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_{"The early bird catches the worm" -dds*
"But who the heck wants to eat worms?!" -Everyone Else}

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...We drove on into the waning dark, undaunted and unable to do a thing about any of this, and finally arrived at the put-in parking lot as the pale, yellow-orange light of day crested the trees beyond the river. "Holy Mackerel, will you look at that!", was the uttered reply, from the three very bleary-eyed canoeist's, crammed all around and between the gear in the Subaru. The shock when we drove into the parking lot was downright palpable...
~ From: The Eclipse Chronicles -The Beginning of Day One

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Can You BELIEVE It?!!!

Robinia And Our Boat And Some Stuff

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...THE PARKING LOT WAS ALMOST EMPTY!!! We couldn't believe it. After all the hype, the doom and gloom in the media, the "MILLIONS of people everywhere", we were one of only two cars in the lot. NO ONE else had the same idea as us, at least up to this point, which made us feel pretty special. Our trip was looking up toward the bright light of success. The first, huge hurdle had been met, and we leaped it like a teenage gazelle with no nasty-bad lions in sight. The trip to find the Total Eclipse Of The Sun was 'on', and we were in good business.

The sun continued to slowly rise, as we pulled our small pile of gear out and onto the boat tarmac. We were all quite giddy with excitement, even those of us that were thoroughly exhausted. I think half of it, besides not sleeping for a couple of days, might have been the stress of possibly not even getting the boat ON the river. But that ugly specter evaporated faster than the waning darkness at the ramp. The slight morning shiver in the air was nothing compared to the sheer joy of our plan working to perfection thus far. We hauled the boat down to the 'put in', and stood on the shore, pondering the rising sun and our next move.

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A Boat'n We Shall Go

Conferring With The Map

"Which way should be go?"
"How about downstream."

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I'm Pretty Sure Someone Wants To Go Fishing

HH was not only excited about the trip, but the idea of catching us dinner was obviously on the front burner of her mind as well. The sun hadn't yet crested the horizon, with the boat not even close to loaded, when she pulled out her tackle box and gear. Being an avid non-angler, I offered up my best advice, which may have fallen on deaf ears. I suppose it's possible there is no such thing as a Greenback WigglerWorm or Poppin-Fresh Deepwater Bass Bopper. Whatever the case may be, the two REAL angler-person's got it all sorted without my help.

I'm not sure, but the repeated statement I'd heard since we first got on the road...until I don't know WHEN it stopped because I was too tired to remember... may have been at play. But I heard it often that first day from my two cohorts (in jest, of course)--"We aren't listening to anything you say today. You can provide all the advice you want, but we're ignoring you. You're in a sleep-deprived state." But that was just fine with me. I don't know a thing about fishing anyway.

While they discussed lures, bobbers, trouble hooks and other fishing gaffe's, I took to cramming all our dry-bagged 'necessities' into the boat, so there might actually be room for people. Whoever coined that famous outdoor saying: "One day out, twenty days out...the only difference in what you pack is in the underwear and socks", really knew their camping stuff. We had it ALL. Then again, being comfortable IS what it's all about. In the end everything fit, including the three of us, and we were off and floating.

I sat in the middle of the canoe, packed tightly in with the gear on my mini lawn chair. Robinia and HH soon paddled us from shore, out into the joy of the lazy current. It was absolutely GORGEOUS on the river at this time of day. The cool air, and smell of fresh water, vegetation, fish and wet soil all intermixing was divine, and I soon drifted into a much-needed state of leisure-napping.

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[Large Water-Whooshing and Electric Engine Noise Here]

What Is THAT Going By?

No sooner had I drifted off, when an odd, chugging water sound brought me out of my slumber. It was a ferry boat! How often do you see THAT in today's world? I was hearing the Buena Vista Ferry, that covers about 720 feet across the river expanse, and is only one of three left on the entire Willamette River system. And it can carry SIX cars at a time. There are roads all over the place in the area, but here is the one place you can cross on a boat. I love it. Kind of a blast from the riverine past.

We decided to come back again, one day soon, and ride the ferry across the river. Just because we can. Then ride it back across, climb into the car, and drive home. Aren't some parts of life just AMAZING?!!

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Searching The Elusive DinnerFish

We continued on down the river - floating, laughing, snacking, dabbling my hands over the sides into the cool river - all the while headed for our destination, the coveted eclipse Line Of Totality. Robinia and HH kept tossing a line in the water, and I did my best as middle ballast, hitting the cookie supply hard to help keep things on an even keel. Life is so grand on the river. Particularly if you don't have to paddle, the view aside is serene, and have an ample supply of Oreos.

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- § -

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"I GOT ONE!!" The excitement burst forth from the front of the boat like an air horn, and suddenly, HH's pole-tip took a major dive, and the reel action kicked in. She had a fish 'on' (fisherspeak), and the 'fight' commenced. In due time she landed her finned quarry....a rather large Pike Minnow. Whatever the heck that might be. I thought he was rather cute, as fish go, and pondered a few names we could give him. But she just called him "Dinner."

HH threaded her new fish on a stringer, and we traipsed him waterborne behind the boat as we continued on our way. I soon suggested we let him go, as I am a weenie about these things, but was soundly voted down in the end. Something about that no-sleep, we're not listening thing again, I suppose. We continued on down the river toward our final destination, with Mr. Pike Minnow in tow.

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Your Average, Friendly Pike Minnow

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- § -

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Time For A Much-Needed Break

Sitting in the center of the canoe in the hot sun is hard work. OK, sitting in the center of the canoe eating snacks and drinking lots of water in the hot sun is hard work. And requires occasional stops. We found a nice gravel bar to beach upon, to take care of various life-chores, and give the rowing section a break from paddling. Robinia stayed with the boat, under the guise of 'keeping it safe', while HH and I explored the area, and stretched our river legs.

When we returned, we discovered why she had so wanted to stay with the boat. That's where the snacks were. We joined right in, on a long and pleasant cheese and cracker break, followed by some fruit and more Oreos for dessert. It was a fun, mellow late-morning, perched in our canoe rocking gently in the shallows, munching and laughing and laughing and munching, and discussing the various things of life.

But all too soon, we needed to get back to our quest. We got ready to push off back onto the river, when major crisis struck. Robinia looked down, and exhorted to the two of us, "Where are the Oreos? THEY'RE GONE! " Oh, the horror!! Smaller expeditions have been completely beached on much lesser difficulties. We looked throughout the entire boat, all to no avail.

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Not The Cookies!

We were about to give up all hope, when HH glanced behind the boat, and made a most amazing discovery. Mr. Pike Minnow had saved our precious cookies! They were floating on the water, open side-up, in the strong current, stuck on the stringer chain that kept our new fish-friend tethered to the boat. I swear he was lazing back and forth in the flow, keeping our precious cookie bag safe on the chain. What luck. What SKILL!

Seizing a golden, emotion-laden moment and potential opportunity for our new pet/dinner guest, I came up with a BRILLIANT idea. "Why not give him a reprieve, if not a full pardon, from his 'life sentence'?" After all, he DID save our snacks. The ladies said they would consider it, in light of these new, incredible heroics by Mr. Pike Minnow. I kept my wrinkled-from-hanging-in-the-water-too-long fingers crossed for my new, Piscean friend. Then offered each of my fellow travelers some of my granola with M&M's, hoping to finish off any appetite for dinner either might still have left.

The cookies safe once more, we climbed back into the boat and paddled down the river, on to our destiny with the Line of Totality and the Eclipsing Sun. It was at this next stop, looking for a camping spot on The Island Gigantica, that we made a couple of amazingly important discoveries. One sort of bad, in the realm of camping and such. The other, absolutely, positively PHENOMENAL in the new friend department. But that is a story for another day.

Stay Tuned for the next installment of The Eclipse Chronicles.

~ NOT Finto ~

~ To Be Continued ~

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(*No-I didn't invent it)

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Thanks for stopping in and viewing Day 1.25 of the exciting Eclipse Chronicles. If you have any thoughts about the sun and its interaction with the moon, canoeing, fishing for Pike Minnows, the best cookie snack for leisure boating, or anything else this post reminds you of, please feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.

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Please UPVOTE, COMMENT and FOLLOW if you enjoy my works.

And go to @ddschteinn -- There's a whole lot more...

_{Posted: 08/30/2018 @ 13:45}

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Excerpts From Late-Night Conversations With A Mechanical Cat

Fact Number 91