On Saturday, a intrepid band of adventurers set out to explore and conquer the mighty Whitewater River. Sirs Patrick, Nick, James and Chris, along with fair maidens Mindy and Megan, braved the mighty river and lived to tell the harrowing tale. Sit right back and let me tell you the tale, the tale of sea beasts lured from the depths by the blood of slain water bugs, the heroic rescuing of one of our own from certain death, how a maiden became a captain and much more.

Well…something like that.

A group of us went up to Brookville, IN for a day of canoing on the Whitewater River. What a fantastic day - sunny and not too warm. Couldn’t have asked for better weather! We chose to do the 8 mile trip, so we paired up (Nick and Mindy, Patrick and James, and Megan and I) and set off down the river. The river was crowded, full of drunks, but that definitely kept it interesting. Mindy decided we should have two rules - no tipping and stay together - then Megan added a third - no splashing. Party poopers!

Things went smoothly until about halfway down the river. Then the dominoes fell… James and Patrick were making fun of each other, or something that prompted James in the front to turn around and try to fake throwing his paddle at Patrick in the back. Only problem was that James forgot to hold on to the paddle tight. As James went to try to catch it, he tipped the canoe enough that it dumped Patrick out. James stayed in, but there was some water in the boat, and he couldn’t steer it well as he was swept down the river alone. The continued to fill with more water but James held on and stayed in the canoe. It was quite a sight. I’m not sure what happened next, because Megan and I had stopped to pick up Patrick, who was left behind after being dumped out of his canoe. The water was shallow enough that he could walk over to our boat, but when he tried to get in…over we went. Note, for the record, that we weren’t tipped of our own accord - it was Patrick’s fault. So while James was floating down river in a sinking canoe, Patrick, Megan and I were trying to get our canoe righted.

Eventually, all boats were emptied and we were back on the water again. The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. It was a relaxing day (other than when I tried big power strokes to beat Mindy) and a good adventure.

See pictures of our trip

I’m going to be planning a white water rafting trip for July or August. Now that’s fun stuff! If you’re interested, let me know!