nature 102

My dad, a former almost eagle scout, loves the outdoors. Hiking, camping, canoeing, fishing, gardening, anything as long as the weather is right. Last fall, a coworker of his was selling a canoe. About as thrilled as a boy in a candy store, my dad bought the thing. It's about 15 feet long, a deep red color. Though it can boast of giving fun pleasurable excursions, it can't really boast comfortable seating.
We live near the Tar River. We decided to go paddling to try this thing out. It was loads of fun for me, my dad, and my sister, Marie. Ronald, Lillianna, and Cameron were screaming and crying. They were positive that we would tip over and become fish food. They were wrong, however, and we survived. We even loved it so much we planned a trip for the next Saturday.
I had a ton of schoolwork to do, so I wasn't able to go. Marie came home with horror stories. They had paddled in a school of gar. These fish are about a foot long, with long razor-like teeth. If they were to bite you ... ow! The teeth almost looked like cat's teeth. And everyone knows, it's not fun to be bitten by a cat.
Completely not scared like, at all, I got all my schoolwork done and the next Saturday we ventured into the great unknown. I started paddling up front, my dad in the back, so he could steer it. We had left Lillianna and Cameron at home. That was a blessing.
We had been out about an hour, and it started to rain. Again. (It had been raining all week.) Since we were so far from where we had put in, we decided to keep going. I mean, we were brave explorers. We weren't gonna let a little water scare us!
Because of the rain, however, a small rapids had started up further downstream. We paddled for all we were worth. Our dad gave us a pep talk as we tried for all we were worth to keep us right side up. "Now, these rapids are strong. We need to paddle with all we got. I can't do it by myself. If you don't paddle when and where I say paddle, we will tip over." So, I was determined that I was going to keep us afloat.
But, alas and alack! The rapids were overpowering. My brain was screaming at me, "DON'T TIP! THE GAR WILL EAT YOU ALIVE!!!!" And I was also not at all afraid of the snakes my dad had told us inhabited these waters.
Despite our every effort, we tipped. Ronald, Marie, dad and I had to walk through the rapids, with visions of gar ripping our feet apart. Once we finally made it out of the rapids, we were soaked from the rain and the river.
Now, I know I said that I'm not an outdoorsy person, but to me, this was tons of fun! I love water. The only down side to everything was seeing fish belly up, thinking of snakes and fish with killer fangs. But it adds to the excitement!
My dad's 12 passenger van was practically flooded from all the water we brought in, and my mom totally freaked out when we dripped in. It was a fun day though, and I wouldn't have missed that experience for anything!