The Canal

There is something special about canals. There is the canals of Venice, the root canal, the canal of love but in my life there was only one true the canal.

This canal was always with me. I drove down the little muddy two track roads on it's bank with my dad in the farm trucks all my life. One quick swerve to the left and your truck would get a good washing.


This was not just a little old ditch. This was a 25 foot wide 12 foot deep man made river. A watery snake winding through the dusty prairie bring crops life during the parched summer.


As a little kid I recall watching my friends dad, at the end of a hot day, climb on the top of his trucks cab and dive into the canal. Every mile a bridge crosses that canal and with each bridge a new place to swim. Of course, swimming is not allowed.


Somewhere between being a little kid and becoming a teenager I began working in the fields all summer. Me and a throng of kids, with hoe in hand, would fight the good fight against those nasty weeds. We would pick the cabbage, corn, broccoli and tomatoes. All in those dusty fields that leaned right up against the canal.


Dusty and hot, quiting time and cool water combine to make some real refreshing memories. That first jump was tough though. Standing on the edge of the old wooden bridge I watched as the older kids jumped in. It wasn't a long fall; bridge to water surface could be as little as 5 feet.


But that water was moving along. By the time a youth would emerge from the cool waters they would be usually a foot or so under the bridge. This sort of concerned me. My first jump was on the down stream side. We all had tubes and mine got thrown in so I was either going to jump in or walk. I jumped.


Many jumps later I would hide on the bridge pylons. Fighting with the other kids as the jumped in. We would try to make everyone miss the pylons so they would float way down before the could get out.


So now as I contemplate my progress in life, I dream of making that cool plunge again. Just to enjoy the contrast of hot and dusty to cool and refreshed.