Tuesday, February 21, 2006

A trip down the Columbia

I grew up in Washington State. In Southeastern Washington. Where three rivers converge. The Yakima River from the West and The Snake River from the East flow into the The Columbia River going south from Canada.
The place where they meet there is a small town called the Tri-Cities. Its actually three smaller towns. (You could have gotten that from the name huh?) Kennewick, Richland and Pasco. I lived in Finley. Its big enough to have its own school district (although a small one), but small enough that it didn't have its own zip code. Finley is considered part of Kennewick.

Finley is a little farther down river from downtown Kennewick. It is directly across the river from the mouth of The Snake River.

Our house was less than a mile away from The Columbia River. During the summer we'd ride our bikes to Two Rivers Park to go swimming. We'd walk the "Nature Trail" that went through the undisturbed natural shore between the Park and the Boat Docks. I could tell stories of trips to the park, or walking through the "Nature Trail", but this post is dedicated to the river.

Living in Kennewick it could be considered prerequisite to own a boat. I mean come on if you're gonna live that close to a river you better darn well own a boat. Our family followed the norm. We had a boat. Seriously, we could walk to the boat docks, why shouldn't we have a boat? One summer my aunt came to visit us from Utah. We took her for a ride on the boat going upriver. My aunt couldn't believe that what we were on was a river. She was SURE it was a Lake. When you're out there on the boat, the river is so wide, it feels like its a Lake.

This picture is taken from Sacajewea State Park in Pasco at the mouth of the Snake River. You're looking out over the Columbia River downstream. I put a purple star on the picture to show you were the Boat Docks a walking distance from my house is in relation to the river.

On calm days the river would be as smooth as glass. Absolutely perfect for water-skiing, especially slaloming. The smoother the water the better the ride! This picture is taken standing on the banks of the Columbia River at Two Rivers Park looking downstream as well.

This was my playground. This was my backyard. This was my love and my passion. Every summer we'd take the boat out on the river, what seemed like, every day. We'd go boating just for the fun of feeling the wind in our air. We'd take turns water-skiing. We'd go out to Wallula Gap (the picture below) where we'd be surrounded by cliffs on both sides of the river. The current was much calmer there, and not as many boats would go that far downstream. We'd turn off the motor and our whole family would jump off the boat for a little swim. We had close friends that had a house right on the bank of the river. They had their own boat docks. Most times we'd launch our boat from the main boat docks and go over and spend the entire afternoon on their boat docks.

For many summers all we'd do was go water-skiing. One summer my parents bought an inner-tube that you tow behind the boat. We got it filled with air and headed down to the docks to test it out. Written on the side of the tube was warning instructions. Maximum speeds, air pressure for the tube, amount of weight the tube could handle, things like that. We got the boat launched and went down to the Lindsey's docks. My dad read over the warning instructions and decided that we needed to take it on a test run. He needed to get the feeling of how to drive the boat when towing someone on the tube. I was probably 12-13 years old. I was the oldest. My brothers were chickens. Just call me "'D'- The Test Dummy". I volunteered to be the first to ride the tube.

I got my lifevest on and nervously boarded the inner-tube. Once I was secure in my placement, thats when all security left me! I was in for the ride of my young life! (I must mention that my dad didn't believe the warning instructions for the maximum speed. Reading it, he thought it was too slow. You go much faster for water-skiers, so thought it must be a mistake.) I was literally flying over the water. Following directly behind the boat, my dad thought my ride must be pretty boring. We started pulling donuts. A donut in a boat, is just like a donut in a car. You crank the wheel as hard as you can in one direction and with the boat in high speed you start going in circles. In the boat its not a big deal. Out on the tube, its a HUGE deal! The velocity and force being put on the tube is incredible. You lean with all your weight in the opposite direction just so the tube doesn't flip over and you end up barrelling across the water like a log being rolled down a hill. Being a first time rider, I was scared for my life!

An experienced driver towing someone on a tube KNOWS, that if the donut doesn't throw the person off the tube, that theres a good chance the next trick WILL! As your going in circles, making donuts, the boat is creating some pretty big waves outside the circle of the tube. The secret is to suddenly straighten out the wheel and cut across the waves, then turn and cut across the waves just created by cutting across the waves. What happens are some HUGE waves! So big, that a boat has to slow down to go across them. What happens when the boat slows down, is that the tube is still going across the water, faster than the boat is, and the roap goes slack. Once the boat is over the waves, the driver guns the motor again, and all of a sudden the roap is taunt. So suddenly, and so tightly, that often the tube will be pulled right out from under the rider!

Holding on for dear life, knuckles as white as a ghost I once again foiled the master tower. I could hear the motors turning in my dad's head planning his next feat to throw me off. He went back to the donuts, and the half donuts, and the straight lines with a sudden turn when there it was! The mammoth wave jet-skiers love, but tubers fear! A tug and barge! My dad saw it. He slowed down the boat thinking over the possibilities. I saw it and started to cry inside. I knew what was coming even while my dad was debating risking the life of his only daughter! It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of WHEN!!!!

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I would like to stop this perilous adventure to further educate you on a tug and barge. Growing up in the Tri-Cities, we had become accustomed to seeing barges. Going upriver empty, downriver full. A barge was used to ship grain from the farmlands of Eastern Washington to the Port of Portland at the Mouth of the Columbia River to be shipped around the world. There are Dams spread throughout the Columbia and Snake Rivers. There are locks on the dams that are big enough for a barge to pull into. Then in about an hours time the water in the lock is raised to the level of the water upstream of the dam. Going downstream the opposite happens. On a quiet day, playing in the backyard, even from our house we could hear when a barge was going up or down the river. Oh, and to be on a boat or a dock, or even standing on the shore when one of these ginormous boats went by. Watch out. These puppies put out some HUGE waves. I remember as a kid being at Two Rivers Park. A barge went by. My brothers and I ran to the river side of the peninsula and waited for the waves. Its like wave jumping at the ocean.

Here are a few pictures of some barges. The first is full and headed downstream.

This one is empty and headed upstream.

This is a picture of a wake behind a regular size boat. Imagine this behind a loaded tugboat and barge.

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Now back to the story. Dad had idled the boat. We're just sitting their drifting with the current. We're on the Kennewick side of the river giving the barge plenty of room to pass, along with protecting us from the huge waves. I was stuck on the tube, holding on white-knuckled. I knew the only way of escape was to abandon ship. But if I did that I would be giving my dad the satisfaction of knowing he had scared me off the tube.

The barge had passed, and thats when my dad gunned the engine once again. He headed for the waves. Now, he didn't act like a jet-skier, where they're seriously right behind the barge, he at least gave me a chance by aiming for the swells, rather than the wake. I remember we were in the mouth of the Snake River. We were pretty close the bridge that goes over the Snake River between Pasco and Burbank. We turned and headed back towards the waves. My dad cut across the swells, it was fun, it was like going down a hill with little hills on a snow tube hill.

My dad wasn't pleased. He was determined to throw me off the tube. He cut the wheel hard and cut across his wake from just going across the barge swell. What happened were some waves between 5-7 feet high. My dad went across them, and with me being towed behind was following mercilessly. This time, my dad didn't really slow down. He just plowed on through.

All I remember is hitting those huge waves, and then looking straight down on the tube, which was also about 4 feet above the water. The next thing I remember was gasping for breath as I came out of the water. Once I was above the surface, I felt myself being tossed to and fro by the waves and seeing the boat turning and coming around back towards me. The boat slowed and pulled up along side me. My dad, mom and my brothers were all leaning over the side looking down at me floating like a cork in the water.

Once I was in the boat, and wrapped in a towel did I hear how that fantastic crash had a occurred. From what I gathered from my mom and my brothers; I had hit a wave about 5 feet high. I was launched into the air, the tube still about 4 feet above the water, and I was perpendicular to the tube. My feet were pointing to the sky. The tube went down, I came down on it, bounced and then flipped over backwards off the tube.

I was able to find this picture on the internet. Its a picture of a boy that looks to have been put in the same predicament I had. But I would like you to remember that my feet were straight up over my head! ( I blurred the face, since I don't actually KNOW this person)

I also found this picture. Just to give you an idea of what can really happen while out on an inner-tube being towed by a mad man!

I have always loved the water. And even after that horrific ordeal I would still go out on the tube, even if my dad was driving. The good thing from this event is my dad learned to follow the maximum speed guidelines put on watercraft toys. No longer did he think he knew better. I would still go out on the tube, but any time after that, if I saw a barge coming, and it looked like my dad was attempting to go over the barge swells, I wasn't so proud that I couldn't bail ship. I'd look up at my dad, wink, and ditch off the side.


Posted by ABQ Mom :: 2/21/2006 07:41:00 AM :: 6 Comments:

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