Well, there's been a serious lack of adventure on this blog, and I walking talking with some friends about how I don't want to write anything on it like "I ate breakfast today".... or "I went to the Black Dog and got wasted"... What an interesting adventure..
Well, yesterday there was an adventure that was actually interesting. It all started on the banks of the North Sasktchewan River, directly south of Spruce Grove. I got together with some old friends/co-workers from Carbonbusters and we decided to head down to the riverbank for sauna action with some hot dog roasting/wine drinking. (the sauna is incredibly cool and I don't mean that in a literal sense) So, 4 girls, 2 cars, some bonterra cab sav, ritter Sport, a portable sauna.. you get the idea.. sounds like a whole lotta fun. And it WAS a whole lot of fun. Had some good chats about things that we could never talk about when we all worked together, ate some tasty food and then hit the sauna - followed by running upstream and jumping in the lake (we were upstream from Edmonton, where the water gets suspect) and riding the current until we got back to the sauna. It was a great way to spend a Monday night - I was thinking to myself that it would be so great to live somewhere near here then I could hang out on the river bank all the time and it would just be a dandy way to grow old - the wilderness had won me over by this point.
After it was getting dark, we decided to head home. We went back to grab one of the girls' cars. She had parked it about 200 m away downstream, near the roadway (she didn't want to drive it onto the beach- so it wouldn't get wet or wrecked.. keep reading btw..). So we walked up to find the car. One girl drove down there before us and ran back to us when we got to the area with a look of terror in her eyes.. "where the hell did you park your car?" "um, right here." I kept walking up the bank, mostly because I have terrible vision when things are more than 2m away and I thought maybe a tree trunk and a shadow were could have been her car. So the car owner looks down into the river, and.. found her car in the river. Now what most people ask at this point is, "is it a standard? It probably just rolled down into the river.." "when cars ROLL down into the river because the e-brake isn't on.. they don't usually flip over (in my experience) This one had definately flipped. The roof was caved in, and the glass was a broken. It was a mess. We all felt for the car owner - she's just a super nice girl and nobody wants to see that happen, especially not to nice people. She ran down to see her traumatized car and got out whatever she could.. We all started shaking and were in complete disbelief. Somebody (or several people- I'm pretty confident it wasn't coyotes) had clearly come and thrown her car down the river bank and into the river. These things don't happen by accident (in my experience) After a while of milling about and thinking about the whole situation.. this car drives down to the river and parks. A man gets out and walks over to us. "Why you ladies fishing in the middle of the night" "well, that's not really the case you see.. and pointed to the car..we're trying to get through to the police.." He tells us his story: "I'm just sleeping down here until I get my next paycheque.. and if you're calling the police, I guess I'll leave cause I don't have any car insurance." Good idea, Mr. Weird man. So we contemplate so more and finally repack the remaining car (the one not in the river) so we all fit in it - and drive up to the closest mainish road. We see a car driving towards us, and then it stops and turns off its lights. It turns its lights back on and then drives a few feet.. It repeats this over and over until it finally skids around and drives off (we think) - WITHOUT ITS LIGHTS ON.. (pitch black - random car driving away, maybe sitting there - without lights on - just after you meet Mr. Weirdman and have your car thrown (not pushed) into the river) By this point, I was worried. Luckily I was with seasoned adventurers and they were not as worried as I. We followed the car with the flashing lights.. it was gone - So we sat and told stories of crazy incidents in the past where we all though we were gonna die and then it ended up being nothing more than a good story.
Eventually, Constable Bliss from the good old RCMP came out after what seemed like several hours but could have been anywhere from 10 minutes - 2 hours. (Constable Bliss - great name hey, - nothing better than waiting for Bliss) He made us tell the story and shone his flashlight around - "Where exactly was in parked? Was it a standard?", he asked, in his very professional voice. "It was parked parallel to the river - and was not hanging off the edge of the bank - trust me" He told us he'd get a report ready and then said we should all get to bed. I think we all agreed with his crime scene report - one ruined car that we couldn't salvage or even get out of the river for that matter - and 4 tired shaking girls who had just had a great sauna experience that will be best off safe and away from random creepy people who drive around flashing lights..
We drove to one of the girls house who lived in Spruce Grove - made some tea and the car owner called AMA for some roadside assistance. "Sorry, we can't help" they told her "You car isn't on the roadside" (they were serious by the way) Then she called her insurance and they asked where she was: "In Spruce Grove." "And wheren't your car?" "In the river" It seemed quite hilarious at 3am - maybe most things do. I called my boss and left a voice mail for her at work.. "hello.. it's amy ... it's 3am.. (at this point I regretted calling but couldn't turn back) "My friends car is in the river, I will be late tomorrow morning"
We had a good laugh and then fell asleep scattered throughout the house. I still feel bad about her car - and the stress it will be to get it all sorted out with insurance companies and AMA and the police - I still had a great time before the incident, and am that much more closer to those ladies now. All in all, it was an adventure - and what more could a young adventurous wannabee want?
