My Story: Life Before Tragedy (Part 4)

This weekend as either Hurricane Katrina or Rita rolled in I was scheduled to go on a camping trip with college friends at Blanchard Springs in north Arkansas.  This was not just friends but the campus organization I was part of called the Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship (MBSF).  The MBSF was not only a great group of friends but one where my faith in Christ definitely grew.  To this day I am close to many from my years at UAM and the MBSF.  Our director then was Rob who is my pastor and very good friend today.  Rob visited me many times while I was in the hospital and stopped by for a visit today.  He and so many from our church took care of my family while I was in the hospital.  Now back to Blanchard.  The first night was great and the next day (Saturday) was beautiful.  While on this camping trip I had decided just to sleep in the back of my truck.  Sleeping in the back of my truck was something I had done multiple times growing up and I did not have a tent.  Any country boy should be able to do this but let me tell you it does not work well with a hurricane coming in.  Saturday night I tried sleeping in the cab of my truck but it was too hot. Many other campers left the campground but not us. As the storm rolled in, many of our group left our campsite and slept at the bath house.  That night was rough, as the storm came in it would blow rain on us under the pavilion at the bath house.  We were up at daylight the next morning.  Two park rangers came by to check on our group and visited with us all at the bath house.  During their stop I went into the bathroom to get cleaned up.  Somehow the pay phone at the bath house started to ring while I was getting cleaned up.  The next thing I remember was one of the rangers yelling, “Is there a Michael Gilbert here?”  It was my mom on the pay phone.  She had been up all night worried and watching the news.  The news said there is severe flooding at Blanchard Springs.  She called the Stone County Sheriff’s office that night and they told her to call Blanchard Springs Park to ask them and gave her a number to call.  The number she was given rang at the pay phone at the bath house that Sunday morning and was answered by the park rangers.  Blanchard Springs is a very large park and is down in a creek valley in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas.  At this time cell phone service was spotty at best and is not much better even today.   To make a call while at Blanchard we would have to go to the top of a mountain and you might get enough service to make a call.

While at UAM I quickly became friends with Blake.  He and I did a lot of outdoor activities together plus were roommates for several years.  The first time I ever walked into Cut-Off Creek Wildlife Management Area just outside of Monticello was with Blake on a duck hunt.  I have never been a very good duck hunter.  For me in duck hunting you wore everything you could (because it was always cold) hunted then ate a breakfast sandwich in the duck blind (or camouflaged structure) heated up on the propane heater.  In southeast Arkansas duck hunting was completely different than in south central Arkansas where I grew up, it was very serious.  That morning in Cut-Off was very difficult.  Before we left Blake’s house we re-heated some leftover pizza for breakfast then headed out.  Like I said I always dressed in as many layers as I could fit under the waders.  We were on our long walk in and in true Blake fashion he was walking faster than me and we got separated.  On the walk (it seemed very long) I got too hot then became sick and sat down in the flooded timber on a stump that was sticking out of the water.  I ended up getting sick to my stomach and lost my pizza sitting there on that stump.  Blake came back to find me trying to get out of my jacket as I was hot.  When I shined my flashlight around me I found that I was sitting on a stump sick right in the middle of someone else’s duck hole.   There were hunters surrounding the edge of the woods waiting for first light so they could begin their hunt.  Like I said duck hunting here in southeast Arkansas was serious.  I have heard of people who would get to the woods as early as possible just to reserve a spot then stay through the night and reserve it for the rest of their hunting party who would arrive later.  Since this time the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has placed regulations on the state’s public land for arrival times to the woods.  As I walked trying to get out of my jacket I had one of the other hunting party’s duck decoys tangled around my leg and did not get it untangled for a while.  Here I was in front of strangers, sick on a stump in flooded timber, a duck decoy tangled around my leg and trying to get out of my jacket all the while having my shotgun strapped to my back in the dark early morning hours.  What a sight, I’m sure the other group of hunters had a big laugh over that one.  I wish I had the time to tell all my Blake stories but he sure has been a special friend.  Blake also took the time to visit me multiple times in the hospital and even took me on my first crappie fishing trip during my recovery time. 

A year or two after I moved to UAM a good friend of mine transferred down to UAM.  Caleb and I had been friends as very young boys in Camden and did a lot of outdoor activities together.   We grew up together and he and his family were very close.  I think I called him and his family almost as much as I did my own family while I was in the hospital.  It was Caleb that I filled in for on the technology service opportunity at church that I mentioned earlier.  He has always been such a huge encouragement in my life.  If I could tell all the fishing adventures we have been on I would but I can’t remember them all.  One memory I have with Caleb is of night fishing camping trips and dutch oven peach cobbler over the campfire.  Boy that sure was a good treat!   Caleb and I were active together at the MBSF.   He came to visit me several times while I was in the hospital.

There are many friends that I have grown up with and get to know now that I am older these friends provide so much for my family.  I am so thankful for their influence on my life.

After graduating college Rob invited me on a fishing trip to northern Minnesota.   It was at a place on the Canadian border called The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).  We were invited to BWCA by a UAM graduate student that came from the area and someone I had worked with often during my time at UAM.  This graduate student worked on his masters under the same professor that I worked under.  I can’t say the number of trips to a research site we went on together or the classes we had together but it was good to be able to just enjoy the outdoors for a moment with him.  The trip was definitely the most difficult things I’ve ever done but something that I am glad is on my list of accomplishments.  I have a map I made of the trip on the wall of my office today.  At the BWCA you had to canoe in with everything you would need for multiple night’s stay.  After a long trek (walking and canoeing) we made it to the lake we were going to camp at and found that all the campsites there were full.  Our option was to go back an hour to the lake before this one or go an hour to the next lake that our friend had never been to.  We decided to go on to the next lake. When Rob and I arrived in Minnesota we were there a bit early.  We had some time and wanted to spend the spare time fishing.  We passed a bait shop and turned around and went in.  We asked the guy behind the counter of the bait shop where we may go fishing.  He looked at us to see if we were serious then said, “It’s Minnesota, there’s lakes everywhere!”  He then pointed us to a creek down the road and suggested we try there. We caught fish parked there on the side of the road which made me more excited for the trip.   Now back to the BWCA and the trip in. I was so ready to just be at home, the over 12 hour trip in a canoe had worn me out.  We finally made it to the next lake and our friend decided we should stay with our gear while he went to see if the campground on this lake was vacant.  Thankfully it was open because the sun was setting and we paddled over to the island campsite and got camp setup right before dark.  There was no one else camping on this beautiful lake.  I will never forget sitting around the campfire on our first morning just trying to relax a little after the tough trip when an elderly couple came paddling by our campsite headed to the next lake.  That was the only people we saw while staying on the lake.  We caught fish on that trip that I’ve never caught before or since.  Sunday while Rob preached he told a story of the excitement he had from this trip.  I remember the last afternoon of the trip the weather had cleared from rainy each day to clear skies.  Rob and I went out that afternoon from our campsite on the island to do some topwater smallmouth bass fishing.  I’ve never had so much fun fishing as this outing was.  The fishing couldn’t have been better.  Our friends went to the other side of the lake from us.  As we fished Rob caught a very large smallmouth bass and in his excitement hollered.  When we got back to the island that evening after dark we told our friends of Rob’s catch.  They replied with a yeah we heard.  Did I mention they were on the other side of the lake?

When it came time to head back to the truck from this trip I did not know if my body could take another journey like we had going in but we had to get back to the truck.  It was tough as well but manageable.  I’ll never forget going on the way out, I knew from logic that we should be headed south.  We were on a winding river and my compass kept saying we were going north and I was flabbergasted.  How are we going North?  I did not realize we were just on a winding river that winded North and South.  We hit one lake and had a very strong head wind as we were trying to cross it, the lake could not have been positioned more perfectly long ways with the wind.  Again, I nearly lost it.  Then as we were almost back to the truck we ran into a thunderstorm, when you’re in a canoe and without a clean shoreline (just reeds and marsh like grass) on either side, the only thing to do is just keep paddling.  By the time we got to the truck I was soaked from the rain.  On the way home Rob and I made it to southern Minnesota by dark.  We decided on making an unplanned stop to stay the night at a hotel.  A shower and a bed sure felt nice.  The next day as we drove through the plains we ran into some tough weather.  The radio kept saying we were in a tornado warning.  This was before smartphones so we had no idea where the storms were.  When we made it through the storms we met a convoy of storm chaser vehicles headed north into the storms.  These vehicles were the type you see on TV for tornado chasing.  As I said the trip was tough but one I’m glad is on my list.

While on this trip I was supposed to transition from a student worker to a fulltime employee of the local forestry company.  Due to some circumstances (storms and hotel stay) I was a day late getting back than when I had planned on.  When I came in I apologized to my boss and he was completely understanding.  As I said this was before the wide use of cellular phones.  I did not have a phone that would work in Minnesota to make this call.

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