Once, my husband and I went to Vero Beach, FL for vacation. We did lots of swimming, biking, beach volleyball etc. So one day, he says, “Let’s go surfing today.” So I says, “Did you forget that time we went water skiing with Mike and Stanley? I tried for an hour to get up on those skis. I just don’t have a good sense of balance.” “No worries…I’ll help you. It’ll be fine.” So we found a little shop on the beach that rented boards, got 2 and then headed out on the waves. In the surf shop, the guy mentioned that we should watch out for sharks. He said the shrimp were swarming right off the coast and that usually attracts sharks because they love shrimp. So we said, “Thanks!” and took off for the water’s edge. We laid down on the boards and paddled out past a few waves, just waiting for a big one to head in so we could hopefully catch it. As I was paddling around about 100 yards offshore, waiting for a wave, suddenly I was surrounded by thousands of shrimp. Many of th
Occasionally, our canoeing buddies would plan a big trip down some raging river and we’d gear up for that. Eventually, we bought our own canoe and stenciled a customized name on the side, “Crippled Eagle.” One trip down the Guadalupe stands out. It was during the springtime when there were lots of rain storms. They would come up out of nowhere and suddenly, a flash flood would take everything out on both sides of the river. It was dangerous, of course, but when you’re young, you don’t have enough sense to be afraid of things like that. There were about 6 canoe teams. We canoed all day till almost dusk before finding a camping spot and pulling the canoes up on the bank. We made a fire and roasted some hamburgers and hot dogs, then pitched our tents. Everyone was so exhausted. Around 9:00 p.m. it started raining. It rained hard for hours. No one was able to sleep. We were all very uneasy about the possibility of a flash flood. Me and Allen were huddled in our sleeping bags insid