Off The Grid | Up The Creek

I have been off the grid for a while.  Jackie and I covered quite a bit of land and sea in the space of two weeks.  We traveled from Atlanta to Newark, from Newark to Bar Harbor (Bah Hah Bah), Maine, from Bah Hah Bah to Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Halifax back to Newark, from Newark to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Panama City and finally, from Panama City back to Atlanta.  Whew!  The trip seems twice as long when written out.  We were on a cruise ship the first leg, from Newark to Bah Hah Bah and Halifax.  And yes, I was completely off the grid.  I intended to turn my phone off completely, which I did, then realized on the shuttle from the parking lot to the airport that I had left it in the van.  

There is something completely liberating about being totally off the grid.  No phone, no lights, no motorcars.  Well, maybe not that stark on a cruise ship, but you get the picture.  This was our birthday trip.  Our first day at sea was on my birthday, June 26th.  The return day at sea was Jackie’s, June 30th.  We had a great time, especially in Bah Hah Bah.  We got off the ship at about 7:15 am and spent the day exploring the wonderful little seaside New England town.  My friend Jules, a native of Maine, had advised us that the mornings and evenings were cool, even in the middle of the summer.  And she was right, too.  It was in the 50’s in the morning, pretty chilly.  It may have cracked 80 in the early afternoon, but the temperature was already starting to drop when we headed back to the ship around 5:00 pm.  We sailed from Bah Hah Bah to Halifax.  Quite honestly, there isn’t much to tell about Halifax except for a 3 hour bus ride, less than an hour in Peggy’s Cove, and an obnoxious tour guide in a kilt.

Upon returning on Saturday, we received a call from Jackie’s son Lars, daughter-in-law Carrie and grandson Gavin.  They were in Panama City and invited us down for the Fourth.  So, Sunday morning we rearranged our bags for a trip to the beach and headed down I-85 South.  Along the way, Lars called and asked if I would be interested in going out fishing on Monday.  Hey, twist my arm.  I figured there were worse ways to spend a Monday afternoon.  We had a great day, the fish were biting, and the stringer Carrie and I are holding in the picture above is just one of the two we brought home.  Her dad cooked them that evening in an iron skillet over a camp stove on the tailgate of his pickup.  You can’t get any fresher seafood than that…

On Tuesday, the Fourth, we paddled up Holmes Creek in Vernon, Florida.  Yes, paddled.  We weren’t in the SS Minnow, on a pontoon boat or in a ski boat.  Jackie and I were in a canoe.  And not just any canoe.  A canoe that Carrie’s dad has owned since he was twelve years old.  Jackie said it looked like a submarine from The Great War.  There were specific instructions not to let anything happen to the canoe.  And they put the two of us in it.  Lars, Carrie, Gavin and the others were in kayaks.  Holmes Creek is a wide, shady fresh water creek winding through the Panhandle with a spur that ends at Cypress Spring.  Cypress Spring is absolutely beautiful.  It is pictured here.  The water is crystal clear and very shallow to the spring itself, which is about thirty feet deep.  The deep blue water of the spring is so clear you can see the bottom.   

I had not been in a canoe since 1983.  My father had bought one when we bought our property on Fairfield Lake.  It didn’t even have seats in it, you had to kneel.  I liked it so much, I threw it in as part of the deal when I bought my VW convertible.  Jackie had not been in one since sometime in the Nineties.  She got in one with her Dad, and he kept rocking it trying to scare the daylights out of her.  He succeeded.  So here we are, two people whose river experience was limited to going down the Chattahoochee in an inner tube and a Ramblin’ Raft Race float, canoeing down a creek as big as a river covered with downed trees and various other obstacles.  I pointed out to Jackie that I had earned a canoeing merit badge in the Boy Scouts.  I don’t think it eased her mind any.  It certainly didn’t ease mine.  I swear at one point I heard banjo music.

We negotiated the first obstacle fine, a small tree lying across the creek with passage against one bank.  No problem, nothing to this, right?  Yeah, right.  A little bit further up we got turned sideways and stuck nose first on the bank.  Lars had to come rescue us.  That was mere child’s play compared to what happened next…

We came upon a large tree lying across the creek which the top and limbs had been cut off to allow passage.  I don’t know why they didn’t cut the rest of the stupid thing up, but that’s beside the point.  Lars and Derrick, Carrie’s burly cousin, instructed us to go to the left around the tree.  We tried, but instead hit it headlong and were pushed sideways against the tree by the current.  Lars and Derrick paddled up to help, and suddenly the canoe pitched left at about a thirty degree angle with the edge inches from the water.  Lars and Derrick both grabbed hold of the side of the canoe and I was pushing against the tree with all I had.  My head was stuck under the stump of a limb that had been cut off, and Derrick said, “I know it might be hard because of the tree, but scoot as far to the right on the seat as you can.”  I managed to do so.  Jackie moved to the right as well and somehow, I don’t know how but somehow, the canoe righted and with a big push we got free and around the tree.  Did I mention the cooler and the food were in the canoe as well?

Shaken but undaunted, Jackie and I continued our journey with Lars towing us on a rope from his kayak and we made it to the spring safe and sound. We both paddled around the spring in the kayaks, and became somewhat more familiar with steerage of an open faced manually propelled water vessel.  We did require help getting back in the canoe for the return trip, however, and one kind hearted lady walked us back to the deep water of the creek and pointed us in the right direction.  

We did much better on the return trip, except when we hit a motorized jon boat.  Technically, he had the motor, so he hit us.  And he really didn’t hit us, he pushed us off in the right direction before contact.  He was very gracious.  I think it was obvious we really didn’t know what we were doing.  When we got to the landing there was a line of boats waiting to put out.  So, as we waited across the creek for our turn, one of the good samaritans who had helped us back in the canoe at the spring rode up and said, “Hey, you made it and didn’t turn over!”  “Don’t be so sure, we’re not on dry land yet,” I replied.  We all laughed, but it turned out to be prophetic.  When our turn came, we paddled across the creek, got sideways, had to be pulled up to the landing and almost capsized getting out of the canoe.  But we had made it.  I’m sure Lars and Carrie let out a huge sigh of relief seeing the canoe upright, intact and the top side dry.  I know I did.  Jackie now wants to go to Hard Labor Creek State Park and take kayak lessons… Still Cruisin’!  –J.