“On my way” came the text at 745 am. Vance, in his trusty Honda Ridgeline truck with his canoe strapped on top, was heading toward my house for the appointed 8 am pick-up. I was ready. My new mini-kayak was in the driveway, and my small dry bag had some of the greatest Cally cookies ever and my dry clothes.
It was a brisk late March morning - a little overcast and just a little too cold for the shorts and tevas I was wearing.
Vance pulled in right at 8 am. After a quick exchange about “the game plan”, we quickly loaded up and headed SW toward Helena.
It was a sleepy Saturday morning and traffic was light. When we pulled into Helena and passed over Buck’s Creek - we could see that the water was scooting along nicely. Vance drove a little slower than normal as we were scouting a place to park vehicles for a future overnight canoe trip on his beloved Cahaba.
Vance has traversed almost the entire 190 miles of the Cahaba River, from
Trussville where it starts to Old Cahawba, where it flows into the Alabama river. But today he was scouting a part of the river he had not yet been on. I was pumped - a fun kayak trip on a part of the river Vance hadn’t even been on!
We arrived at the Shelby County's new Cahaba River Park and headed to the put-in. The banks were slick and a little steep, and the river was running fast - muddy in color.
We wrangled Vance’s canoe off the truck and loaded it up with paddles and pfds. The light kayak was as easy to take out of the truck-bed as a slightly awkward sack
of potatoes.
We decided to put Vance’s canoe in first - so he could act as a stabilizer to my much less balanced one-person kayak. The water was cold and the wind was blowing. Brrrrr.
I put the kayak in the water and now I had one main goal - get into the seat on top kayak without going into the water or sitting on a bunch of water to start the trip. It wasn’t pretty - and there was slipping and grabbing branches involved - but success! I was in and dry!
We headed up river. Have you ever been on the river and there’s no one else around? All we could hear was water rushing by and ourselves telling each other old stories we were polite enough to quietly listen to. Soon an enormous hawk flew overhead just up ahead of us.
Vance pointed out several types of trees and we heard a variety of birds. Soon the fast moving water became rippled and moved even faster. I was no longer cold - I was paddling hard to keep moving against the current.
A tree jutted out into the river and the ripples indicating shallow water and rocks intensified. Vance carefully stroked past the tree. Then it was my turn. Stroke, stroke, stroke - I was not moving forward! I edged toward the bank and then tried to sprint past the tree. As soon as the the bow of my kayak passed the tree, the force of the water spun me backward. This was going to be a challenge! Vance had pulled his canoe against the bank. “I think we should go together in the canoe.”. “I agree, but I want to get past this tree!”.
I lined up for the next sprint up the river. Angling so my bow would not be driven backward, I started driving again. Stroke, stroke, pant, stroke - I surged past the tree and turned the kayak immediately toward the bank. “Whew! You’re right Vance, me and this kayak are not going any further upriver today!”. I pulled my kayak up on the tree, secured it with a branch, and carefully joined Vance in his canoe.
We continued to paddle upriver, alternating between surging through rapid and shallow waters and slower moving deep, dark water.
“Wow, what’s that over there?, “ Vance said as he steered the canoe toward a creek entering the river. “No kidding! A beaver dam,” I said. We looked hard for the beaver family, but they were not to be found.
Vance is an avid fisherman and we alternatively paddled up the river and fished. We didn’t get any bites but we kept fishing.
Finally, we reached a stretch of fast moving shallow water which we simply could not get past. We were like the Captain of the Andrea Gale and his crew in The Perfect Storm, we just couldn’t get past that section of rapids. It wouldn’t let us out!
Fortunately, we would not end up at the bottom of the Cahaba due to a massive wave, we just turned the canoe around and started our rapid drift down river.
To slow the boat down to aid in fishing, Vance dropped his canoe anchor - a chain - and allowed it to drag on the river bottom. We slowed from maybe 5 mph flowing down river to 1-2 mph and occasionally the anchor snagged and we stopped completely. All the while, Vance continued to fish and I steered the boat away from logs and flotsam in the river.
Before long, we were already back to my kayak. Now came the tricky part of exiting the canoe and getting on the kayak in deep, cold fast moving water.
I managed to slide into the kayak but not before tipping it and allowing gallons of cold water to drench my bottom half. Now I was really cold!
It was no big problem
as our take out spot came in just a few minutes, and soon we were hauling the canoe and kayak out of the water. In a few short minutes, the hot air from the truck heater had done its job and we were toasty and heading toward lunch.
“Vance, how ‘bout we stop at Helena at the Whistle Stop and I’ll buy you a burger?”. $12 and a terrific lunch later, we were back on the road.
“Vance, if you’ll stop at the coffee shop on main, I’ll give you one of Cally’s caramel-filled gooey delights of a cookie.”. “You got it.”
We entered the store and was greeted by a friendly young man. He, with cropped short black hair and a friendly demeanor, was covered with tattoos. In addition to coffee, the store was a vape store and sold cbd. I am 57- I had never been in a vape store which sold cbd to buy a cup of coffee. But here we were.
The coffee was good, and Lance was super patient with me as I asked him dozens of questions about vaping and cbd, and advice for my daughters about tattoos and when might be an age you are old enough to get a tattoo. Lance, at his young age, had suffered through a great deal of adversity. He was so considerate and we learned that his faith had helped turn his life around. Vance invited him to visit Valleydale Church - we would be happy to welcome him. We said our goodbyes and hit the road again.
Vance had one more stop to make as he was thinking ahead to that next overnight canoeing adventure. Just down mainstreet from combo coffee/cbd/vape shop was the Helena museum. We pulled into the museum parking lot and walked into Helena history. Ken Penhale, the museum caretaker was engaging - telling us the stories behind a few of the many Helena men and women since Civil War times whose pictures are on the wall of the museum. From Guam to Normandy, Helena veterans served our country and more than a few gave the ultimate sacrifice. Our visit was short - but reminded me that the men and women who have serve our country come from every corner and small town.
Vance and I said our goodbyes and hopped into the truck and headed home.
We pulled into my driveway just 5 hours from when Vance picked me up earlier that morning. We had only traveled maybe 20 miles from home - but we experienced nature in its fullest and met several amazing people all of whom had walked different roads than Vance and me.
We reminded each other that it is truly good to get off the clock, to put the cell phone down, to enjoy the beauty God has made for us and to take the time to make new friends.
It was a good day. Thank you Vance! Where and when are we going next?
Scott Watson
March 18, 2019