with the dog at his feet. I tied the boat and walked up to him and saw the ax sitting there, it had been broke just under the ax head. What happened to the ax I bellowed at him and he just sat there and shrugged, and in a whinny kinda excuse voice said it just broke man must have been rotten. It was approaching seven thirty and night would be on us soon and at the pile of firewood he had gathered, I knew it wouldn’t be enough, so by hand I started walking thru the weeds into the wooded area nothing on but shorts and tennis shoes with no sox. Started gathering firewood, well until close to night. The were no grass in the woods but what looked to be ivy, so I stayed clear from the vines.