WOW! What a great week-end! Thursday night Sebastian & I left Delphos about 4PM, having packed the truck Wednesday evening. Headed south, refueled, & ate on the road. We pulled in to Debbie's place about 7PM, with Tony's camp setup & Tony in town getting a bite to eat. With our easy-up tent system almost complete, Tony rolls in. One hitch was our light string we attached to the easy-up. The battery pack took AA batt's & I brought AAA! Tony had a couple, but I still couldn't get them to work. (trip to Walmart) wonder if Lewis & Clark forgot anything on their trip? No Walmarts for them! With that fixed, and a nice fire we chatted for awhile & retired about 9:00-9:30.
Friday I woke up at six, but the sleeping bag was cozy, & got up at 7:00 for a nature call. Next order of business was COFFEE! Sebastian & I had sausage gravy & biscuits (no surprise to anyone knowing us) and Tony had oatmeal. After breakfast we headed out to scout Rush Creek for a better take-out than what I had found last month. R K Miller Road had a decent spot to put in and after locating that, the three of us headed for the Handlebar Grill for lunch. (a local bar in Sugar Grove) Feeling full, we headed for Logan to check out their thrift stores. Tony found some quick dry river pants with zip off legs that fit perfectly for 4.19! A stop at Brew 33 for a pint finished the day & back at camp I took a nap, while Tony & Sebastian went mushroom hunting. Tom rolled in about 4, with Lance soon after. Then Chuck, Coleen & Steve. Evening meals were prepared & with all full & satisfied, we adjourned to the fire pit to solve the worlds problems. I retired about 11:15 with all soon after.
Saturday I awoke about 6:30 to fix coffee & chat with Tony about the shuttle, the approaching rain, and the hot lunch Tony was preparing to take on the trip. (after all these years shuttle talk does not get easier!) The shuttle left right at 9:00 (yep, we did it Jock!) and were paddling by 10:30. We saw two deer five minutes into the trip, we took this as a good sign. Water level was adequate, with a few sprinkles thru out the day, but not an issue. The section of Rush Creek we were on was clean & clear till we got close to the Hocking. Half way thru the trip, Sebastian found a carp flopping on the bank. investigating he found claw marks across the head(maybe an eagle dropped it?) He pushed it back into the water to swim another day. We also saw an eagle, muskrat, a few turtles and the geese. At the 6.5 mile take-out, Chuck & Tony decided to continue on a few more miles downstream to the Voris road take-out. Our 6.5 mile take-out was not as easy as it looked from the road when we scouted it, but we all made it with help from each other. Steve & I picked up Tony & Chuck about 3:00 after their 13.5 mile paddle and made an upper management decision to stop at the Brew33 for some pints. After a few, we met Dave, the owner & brewmaster, who took us on a tour of his brewery. Heading back to camp, we hurriedly fixed our soups and such for supper.
A fire after supper was started by Sebastian using a ferro rod, striker, char cloth and birds nest. With much conversation around the fire, our host Debbie just returned from a trip and joined us for the evening. Such a great place to camp, and wonderful host! Most wandered off to bed about 11:15 with Lance & Tom holding out little longer. Threat of thunderstorms thru the night didn't materialize, just a short heavy downpour in the morning (we can't go home with dry tents now can we?) All in all it was a great trip, with good water on a new creek, good food & friends. Tony said he would like to do it again next year, only little farther up the creek (with a paddle) to start. Are we tempting the river gods? Maybe, but we have never let common sense get in the way of our decision making!
See you around the bend, Wil
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