Chapter 5 - River Life

We headed off to the scary part of the river that everyone said was strait cliffs on both sides and has train tracks for beaches. After stopping at the Walla Walla Yacht Club for breakfast we went for it. Some guy up the river said he wouldn't even come down here in a boat "it's like an ocean!"  

It wasn't bad at all. There were train tracks and we stopped to eat dinner under a bridge. 

We couldn't find a place to camp, unless we wanted to sleep on the tracks, so we decided to keep paddling into the sunset. 

When it got dark we saw this orange light a couple miles away. We speculated that it could be a campfire, surrounded by hot girls and partying with all kinds of beer and pizza. And like a moth to a light we took off after it. It was farther than we expected. After a couple of hours of paddling and wondering whether it was a fire or not, we finally got close enough to see. 

It was a high school party with tons of chips and soda. Some of their buddies were shipping off the marines so they were having a little get together. We felt pretty bad for rolling up and stealing their thunder, but they were so nice they gave Sparky their nice fishing rod so he could catch fish on the river. Those kids were alright. 

Their buddies came later with beer and it was a wonderful night. Oregon ain't so bad so far. 

We made it to the dam the next day and had the easiest portage ever. It was paved the whole way and only about a mile. It was actually kind of fun. A sheriff pulled over to talk to us and said, "That's dedication boys."  

Umatilla was the town below the dam and we resupplied there. It's the town I was trying to get a ride in for 6 hours while hitchhiking. Needless to say I wasn't excited to be back. The people were just as friendly as before, they don't respond when you say hello...

We left promptly and made it to a beautiful island back in Washington. 

We slept in the sand and had a little fire under the full moon. I still like Washington more. 

The next day we tried to make some miles. The wind picked up and made some 3 foot waves. We were struggling to make any progress. The waves were breaking over the bow and the wind was spraying us pretty good. I had to bail the water out of the bottom. But we made it to the Oregon shore where the wind was blocked by the trees and slept in the sand again. River life ain't so bad.