So the Mule and I were sitting over by this little inlet, watching the Semi-Incredible Hulk sulk in their canoe, when we heard the call. I have never really heard panic in someones voice until that day. Crazy Joe's voice held a very distinct note of panic and my mind reacted to that note. Once we heard the cry for H2O we raced to the coolers and grabbed some H2O bottles. By the time the Mule and I got there with our few bottles of H2O, the fire had spread to about a six foot circle and it was growing fast. Those few bottles of H2O were so ineffective that I feel kind of bad for wasting the. Maybe if we had known how fast it was going to spread we would have grabbed something bigger but who knew it would get so out of hand.
It really didn't take us long to realize that 911 had to be called. It just got out of hand way too fast for us to do anything about it. We continues to fight it after 911 was called, stopping it from going towards our canoes became a priority. Hey by this point in was already in the field and being that there was only 6 of us I have to say we did the best we could, especially with what we had. Finally we realized that there was nothing left for us to do but wait for the firefighters to get them and fix our little boo boo.
The field that burned
Many say that when the adrenaline gets pumping in your system you can just go, go, go. Either I have a defective adrenal gland or I am way too out of shape. I was sucking air so bad and my legs felt like lead after running to the river a few times. After awhile I just stayed in the river and filled the buckets that people brought to me. I thought I was being helpful and I didn't have to run as much so that was a win win for me.
Once we stopped fighting the fire most of us grabbed H2O bottles and just sat around waiting for the firefighters to get there. It wasn't until awhile later that I heard people calling for Crazy Joe. I couldn't believe it when they told me he went to check out where the fire was headed. OK actually I could believe it. My brother has a tendency to act first and think later in some situations. (If you are reading this Crazy Joe think of the last time we were camping there and what you and Cousin Josh wanted to do. Admit it you do act first without thinking things through.) So when we finally hear him crashing through the brush/trees I am thinking he hurt himself in the fire. Boy were we all surprised to see him coming through the trees carrying a little fawn.
Seeing that he was struggling with the little guy I ran up and grabbed it out of his hands and didn't let go until the fire was under control. I was grateful that Crazy Joe wasn't hurt but I really could have kick his ass for what he did. OK I was happy that he saved the fawn but damn it, he could have been hurt.
When Make-Up Girl and Sugar Daddy came up we were starting to load up the canoes due to the fact that the fire was in a sense turning a corner and heading back towards us. I will give those two the benefit of the doubt, they probably saw us packing up our canoes and thought we were running for the fire we started. Still once we told them what had happened and how we were just being proactive due to the fire heading back they should have laid off. I am not saying we didn't f*#$-up, we did but we were also being adults about it and waiting for the proper authority to come and let us know what we had to do. I kept my mouth shut she Make-Up Girl started to go off. I knew right away there was no reasoning with them, so why should I even bother, it wasn't like they could do anything to us.
Then she went off about the fawn in my arms and then I stared to get a wee bit pissed off at them. Here we are, tired after fighting a losing battle with the fire, scared by what had happened, crashing from the adrenaline rush and then these two come flying up and start accusing us of stealing canoes (because we were from southern Minnesota, eg the cities), being on private property (it wasn't marked as such), and of what stealing Bambi from it mother. I was thinking "For Gods sake woman, get a grip! You are acting like we are the Anti-Christ come to destroy all in our path!"
Finally I said, "What do you want me to do, let it go? Fine I will let it go and it can go die in the fire, OK?" Yeah she didn't like that. There really wasn't any pleasing that woman. At least Sugar Daddy kind of settled down once we had explained what was what.
The View to the River
All in all that is one day I would Love to take back and redo. I know there isn't redo's in life but one can always wish. So once Crazy Joe gets cracking on the next part of the story I will go into why I feel like I am cursed forever on this canoe trip that I love so much. Of course this has to do with The DUCK, but that is another ball of wax I can't get into tonight.
