YEAR OF THE FLOOD - 2015 on the Lower Colorado River, Texas
A little paddle trip I took with my son Ronnie William Laird Jr.
Both of us were newbies to river trips, all my prior paddling experience was on the Gulf Coast, Bays, Channels, Gulf, so we just didn't know to monitor the LCRA for flood releases during heavy rain conditions. A number of paddlers were swept away along with their kayaks while they slept on the island in the river.
In 2015, the year of the heavy rains and flooding. Our second day out we started getting the rain, by the third day or so we had to exit the river because of a flood gate release at Long Horn Dam, there were others to follow as we paddled down, we first got out at Lost Pines. We stayed at lost pines for at least 24hr waiting for the debris filled flood waters to pass then we were able to get underway again. The second time we had to get out because of additional flood releases was Vernon L. Richards Riverbend Park, Smithville, then again at Buffalo Trail Park, La Grange, crazy watching the big wall of debris with the roaring flood waters filled with you name it, lots of big logs, boats, refrigerators, etc. Eventually the rains quit and we made it down to the Matagorda causeway. My son had just split with his girlfriend Jesse and was in a somewhat transitional phase of mind, as was I at the time, so we went paddling for 12 days - 11 nights.
Visual Poem about a Girl and a River as seen from a Paddler's POV as he paddles along approx 262 River-Miles of the lower Colorado River, Little Webberville to Matagorda Texas.
"Thoughts of the Girl must bend and transcend as to find proper space within the poetry of the River and the mind of the Giver"