~HorseRace Rapids~

My ex husband David and I when we lived in Upper Michigan had

a friend named Larry, he was a good kid, just kinda wild..did

drink way too much..but we had fun together a lot, he and David

and I would play video games when he came over. One week end

Larry had been out partying with some drinking buddies of his,

and they decided to go to this place outside of Crystal Falls

called HorseRace Rapids..why its called that I have no idea. It runs

thru a place called the Paint River Pond..and you see the photo up

there its fast water, that is my ex fixing his fishing rod. great fishing

here too.. The Paint is one of the best fishing rivers in the U.P.

There are places all along this gorge to fish..parking is way up top

there on the right..you have to climb. there is a nice wide path to

follow and wide steps that take 3 steps to get to the next..its not

a hard climb..up at the parking area Larry and his friends decided

to park the car of one of the other boys mother, a small Toyota I

think ..not sure, a red one anyway.. well they didn't set the brake,

and when the guys reached the trail and started to go down, the

car started to roll..they heard the crashing of trees, breaking of

glass and the horrible sound of the car just being totally almost

sanded off by the scraping of the trees..this is in the woods now..

so many trees.. it went over the edge and down the embankment

to the river..Luckily..it got wedged between 2 trees and didn't fall

into the gorge. The guys panicked ..they didn't know what to do

and HOW did they tell the mother her car was wedged on the

side of a cliff between 2 trees and the fact they had been drinking.

Larry telling us we laughed so hard, I can just see these 4 guys,

all drunk and watching that ladys car crash through the woods as

they all just stare at it, look back and forth at each other running

up going to try to stop that car from going..ya ..right lol.. Larry said

the guy that had his mothers car turned green, almost passed out

and threw up right there... I think I woulda done worse than that!

Larry and his friends had to walk all the way back into town to get

to a phone to call someone to come and get the 4 of them and to

try to see what they could do about the car, can you picture these

4 guys staggering along US 2 highway at 2 am making that trek

all the way back? I can just see this, the pukey car guy almost

had to go straight to the hospital he was so sick by the time they

got into town .. Well, the only one of the parents that wouldn't be
all THAT up set was Larry Sr. so of course, Larry called his dad, he

came as fast as he could..looked down at that car wedged between

the trees then at the 3 boys standing there all sheepish looking and

turning green scared to death, the car kid is sitting on the ground

almost in tears saying "my ma is gonna KILL me" and would

get sick all over again lol.Larry Sr says "well someone get the rope

out and lets get that car otta there." They tried and tried for hours..

none of the other boys parents knew this had happened....well they

worked all night to get that car unstuck..and it would NOT budge..

Good thing really, it would have gone into that gorge and no telling

what kind of damage it could do to the river etc, the DNR would
have gotten really upset.

Well it didn't work, they finally had to call a wrecker to come, and

notify the other parents..know how much it cost to drag that car out

from down there? it was not JUST over the edge..it was quite a ways

down the hill..could hardly see it from the parking lot, so all of them

were going to chip in and pay to get this car out and the damages

to it..well the car was totaled, well the body but as many trees as

that thing plowed down I wouldn't vouch for that motor either lol..

Well they had to hold the car and cut some of the trees down..as

that was the only way they could get it out. when they hauled that

little red car back up..all the windows had been broken, and I don't

think there was a spot on it that wasn't damaged with dents and

scratches.. we went to see it and got there just after they had got

it back up in the parking lot.. The owner of the car was there and

the boys..and talk about some MAD parents wow..specially for

the drinking part..but what if those kids had been in that car when

it decided to roll? they being that drunk, everyone knew .. there

are signs there saying to 'SET PARKING BRAKE'..lol.. the boys

were all grounded, no outdoor stuff, no video games..no being

together at all and staying home for at least 6 weeks, they were

NOT happy campers.. I bet they didn't go there and park facing

the edge of that cliff EVER again either lol.. :-D

The reason I am telling this story is because this is when I really

noticed that something was really wrong with my legs.. when I

went down the path to go down to the river, we brought our rods

and tackle ..we were going to fish, might as well.. already there..

going down the steps I had no problem..later on when I did

the climb back up..I noticed I had to stop every few steps .. the

calves of my legs would start to ache and cramp up.. It seemed

to take me forever to make that trek back up that hill, when I did

stop it would ease and I would continue on, by the time I got to

the top.. I had to sit..and I almost cried the pain was so bad.. I

didn't know then that this was the PVD. this was in 90. But it

was sort of when I knew something was really wrong.. To live

up north we were always fishing or going somewhere..and it

all involved, of course, walking..and gradually my legs got

worse and worse, but that is when I kinda knew something just

wasn't right. I found out ..Look at me now! bet I set MY brake

if I go there now being in this chair, couldn't you just see me

going down thru those woods screamin lol..that would be a

kinda rough trip!

Well its almost 7:30..I havent eaten all day and Im hungry..notice

I havent said anything about all the 20 calls today..I will give your

eyes a break from that this night aint ya glad? lol.. anyways, the

trip im gonna make now is out to the kitchen to check out one of

those muffins Dawn picked up at the store for me when she was

here earlier, they look good. I might fix my toe mah toes on toast.

lol.. Time to say Nitey Nite... :-)

Y'all have a good one now Y'hear? love ya.. and thanks :-)

ALways, Lois ****

God Bless you is my prayer today,

I'm so honored to call you "friend";

I pray the Lord will keep you safe

until I write again..