Paddle Boat Sporting - Raccoons - Copperhead Snake!

byBSandlin1

399 followers

4 years ago

The Paddle Boat, Raccoons, And The Copperhead

Have you ever gone to a lake camping for a few days where the lake has many activities to enjoy? Now here you are at the lake gear in tact and ready for that paddle boat sproting activity. Paddle boating sport is a great way to get in some outstanding leg workouts especially if you are in a race against someone else, awesome activity and great fun.

Think about just getting out on a lake in a paddle boat paddling around and enjoying the experience and having a great time, sure is fun. Now think about this for a moment, you are paddling around on the lake having a good time and at the rear a snake decides it would like to join you, "OH NO" that can't be good.

Great Time On Vacation

I am going to share a time when my family and I took a week vacation at a state park. We gathered all the fishing, and camping gear, along with food and drinks to keep us for the week.

We loaded the Van getting it ready to head out the next morning on that great vacation adventure, boy was we going to have a great vacation. Leaving out early would put us at the lake early that morning and we could get everything setup which would take about an hour to get there and a few hours getting setup.

It was going to be a great vacation where we could do a lot of fishing, bicycle riding, walking, swimming, and enjoying the camp ground for the entire week, nothing but fun ahead.

This is a relaxing time away from home where you can (for a short time) forget all your daily activities around the house and worrying about this or that. This is the time to kick back and have a great vacation.

The Raccoons

Here we are at the lake and we setup the tent and all the camping gear which was a little work but was fun. Then we take the kids to the swimming area and we all get in the lake and swim a while having a great time. We went swimming every day, good exercise and very enjoyable. Then we took rides around the park on the bicycles along with taking walks together to get more exercise and having a blast while doing so.

Now the first night we cooked our food and enjoyed our meals and done a little fishing before time to turn in. Well that time came and we went to bed and at some point during the night we were awakened with loud noises which turned out to be "Raccoon" robbers in the camp ground taking our food.

We ended up having to put all the food back in the Van to keep the Raccoons from getting it all. Back to bed we went and still had to deal with those Raccoons around to tent. That was not very enjoyable and was a repeat every night but we made it though that part.

I am not exactly sure what day of being there it was when our air mattress got a hole in it and went flat and was too large to patch. This of course made this adventure to start turning into a very unpleasant trip. Not only did we deal with the Raccoons every night then we actually did sleep on the hard ground, not comfortable but we survived.

The Paddle Boat And the Copperhead

Now while we were at the camp ground on the lake we rented a four person paddle boat to get on the lake and enjoy. We picked the boat we wanted and my 10 year old daughter and 8 year old son decided they would like to paddle which was fine with me and my wife.

We all get loaded up and get started off having a lot of fun and we got a good distance away from shore on the lake. The kids would paddle for a little while then stop, and paddle some more and stop. Well that was all fine and good as we were enjoying the day and not in a hurry.

Now, to our "SUPRISE" we looked back behind the boat and there was a nice size copperhead trying to climb into the boat with us. Naturally my wife and I both started hollowing at the kids to start paddling as fast as they can. They would paddle a little while and stop again and the whole time the snake was hot on our trail. When they would stop paddling the snake would gain ground on us still trying to crawl over the rear. Long story short we finally got away from the snake which was very scary at the time but funny later.

Conclusion

Always remember that a planed Vacation can sometime turn out to have its moments and you can never plan enough for what might arise while you are on your vacation.

We spent the week with one adventure after another with many unexpected things such as the Raccoons, the copperhead snake, and yes, even the hole in the air mattress. I think this was the worst of the trip and was a bit aggravating and somewhat scary at times.

One thing to always remember about the paddle boat and the copperhead, or any water snake as far as that goes is to always check for snakes. There is a flat board that helps tie the paddle boat together with fiberglass underneath the rear where a snake can get up on and shade. This of course was the case and as the kids were paddling along made the snake come out from underneath the boat, chasing us and trying to climb aboard.

Nonetheless, even with the excitement it was still a very fun trip and for sure there were not any dull moments.

Always plan for your adventure and hope you have thought of all the sporting gear you are going to need with you on your trip. As I think about it now I would have been more preparied and could have made the trip a little more enjoyable.

Bobby

Author