A Cold Swim

In the spring of 2003 I had taken a couple weeks off for a hiking trip to Isle Royale National Park. However, before I left I went fishing with Mike and Daron (Two guys I worked with). Mike's family hada camp out on Rice Lake and so we went out quite regualry. Daron had a twelve foot boat with three seats. One in the front, middle, and back. It was around 9am whne we went out. Early May in the Keewenaw Peninsulaistill a little cool so I had my Carhart coat on, jeans, and the hiking boots I bought for the trip to Isle Royale National Park (For those who don't know, Isle Royale is an island in Lake Superior that became a National Park in 2000).





We were fishing for about three hours. Because I had worked the night before I had yet to sleep so at around 11:30 I told Mike we needed to head back so I could get home and get some sleep so Daron started heading back toward shore. Over the length of the morning we had moved around quite a bit. I sat in the middle passing beer from front to back and vis versa. During the course of the morning Daron would stand up occasionally cast out and reel in. Mike did the same. I stayed seated the entire time. That is until just before we got to shore. Let me pause at this point and say that while I had heard the term sea legs I never really knew what it actually was and more imprtantly, how to avoid it. I decided that since I hadn't tried it yet I'd stand up and cast out at least once. I never got the chance. I stood up and fell flat on my back...overboard, fully clothed and fishing pole in hand. The fishing pole was Mike's wife's and he adamantly told me before we went out not to let anything happen to it. So when I went over and down that fishing pole stayed in hand. Mike and Daron were franetically trying to keep the boat from capsizing while at the same time trying to get me out of the very cold water. I didnt think it was that bad until we started moving faster on the lake. We got back to his camp and they turned the stove on to get me warmed up as well as my car. A drive back was offered and I should've taken them up on it but didn't. I was living in Calumet at the time and when I got home I emptied the contents of my wallet on the kitchen table to dry and jumped into a very hot shower. I got it as hot as I could stand and just stood in there until my entire body was red. I then went to bed but instead of sleeping under blankets I got a mummy sleeping bag to make sure the heat in my body got back and stayed at the temperature it was suppose to. Needless to say the boots had to dry out ans did everything else. It was an eventful morning! :-)

I think the year was 2003. The Redwings were going for the Stanley Cup. I think it was Game 3. It turned out to be one of the longest games in Stanley Cup history. Three overtimes. I had been invited over to their house to watch the game. It got to be after midnight and Jerry (being a pastor and it being a Saturday night) decided to hit the sack. I was not thinking straight and I think he said something about taping the game. I told him I;d turn off the tape so he went to bed. Now I'm sitting by myself in the living room of someone else's house after midnight. Not good. But since I was there I figured I'd see the game through and then quietly leave. The Redwings won after the third overtime and I quietly cheered for them. I then turned off the tape, and quietly made my way to the door.Their house had an enclosed front porch with a wooden door separating the porch from the house. As I tried to quietly close the door to the porch, the door stuck and I, not realizing it, pulled right through it. It wouldn't have been a big deal had I not inadvertantly slammed the door...at 2am. So rather then a quiet exit, I left with a bang. The next day at church I asked Jerry if I'd been quiet. He said yes. Then I asked if he'd heard me leave. His response? "Everybody heard you leave!" However for some reason his kids slept through it so it wasn't a big deal. However, I still made it a point to make my exits and a more reasonable hour.