Last Updated on November 30, 2018 by Terry
“The adventure continues” -Carla
If you read my bio in my fishing adventure book, you may remember that I have lost the trailer from the truck or boat off the trailer in four different decades. Well,we can round that off to an even five!
You will probably also remember that Carla has been throwing a comment at me for about 30 years; “The adventure continues”. Good for me for having fun.
Star date 2018, November 26: It was rush hour, 5pm, on the 440 bypass, heading west, near the Arkansas River.
Wait a second, punch lines are usually at the end. Let’s start from the beginning of this story.
Carla, Amanda, Mikayla, and I were gone for the holiday. We returned Sunday evening.Cody had contacted me about going fishing Monday. It sounded good, but the weather had bombed. It went from 70 to 49, and the wind was howling Monday.(And don’t forget the blue bird high pressure)
But, I’m easy so I agreed. The problem, my world record streak was on the line on a very poor fishing day. Most of you know that I have reached eighteen trips in a row with catching a 4lb or larger bass. That’s called a lunker where I come from.Eighteen in a row! Remarkable by anyone’s standards.
My friends, it was tough. Cody had four strikes and caught one. I had one strike and caught one. We began at a small slough where I had caught four of the lunkers that help compile my streak. The two of us can cover the fishable parts of the small lake in about an hour. Our plan was to fish it out and head to our favorite lunker lake. The big lake had been real muddy and we weren’t sure we would be able to fish there anyway.
The good part of this story is that my one strike weighed four and one half pounds! My only strike of the day and it saved the streak. 19 trips in a row! I still claim this to be the world’s record and no one can dispute it.
After we had decided to head home, we loaded both kayaks on my small trailer and hit the highway near Fredonia, Arkansas. Again, the lakes I’m fishing are open to anyone and located within the White River Refuge. There are over 150 oxbow lakes and sloughs that you can fish.
Everything was going along fine until we started to cross the Arkansas River on the 440 bypass. Traffic was bumper to bumper. The only opening was directly behind me due to the fact that I was driving about 45 mph. As cars caught up with me,they would move over into the middle of three lanes. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
As we began the slight incline to the bridge, a huge semi-truck and trailer caught up with me on my left. He was doing in the sixty-five mph or so range, and with the wind he was creating, it literally sucked the small kayak off my trailer!
I saw it in my mirror, it appeared to explode up in the air like a rocket blasting off. It broke two red straps that were holding both kayaks. My large kayak stayed in place as I usually tie it to the front of the trailer. (Pause while I wipe a little sweat from my brow.)
It landed directly behind me and did not cause a wreck. I mentioned earlier about the space behind me being vacant. It also slid to the right and up against the railing protecting cars (And kayaks) from running off the bridge and into the river.
I crossed the river and circled back at the next exit. After crossing back over the river and approaching the bridge, we could see it near the rail. I pulled over in front of it and Cody crossed over the rail and pulled it over away from traffic. We were about thirty feet from where it drops off into the water. We got them both tied back on and headed for home.
The scariest part was securing the kayaks back to the trailer. As I tied them, giant trucks continued to pass me with about three feet clearance. They almost blew me over two times. And no, I would not let Cody get on the traffic side of the trailer to help tie them. If I got hit, I would need someone to take my boats home.
Adventure, don’t leave home without it!
Thanks, and don’t forget to like and share.
Please consider adopting a pet for Christmas. One of the best things Carla and I have ever done. I’m looking at two pretty kitties as I write this.
Between us and the two daughters, we have five rescued pets. (And Mikayla is looking for another one.)
If you downloaded my book about the 99 Truths of Life, don’t forget to go back to Amazon and leave a review. See you next Friday.
