Inflatable Kayak Blog

(Candace Clayton is an author who’s written novels, poetry and other short stories. She was kind enough to write this fictional adventure series specifically for the Inflatable Kayak Blog about ‘The Traveling Man’, a kayaker who tells us tales about his youthful adventures with his buddies on the rivers where he grew up. We hope you enjoy it!)

When last we met up with The Traveling Man and his buddy, John, they had gone fishing with Ed. John fell off the pontoon and saw a mysterious creature in the water. Thinking it was the mermaid who started their adventures, both young men searched to no avail. Once they had climbed back on the boat with Ed, he told them the sad legend of the young Indian Maiden, Talulah, the first mermaid. Let’s rejoin The Traveling Man and see where his quest takes him next.

Louisiana Swamp …

Well, Howdy Friends! Ain’t it just a beautiful day? Perfect fishing weather, I said to myself this morning. I grabbed my pole and my bait can and headed down to this here river. Oh, I see you youngsters are going river kayaking. Back in my day, I spent many a hour river kayaking. It’s a glorious way to travel. Yep, lots to see from a kayak. I remember back, just like it was yesterday.

My buddy, John and I were paddling in the swamps of Louisiana in an old two-person, or tandem kayak. We were looking for adventure, excitement, and a mermaid. What? You don’t believe in mermaids. Well, you ain’t spent near enough time on the water then! Course, we didn’t figure that mermaid would be in the swamps, but we wanted to see what it was like in there. Being young and pig headed, we didn’t reckon we’d need ourselves a guide. No sirree! We could make our own way.

John and I had been nosing around in those swamps for a good 5 hours afore we admitted we was lost.  Plum lost. Had no clue where we were going or where we’d been. So, we kept paddling that kayak. Up and down the byways of that stinky swamp. We were alright until it started getting dark on us. Then our hard headedness turned to downright stupidity. What were we thinking? Without a clue of where we were, it looked like we would be staying the night in the swamp.

Yeah, we had camped in some wild places, but this was a might too wild in my thinking. We could see the glowing eyes of the gaters watching us as we paddled by them. Every now and then we could make out a snake as it slithered across the water.

The sun disappeared and it got darker. We determined we would keep going; surely, there was a cabin in here where we could stop for the night. By the light of our lantern, we made our way through the dark swamp.

After what seemed like eternity, we finally saw something. Couldn’t make out what it was from where we was at, so we closed the distance in a hurry. When we were close enough, we saw the mouth of a cave.

That cave was better than sleeping in the kayak, so we headed to the opening and floated inside. Just when we thought the worst was over, the boat hit something in the water and our lantern fell overboard! Yep, there we were in this cave in the pitch dark of night.

John peered over the side and tried to feel his way to the bank, but the kayak hit something again, making us both jump. Wait, we weren’t hitting something. Something was hitting us…. Hard!

Will The Traveling Man and John get out of the swamp? What was bumping into their kayak? Come back next month to find out.

(If you’d like, you can set your computer to receive our RSS feed and you’ll be informed automatically when the next part of the story will be posted. If you’re not sure, click here to learn how to subscribe to an RSS feed)

The author, Candace Clayton, lives in Granbury, Texas with her Husband and family, spending as much time in the outdoors as she can.