I’m tubing with the fam here in the national forest. It’s not quite like any tubing Ive done before. The water is cold and the creek bed is narrow. Most of the time the water moves on at a good pace, but there are a few places to get caught up on the rocks. My youngest got stuck in one such place.
As it turns out, he isn’t quite big enough to get himself out of the shallows if he gets stuck. So, I paddled myself up onto a rock down stream and pulled the tube up. It was stuck, I told myself. I crept back up the creek being careful to avoid wedging my ankle between two rocks until I could reach the entrapped tube. I pulled him off the rocks and sent him down the creek. I could see the smile come back to his face as he floated on down in the current. I watched him float away… right up to the point when another tube caught my attention. It was headed right for mine. I thought the occupant would surely attempt to avoid my tube… NO! Direct hit. My tube was off, floating rapidly away from me. I couldn’t even give chase without braking an ankle. My shoulders slumped.