Richland?

[George Locke]

I got a big kick out of Shelby's AKA Bill's Thrill nomer on the creek - I thought most of the old names had been forgotten or dismissed. A Jungle Boater group gave that drop that name in 1978. In those days it was pretty much a handful of folks ...LAGNAFS and Jungle Boaters among others who mixed it up.. LAGNAFS were, and that acronym is not applied to all but included but was not limited to Thrashers , Nolands, Holmes, Beards and Bartons.WW TAVERN as it was. The Jungle Boaters had a deviant list of characters that originated from the old Ozark Mountain Sports. We stole Galbraith and had Art Evans, Bill Groom, Zeke, Bad Bob Dyer, Geo. Spencer, Michael Hanthorn, Ricky Bransford, Chuck Cunningham, Joe Woolbright and me- I know I'm leaving folks out so pease correct me. On the day of the Bill's Thrill, Bad Bob decided to face plant a tree in his Phoenix Slipper- That was the hottest boat going at the time but still measured 13'2" I was in a Phoenix Cascade and it would be relagated to a large and cumbersome touring boat today but it was a lot hotter than the 16'OCA G3 and Art were running. Bad Bob let the tree lift him from his cockpit kind of like an old time hanging from a horse- He popped the skirt and was able to grab and hang on to his stearn grab loop and pulled himself up on his boat and rode it like a surfboard down the creek with his paddle in his mouth. All of us were watching Bob do his usual grandstanding stuff while Bill grew weary of the theatrics and dropped over the ledge. The old boats had no Boof potential and reverse popups were the norm so Bill did a few enders before comming out of his boat recirculating while we were watching the Bad Bob Show. Bill was a very good swimmer and that saved his life - he was white as a sheet and had just made it to the eddy when we noticed he was gone and his boat was still recirculating... Lucky day and thirty years back .. Wow time flies... Enjoy em while you can. Jungle Boater - Geo.