Kayaking the Tittabawassee

Arriving at the van, Carl unlocks the doors. Everyone grabs their bags to switch out shoes.

After switching to their water shoes the gang walks over to the river access where the kayak rentals are at the entrance. They check in and hurry down the ramp to their kayaks. Craig, who is a bald, athletic, tanned guy with baby blue eyes, is at the EZ launch putting in kayaks and assisting everyone to get on the water.

“We are going to head west down the Tittabawassee River until we get by the university and then come back. Let’s paddle this way!” AJ tells them.

They raise up their paddles overhead and everyone yells, “LET’S GO!” Putting them in the water the group starts down the river. First passing by another boat launch on their right and then quickly going under the first bridge.

“Who wants to race to the next bridge?” Carl asks.

The rest of the group answers, “Me!”

“Sweet! Let’s Go!”

Everyone picks up the pace in their paddling. Eddie takes the lead getting to the first dirt ramp on the left. However, Kat is close behind and gaining on him. Vicki comes up alongside her on the right. Johann, Carl and Anna are side by side behind them. AJ is staying at the rear.

Kat and Vicki pass Eddie as they go by the second dirt ramp on the left. He joins Carl, Johann and Anna as they are four across. AJ is still bringing up the back.

The third ramp on the left is concrete and Kat has the lead with Vicki paddling right at the back of her kayak. Carl broke away from the pack to be on Vicki’s heels. Johann, Anna and AJ are side by side behind Carl.

Next marker is the Red River Bridge, and they go seven wide paddling their fastest to see who can get there first. Vicki pulls out inches ahead of Kat.

Carl looks up at the bridge, sees a person with a red hoodie up and blue jeans crossing over it. He continues paddling and comes in behind Johann and Anna. AJ is at the end of his kayak.

“Hey, did you guys see that?” he asks the group.

The group looks at each other and shakes their heads, except for AJ. She says, “I saw it. This is just crazy. Is it the same person? It is too warm out to be wearing a hoodie and jeans.”

“I know, but we are two hours away from the expo and the race. So, I am not sure if it is the same person or not. I mean, it’s not like it’s a usual looking hoodie,” Carl replies.

AJ says, “well, let’s keep going. I doubt it is the same person.”

The group continues around the bend to the left two by two: Carl next to Anna, Kat by Eddie, Vicki alongside Johann and AJ is bringing up the rear. As each pair gets to the straight away they speed up paddling to make their way quickly to the next turn that goes to the right. They can hear the cheers of the fans and the crack of the bats from the ball diamonds that the river winds around.

“Woo hoo!” Carl yells as they make the bend in the river.

Kat and Eddie shout, “YES!”

“Yee Haw!” shout Vicki and Johann.

Casually paddling their way along the park, they observe a dark blue spike haired Belted Kingfisher sitting on a branch a few feet above the water. Swimming beside their kayaks there are many large mouth bass.

Continuing up the Tittabawassee they paddle along and come across a flock of Canada Geese on the bank and in the water. It’s a mixture of adults and goslings. They honk as the group of kayaks go by.

“How cool was that with all those geese?” Carl asks after they have passed them by.

AJ answers, “they were cool. We have seen so many awesome animals out here today. What else will we see?”

Making their way along, they come to where the Sturgeon Creek meets the Tittabawassee. There are three bridges side by side–the park trail, the rail trail and the roadway.

“Hey, there’s that red hoodie character in jeans!” Carl shouts pointing to them on the rail trail bridge.

Kat adds in, “yeah I see them. Who wears a hoodie on a warm day like today?”

“What should we do?” Vicki asks.

AJ replies, “we could always let Detective Williams know what we saw. Although, we would need to call him while we are still here.”

“I’ll give him a call. I have my cell phone right here,” Carl says.

He pulls his phone out of his water-proof bag and dials the number.

“Hello, this is Detective Williams,” he answers.

“Hi, this is Carl Reisender. We have spoken before about the red hoodie character. I wanted to let you know that we are up here in Middleville and have seen a person in a red hoodie. It’s weird because as we are here in shorts, and they are wearing a red hoodie and jeans. We have seen this person twice. Right now they crossed the Sturgeon Creek bridge on the rail-trail. We figured we should call you.”

“OK, good to know. I’ll be in touch with the Middleville Police Department to get their help. I will let you know if I need your assistance. Thanks.” They hang up.

Carl informs the group, “He’s going to be in touch with the Middleville Police Department and will let us know if he needs any more assistance.”

“Cool, it’s just weird that we keep seeing this red hoodie all over the place,” Anna says.

They continue paddling and pass by an old boat launch. This is by the university’s admissions office.

AJ tells the group, “we have reached our turn around point. We are going to head back. Who wants to have a race to the Tridge?”

“Me!” they all respond in unison.

Turning their kayaks around they all line up side by side and AJ yells, “Ready–paddles in the water, Set, Go!”

Paddling along, Carl goes out front with Kat right at his back. Vicki and Johann are battling it out for third. Eddie is coming up quickly on the outside of them. Anna is behind him and AJ is bringing up the back end. They go around the bend to the left, everyone slows a bit, as it is a short distance and the bend goes to the right.

Everyone gets straightened out and heads for the Tridge. This time it is Kat in the lead with Carl chasing her. Eddie moves up behind him and Vicki is at his right shoulder. Anna and AJ paddle at the rear chatting away.

“This has been a great workout today,” Anna says.

AJ smiles, “I am glad that you liked it. The next workout will be a track workout to help improve everyone’s speed.”

“That sounds like fun. Before that though, what do we do for lunch?”

“How about we go to the Green Lantern?”

“Sounds good, we’ll ask the others when we finish.”

“Let’s finish this,” AJ says, and they pick up the pace to catch up to the others.

Paddling strong to the finish, which is the one leg of the Tridge, Kat crosses first. Carl is a couple of kayak lengths behind her. Eddie comes up on his right and passes on by to finish ahead of him. Vicki taps Carl’s kayak from behind pushing him forward across the line. Anna and AJ paddle their way under the Tridge to complete the group.

They line up to get on the EZ launch with the gals going first and the guys at the end. Craig helps each one out of their kayak and moves them to the other side.

“Have a great rest of your day,” Craig says to the group.

They reply in unison, “Thanks, you too!”

The walk up the curving sidewalk and go back to their vehicles.

“How’s Green Lantern sound for lunch?” AJ asks.

Carl replies, “I love Green Lantern. They have the awesome pizza bar and it’s all lit up with green lights around the top of the Tiffany Lamp oblong pendant.

“I love their pizza bar too!” Anna adds in.

Vicki questions, “What’s a Tiffany Lamp oblong pendant?”

“It’s an oblong lamp that hangs from the ceiling. This one is even better because of the green lights,” Kat replies.

AJ says, “Ok, let’s go get some pizza at the Green Lantern.

They pile into the van, and they leave the parking lot without stopping as the traffic light had changed to a green light just moments before.

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