Combahee River Fishing Trip

It was a beautiful summer day, just perfect for the family to go out to the Combahee River and do some bass fishing. Our kids were young, four and five,
and we thought taking them would be fun. We invited our next door neighbor,
Ed and Denise, to come along with us. They were going to go out anyway, so
they would just tag along in their boat, being Ed just finished working on his
motor, it be a safe way to test it out. We headed out, after doing the usual things, like my wife and Denise packing enough food to feed us and the fish, bless their hearts, while me and Ed got the important stuff, the beer. We all met at the landing. After a little work getting the kids away from catching the fiddler crabs
and into the food laden boats, we were on our merry way. It was simply beautiful. The sky was crystal blue, not a cloud anywhere to be seen, the air was fresh.
Boy was I in paradise. We both putted up the river chatting and laughing,
watching Ed smile ear to ear, waiting for that enviable pat on the back from Denise for being so smart and mechanically inclined. This is going to be a day to remember,
I was thinking... as I awed at the beauty of the moss laden trees on the banks
and the hundreds of birds and turtles on the stumps.

The day went on, caught a few bass, took a swim, ate a lunch fit for a king,
and laid back on the seat. I yelled to Ed, "what a life, if every day".....then a thunder clap echoed in the distance. The river is very winding, so we could
see nothing around all the bends. Then another boom. I looked at Ed, he looked
at me, and we had a spell of telemetry. It started with S and ended with T. Motor smoke filled the air as we scrambled towards shore, of course in our well planed confusion, each in a different direction. I could no longer see Ed, his boat was much faster than mine, but we were getting close to a clearing on the bank. By this time it was raining heavy and spikes of lightning all around us. I yelled to my wife my famous captain words, "lay down on the deck with the kids....
"it will be OK"........
Then I saw blinding white. Lightning had struck the motor, and I was holding the throttle of that motor. I felt nothing in my left arm, could barely see and the smell of sulfur was strong. About 30 seconds later, the boat hit something. I thought it was shore, so I yelled to my wife, "JUMP". She did, right into the quickmud. She was stuck and I could barely see, the kids were under a blanket. We were about 15 feet from shore. I pulled my wife in, and paddled to shore. My wife and I jumped into the water, and carried the kids to a clearing. We huddled the kids under the limbs of a small palmetto grove. I went back and secured the boat. Here we were, wet and cold, kids scared to death, me no feeling in my arm, and my wife, covered from head to toe with thick gray/black mud, looking like some kind of swamp monster, hardly uttering understandable words as our teeth were chattering.
At least the storm was passing and we were off the water and away from trees.

Then we heard a loud hum, we look up, both thinking, what now, and the sky grew even darker. A squadron of mosquitoes found us, and boy were they hungry. So thick were they, you would wipe your arm, and your hand was black from them. They were everywhere! Hell, we were safer in the boat with the lightning. Then I thought a fire... we need to start a fire! That would get rid of the mosquitoes... and it would keep us warm! We gathered some old rotted wood and twigs. I reached for my lighter, and it would not light. It was wet, oh well, guess no cigarettes now either. Now it was getting gloomy, then another idea. I went to the boat, got some gas and the flash light. I poured gas on the wood, then carefully broke the glass on the bulb and ignited a little fire with the tungsten of the flashlight. It worked, the oil in the gas gave off just enough smoke to make the mosquitoes retreat, we got warmer, smoked a cigarette and the storm left. Soon the skies cleared not leaving one cloud, and we ventured back to the boat. The motor barely ran, so we had to paddle. After 10 or 15 minutes, out of a cove appeared Ed and Denise. We looked at each other, and after a brief look at us,
Ed said "you guy's want a brew". We all busted out laughing, even the kids.
My wife yelled over to Denise... " want to come back next weekend!"
And there it was, a day to remember.