Chickasabougue Creek and the Broken Car Alarm...2005

Our third trip was to a different part of the county. This time we borrowed our son's truck and headed north to Chickasabougue Creek. We paid our dollar fee at the toll booth and followed the narrow road to the water.

This would be the first time we paddled in the presence of other people and we could not have imagined how much attention we would draw to ourselves.

We put our kayaks on the boat ramp and pushed off. I was shocked at how cold this water was! The water of Perch Creek was comfortably warm so I was unprepared for the chill of this creek, but after the first few seconds I was no longer aware of the cold water. I loved the wider waterway of this creek, its stronger current and the patches of sandy beaches which dotted the creek sides. This trip we also encountered other boaters for the first time. I was surprised at how polite they were. They all slowed down as they pasted us, but our daughter and I enjoyed bobbing over the wakes. I really enjoyed the water and scenery of this trip, but the most interesting part of the trip happened after we pulled out of the water.

As I opened Glen's watertight hold, I found out it had not been watertight. His phone was soaked, his wallet was soaked and our son's keys --including his remote to the truck's car alarm -- were all soaked. As we began to load the kayaks into the bed of the truck, we set off the car alarm. With the remote water logged, we were couldn't disable the alarm. It blared on and on, louder and louder. We felt as if every eye, and there were many, were on us.

We finished loading the boats as fast as we could and jumped into the truck, intending to slip out without attracting any more attention to ourselves. But we took a wrong turn, one that took us directly in front of all the swimmers and picnickers, our car alarm announcing our long before we arrived. We drove back toward the toll booth, the alarm still screeching. As we passed the window of the booth, the two people inside were craning their necks to see what was making the noise.

Finally, after what seemed like miles, the alarm stopped. After drying out, the alarm remote didn't work. The phone didn't work either. Even though it was a fun day out, it ended up being costly. And not finding out why Glen's hold took on water lead to serious repercussions on our next trip.