Some days I tell ya, it just aint meant to be. After spending a better part of the day hanging out here on IDA day dreaming about hitting the river after work, a rare little “emergency” pops up as I’m turning off my computer here at work. I get the problem resolved and head home about 45 minutes later than I usually do. Whole new set of rush hour idiots to deal with and now stuck in traffic… Real slow ride home. Can you tell I’m in a real good mood right now! 
Get the boat hooked up, load the gear and I’m off! Heading down highway 61 south towards St Paul Park I notice truck is on empty. 
I mean running on fumes! Keeping fingers crossed hoping I don’t run out of gas I make it to the Super America just off the exit and blocks from the boat ramp. Whew!
Ok, I swipe the CC and start pumping. Not soon after that, the pump clicks off. The pump reads $50 or about 16 gallons. I know my truck takes at least twice that much, plus the boat could use another 20 gallons. I comment to the guy at the other pump. “Hey, do these shut off at $50?” He chuckles and says yes, they do. I’m thinking “You have got to be kidding me, that is ridiculous!” Right about then I realize it is going to take at least 3, maybe 4 CC transactions to fill up the truck and boat! I’m starting to freaking lose it! 
So, after kicking off the second transaction I walk into the store for a talk with the “Manager” who turns out to be some young kid with about as much authority to get something done as the guy who cleans out the toilet. Maybe the same guy? Anyway, he says that the pumps are set by corporate, nothing he can do but listen to me bellyache about how long it’s going to take to get my truck and boat filled up. 
Ya know, a store manager or even a clerk should be able to override the pump setting. Just let me pump a full tank – You have my credit card for crying out loud!!!! (Corporate just got nasty gram from me, we’ll see how that goes….) After what seems like a half hour ordeal, I’m back on the road.
Now, finally…..at the ramp and boat in water. Nice night. No wind. No bugs, Birds are singing, just perfect out! I can feel the day’s stress quickly flowing away with the river’s current. 
So, my plan is to motor downriver about 5-6 miles and play hop-scotch on the wingdams working my way back to the ramp. At about mile 5, I see a guy in a boat waving his shirt around. I’m thinking CRAP, this guy is broke down. Sure enough, dead in the water. Your typical late 80’s early 90’s Bayliner 18 foot ski boat. Motor would not re-start and he drained his battery trying. I have all kinds of things running through my head at the moment…..every adjective that would make Andrew Dice Clay sound like a first grader. 
Only one big problem….. Guys wife and youngster on board. The boy was probably 5 years old or so. They had been on a dead drift for 2 hours. I figured he had already heard it all from the ol lady there…. I just bite my lip at this point.
Nothing I can really do except hook ‘em up and start back upriver to the ramp. Not many boats down in this area on a weeknight. Just barges running buy about every half hour. I know I am this guys only and probably last option for rescue. If it was just the one guy, I would probably towed him to shore and said see ya in a couple hours. But really couldn’t do that with the wife and kid in there….. So, we are motoring back to the ramp I punch in the ETA on the GPS and we are looking at about 2.5 hours at this speed, or roughly 8:30pm which is sunset……. My night is ruined. Buy the time I get this guy to the dock I realize it just was not meant to be. I better not even try to go back out for a few casts….. Just not my night, just not meant to be. Better not push it, bad luck has way of biting you when you push it. So I load up and head back home. At least I made it there and didn’t break anything! 
We’ll see how tonight goes…… See ya on the river!
-J.
