Yesterday, I led a church float trip on the Current River, Cedar Grove to Akers Ferry. We had some teenagers, some middle-aged, and a couple of octogenarian women, whom I will call Alice and Sally for their privacy. It worked out best for Alice and Sally to be in a canoe with me. The river was up: we had a lot of rain Friday, so by the time we got on the river, the flow was 430 ft3/s. (I’m writing the number down so I remember how much is too much.) But I thought we would be OK. And most of the time, we were.
About 40 minutes into the float, the river took a hard right turn. In trying to fend off from a tree, I tipped the canoe. Alice and Sally hung on to the canoe until some people on a gravel bar right there charged in and grabbed them. We all got to shore and managed to recover all our belongings. Sally has kind of fragile skin and got a couple of big cuts. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a first aid kit. But a guy who was there helped out with a torn-up T-shirt and some Kleenex. He bandaged her as well as he could. We decided to have lunch.
After we all recovered, we got moving again. We were fine for more than an hour, then another time, the river took a hard right turn. This time, a branch sticking out grabbed the canoe. The branch, the thwart, my paddle, and my leg were all tangled up together. Alice was thrown clear; someone on the gravel bar jumped in and grabbed her. After I got my leg untangled, the canoe started floating away. Lots of people jumped in and grabbed all our stuff, and two big guys carried Sally ashore.
This time was more serious. Alice had a little scrape; Sally had several, on both arms and both legs. Fortunately, someone among that group was a nurse with a good first aid kit. Also, there was a group of students there from the Missouri S&T Satellite Team (Jill Davis, Donna Jennings, Matt Russell, Kyle Bruer). Jill, a Ph.D. student in aerospace engineering, also had a good first aid kit that she contributed to the effort. People kept piling towels on Alice and Sally (whether they wanted them or not!).
Now the question was, how to get home? Even assuming the rest of our group could help somehow, they were gone. I didn’t realize until later that we were very much the last boat in the group. If we could make it to Welch Spring, we could perhaps ask the ranger there for help. But how to get there?
That’s when Jill jumped in to volunteer. Their group was in kayaks. Kyle would tow hers, and Jill would take the bow position in my canoe. We got Alice and Sally settled down in the bottom of the canoe, and we were off.
It was a pleasant float from there. There were hardly any tight spots, and Jill was accomplished enough to guide us through the few we encountered. When we got to Akers Ferry, she had to run to catch the bus to Jadwin Canoe Rental with the rest of her group. Once Alice & Sally had clean, dry clothes on, and some fresh Band-Aids, they were fine. They even came to church today! Although Sally did need further medical attention at the urgent care clinic after church. We did lose a canoe paddle and a driver’s license, but that’s pretty good for such extreme conditions. Sally lose one shoe, but then some guys found it further down the river and returned it to us!
What was amazing and gratifying to see was the sense of togetherness on the river. There was a realization that we were all in this together, and we all had to work together to care for those who were in trouble. Lots of people acted spontaneously when they saw us dumped out, our belongings floating downstream. The guy who helped bandage Sally the first time gave me clear instructions about what to watch for and what to do. (The other guys on the gravel bar also helped by offering moonshine!) The nurse who did most of the work at the second spot was very kind and caring, and took her time to make sure both women were dry and warm, and that all of Sally’s injuries were accounted for. There was another woman at the second spot whose face I can still see—the anguish in her eyes over the idea that we would need to continue on, and the fear for Alice & Sally’s safety. There was a group there that proposed to be our escort down the river, before Jill volunteered. And of course Jill’s willingness to cut short her trip and help us out, and her companions’ willingness to tow her kayak and otherwise pick up her slack.
I think people are basically good and basically want to do the right thing. Modern civilization has given us many opportunities to NOT do the right thing, though—to ignore the suffering of people around us, or literally to not even SEE suffering people. Too often, people in need are just nameless, faceless “others” who must deserve whatever comes their way. But when confronted by someone who is clearly in need, people want to help.
Oh, and also, Jill is an accomplished student who has won a prestigious award and a fellowship, and Donna also recently won a prestigious award. They are a credit to their department and especially their advisor, Dr. Hank Pernicka. It has been my privilege to work with these and other students on the Satellite Team over the past decade.