Escatawpa Hollow - Canoeing

You can book a day-long canoe trip on the Escatawpa, where the proprieters take you to a drop-in upstream and pick you up downstream at a pre-determined time, or just rent a canoe for the day and plan your own trip from the beach at Escatawpa Hollow. Paul rented a canoe two or three times for excursions from the beach. The first time, he offered to take his mom out...

Paul	Ready?
Aunt Shirley	Yes. Let's head that way.
Paul	I really think it would be better to paddle upstream and then float back to the beach.
Aunt Shirley	It looks prettier down there. Let's float downstream and then paddle home.
Paul	I'm not sure if we go that way I can get us back...
Aunt Shirley	I'll help.
Paul really did know what he was in for, but had learned long ago that argument with Shirley was pointless, so after a really long float downstream during which Shirley got interested in the fact that she could see fish in the water, Paul finally convinced her that it was time to turn around. Too late. By the time we started back upstream Shirley could be made to paddle instead of look only if there were imminent danger...
Paul	Mother, if you don't start paddling hard on the right side of the canoe, we're going to run into that snake...
That only worked once or twice, 'cause after a bit Shirley realized that she could see a snake about two years before Paul could ... So Shirley went back to looking for fish and Paul got to "drive" the canoe back upstream, all the time thinking "this exercise is just what I needed to stay healthy, and is another example of how much Mother loves me... " That worked until we got really close to the Escatawpa Hollow beach. Just downstream from there there's a railroad trestle that collects debris, and channels the river into a small enough area that no one (especially not Paul) cold paddle a canoe against the current without help. When Aunt Shirley could see where she wanted to be, she figured out that the easiest way to get there was to jump out of the canoe and walk so that's what she did. After another half hour of what he believes to be the hardest work he's ever done, Paul got the canoe to the beach, mostly by using Shirley's approach - beach the canoe downstream, pick it up and carry it around the bit where the heavy current was, then put it back in the water and paddle gracefully up to the beach.

Next time Paul went canoeing on the Escatawpa, he took Lana, who agreed that it would be better to paddle upstream and then float back to home (else Paul wouldn't have been involved...) It started out kind of scary for Paul, though...

Lana:	Yes I do know how to steer a canoe, I just want to stop at this sandbar and wish you weren't so bossy!

Paul and Lana ventured up and down -stream far enough to get some good pictures of the river.

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