The roar of engines in the night, in my kids ears,, means fun. It's the sound of the river.
(Glamis and Dumont Dunes too, but that's another story).
One night, a year ago this Thursday, is a night we'll never forget.
Two boats roared by our campsite at Emerald Cove, and one hit the rocks at a very high speed.
The other boat returned with the people aboard yelling "you guys allright,,, you guys allright?
All they heard back was the crashed boats engine still running at full throttle.
The Buckskin Fire Dept was on the scene in minutes. Then minutes later,, the first body was brought up to the beach at our campsite.
A fireman told me; "We're going to have to borrow your Cabana for a little while", as the first deceased was placed next to the picnic table, eyes still open, dripping wet in his bathing suit.
The Buckskin fireboat headed back to the crash site,, not more that a few hundred feet away. It returned a few minutes later with the next poor soul who didn't survive either.
A story quickly spread through the crowd on the beach to the firemen that a girl was on board with them,,, one was seen with them when they left the Roadrunner a few minutes earlier. At least,, that was the story, right or wrong, so the Fire Dept returned to the impact site and began the search for the girl.(Turned out they had dropped the girl off before the accident, but had a third male friend with them).
Back at my campsite my kids turned to me as always,, expected me to fix things,, make things right for the two victums laying there in front of us. In their eyes, mom and dad can always make thing go better,,, but this time it wasn't a broken bike, or toy,, it was people. In the kids eyes,, they were somebodys dad or son or loved one that needs help real bad,,, so they turned to dad.
I looked back from the beach,, and a nephew was trying to wake one of the deceased up,, tried opening his eyes and rocking him.
Of course then we got the kids away,, and then the firemen returned and placed plastic tarps over them.
The night was so quiet after the Fire Dept shut off the motor of the crashed boat.
The Buckskin fireboat was strangely silent as it went about it's task helping the firemen. It's well suited to it's job,, a sad job none the less.
As my kids sat on the picnic table next to the victums, we discussed how we felt,, that somebody was soon going to get some really bad news about their loved ones. Stories will be told of their first steps as a child,, their first christmas bicycle,,, well,, the kinda things that little kids think of,, stuff that in their little world is so important,,
Minutes ago they were alive enjoying life to it fullest,, days ago perhaps helping out a family member or prepairing to go to the river,, and now,, their lives are over right here in front of us, and nothing dad could do about it.
I still to this day feel so bad about this incident,,We've encountered more than our share of mishaps on the river. But we all hope that the families of the two people brought up to our campsite, and the third later recovered, have finally found peace in such a tragic loss.
The humble guy you see at the boat show in the Coast Guard Aux uniform handing out safety info and cool cups has a different meaning to us now. Cornball and as sappy as it seems,, we understand where this guy is coming from.
-The Turbo Family