On the River

[Pine]

Another time to add to this thread.
After I had graduated High School and had my first full time job there was a guy that I worked with on second shift that I found out was a bow fisher same as me.
We decided that seeing we got out of work at 11:30PM it would be a good idea to just head to the river for a few hours of bow fishing.
We did that about three or four times a week. That was a good time for sure.
After a few weeks we had the idea that we should on Saturday put the canoe in at this one point and hunt all night and take out about fifteen miles downstream.
I asked my dad if he would drive my truck and we left my friends truck where we would get out.
We then just about last light of the day got to where we were going to start and after we got everything loaded in the canoe my dad drove my truck back home with him.
Off we went, we were on carp and bowfin almost immediately and it continued fairly steady for the next couple hours. Around midnight we got to the only lake we had to get through and seeing the lake was over a mile long we decided not to try and fish it and we both paddled to get back on the river.
It was almost an hour before we reached the other end of the lake and sure enough, just as we could see the bottom, the action started. Bowfin, carp and now gar.
We stayed for a while and shot several fish. Then we figured we needed to get moving if we were ever going to get to the other truck.
So another few miles and around 4:00 in the morning we started wondering when we would reach the bridge where my friends truck was parked.
And on we pushed still seeing fish and shooting. We both were getting very tired and thinking if just tying the canoe off and getting some sleep. About then we rounded a bend and we could see the bridge.
We made it, and we slid up to the bank, pulled the canoe up to the road and shined our flashlights towards his truck. 
Now when we left his truck, he had parked it off the side of the road a short distance from the bridge so it would not be in the way for traffic. The side of the road sloped a little but not too bad but what we didn’t think of was the grass sod was a little damp and while we were gone, the downhill tires sunk into the ground, lifting the uphill tires off the ground.
It’s a little after 5:00AM now, I am wearing steel toed fireman’s boots that are a couple sizes too big for me and we are stranded on a back country road on early Sunday morning.
We decided to get in the truck and at least get a few hours of sleep and then start walking.
We woke up around 8:00 and off we went. It was about a mile to the first intersection and we didn’t see a single vehicle. We turned the corner realizing we had at least ten more miles to get to town and I could call my dad.
After about another half hour this old farmer in a beat up pickup truck came along and asked if we needed help. And we gladly accepted his help. I told him if he could get us to town I could call for help but he just asked where I lived and he graciously took us all the way to my house.
That gentleman wouldn’t even accept any money for helping us but I’m sure he had a good laugh when we explained our predicament to him. 
So now we are at my house and I told my parents what happened and after my dad was able to catch his breath from laughing  he let me take one of his chains to pull my friends truck out of the side of the road.

Yeah, that old river has given me many memories, I would like to have a nickel for every fish and snapping turtle I shot on that river.
Thanks for coming along with an old fart reminiscing.