Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Luck of the Drawbridge

We went to the beach this past Saturday and Sunday, as is our usual habit. Saturday entailed no mishaps, so we left the sailboat loaded up and decided to go back Sunday. We had a great day on the water, and when it was time to go, we loaded up and headed out.

The sailboat I mentioned is a 14 foot inflatable catamaran. It is just wide enough to carry on top of a car easily, so we load it onto the roof of my minivan and tie it down to the luggage rack. I drive the van to the beach, and Hubby follows in the motor home. We have a mini-motor home/camper, and since the beach is only a few miles away we like to take it. It gives us a nice place to sit out of the sun if we want, room to change and feed Trevor if necessary, a portable bathroom, etc.

Our local beach here is actually on an island and there is only one bridge onto that island. It is a drawbridge. We were the 4th and 5th cars back from where the bridge opens. We watched it go up, stay for a few minutes while a boat went under, then go back down again...almost.

The other side had stopped about 3 feet above our side. So close, yet so far away. We sat for a few minutes, then I got out of my car, locked it and joined Johnny and Trevor in the motor home. We had a couple beers and a bottle of water in the cooler. Nothing to eat. Word came back that "they" had no idea how long it might be, but the same thing had happened yesterday and it took over 3 hours to get it unstuck.

We must have departed the day before just in time to miss the bridge getting stuck. Anyway, we used to live in the Florida Keys and had experienced drawbridges being stuck for hours, even overnight or all day. We waited a while, and nothing happened. Trevor started to fuss, as it was past his dinnertime. I had a little milk left and gave him that. Six ounces of milk doesn't hold him for long. A lady knocked on our door and asked if we had a bathroom, because her little boy really needed to pee. We let him come in and use the facilities, then debated charging people a fee to use the toilet. Depending on how long we were stuck there, we could have really made some money! Unfortunately, we ended up deciding not to. (ha ha!)

Finally after almost an hour, no word and a hungry, fussy kid, I realized that the sun would be going down soon. I knew there was a convenience store not far on the other side of the bridge, where I could get milk, food and water. I decided to go for it. The risk of being stuck there for several hours or more hungry and thirsty and listening to Trevor (2 yr. old) outweighed any risk involved in climbing up 3 feet and walking over the bridge to the store.

The man running the drawbridge kind of yelled at me for climbing up, but I just ignored him. The store turned out to be a mile away, so I walked there, bought supplies, and walked back. Just before I got around that last corner to the bridge, my cell phone rings. It's Johnny. "They got the bridge down. This guy is gonna drive your car over, stay right there."

At first I thought I had wasted a 2 mile trip to the store on foot, but then Johnny explained that if I hadn't gone, we probably would have been stuck there overnight. It's called Murphy's Law and it almost never fails!


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8 comments:

Duke_of_Earle said...

Yes, Murphy is alive and well it seems. Unfortunately, so is the "C". Jan (on my blog) is learning about it from the comments.

I can just see you climbing the three feet, and then falling into the channel!

Good post!

Dad

Christina said...

If I had thought there was any posssible chance I would fall, I wouldn't have climbed up.

Yeah, right.

Peter said...

Was it your climbing on the stuck bridge..
you know... extra weight that unstuck it??

Merle said...

Hi Christina- Pity you had that hike to get supplies
but better than sitting there
Glad it turned out well and there is a lot to be said for cell phones.
Thanks for your comments and get well wishes. I will be fine. Take care, Love, Merle.

Margaret said...

I am surprised Murphy was over visiting you I thought he was my forever lodger.
Thanks for you visit I am glad to be back and have just barely survived the move OK.
Cheers Margaret

Emmy Ellis said...

My goodness! You climbed over water. *shudder*

We'd love to do that kind of thing. Pack up a camper van and just eff off. It's one of our dreams.

:o(

Christina said...

Peter - haha! Most likely was.

Merle - thanks for stopping in. I just look at it as an unexpected cance to get some exercise.

Margaret - I'm afraid Murphy is rather ubiquitous.

M.E - don't worry, even if I had fallen, by big ass probably wouldn't have fit thru the small space anyway.

Anonymous said...

All is well that ends well. Stuck without be can be a pain, glad they got the bridge fixed.