Kayaking Down the Colorado River (P.2)

Once embarking on the river on the first day of this planned three-day adventure, which turned out to be only two, turned out to be relatively uneventful. It was around noon that our twenty-year-old companion managed to maneuver his kayak between two rocks, wedged motionless as his boat filled with water. We passed the boy, hailing him not to panic, as we paddled our way to shore, devising a plan to set him free. Once we reached shore, he sailed past us waving, wearing a grin of cheeky triumph. He got himself free without our help and appeared quite proud of this fact.

We kayaked downstream until close to dusk, and I remember the sky turning a deep orange when over-head, a giant owl with a wingspan of at least a meter, flew over our bow. Big Jack let out a loud yelp in surprise. My reaction, however, looking back, was really a tad strange. One could just about touch this magnificent bird as it flew over us, giving me a feeling of an inner sense of peace. I've never felt such a feeling even today, and remember it in full: a technicolor memory.

Once we set-up camp, making a fire, and cooking hamburgers, the entire talk around the camp was the boy's accident and his heroic efforts to set himself free. At the age of 12, I was never really the talkative type of child. I listened to their discussions around the campfire but never really listened. My parents called me a dreamer, a soul with a vivid imagination, and a disdain for the “real” world. All I could think about was the giant owl, which nobody seemed interested in talking about.

This image of the owl brought back a memory while living in Australia at the age of five.

In those days, the Australians celebrated Guy Fawkes Day. This event was the day a group of conspirators, including a man by the name of Guy Fawkes, who, on November 5, 1605, known as The Gunpowder Plot, attempted to blow-up the London Houses of Parliament. Fawkes was part of a band of Catholic zealots, who were angered by King James, refusing to give Roman Catholics their religious Rights. This political act is what we presently call “terrorism.” As many people are now aware, the mask of Guy Fawkes is used in protests as a symbol of rebellion against authority. Well, on this particular November day in my grandfather's backyard, we were about to celebrate with yours truly, flying to the moon in a makeshift rocket ship.

In my innocent and somewhat naive view of existence at the age of five, In my grandfather's make-shift rocket of tin cans and wood, I truly believed that I would indeed travel to the moon. I remember sitting in the “cockpit, and my grandfather lighting the bottle rockets from behind, expecting to surge into space. Needless to say, there was a lot of noise and no movement; simply loud pops and laughter from my family. The joke was on me. I thought magic existed and believed my grandfather had the wherewithal to build a real spacecraft.

This close encounter with the giant owl on the Colorado River, and my belief that I could fly to the moon in my grandfather's spacecraft in the year 1961, felt to be related. What did these unrelated events, including the 1969 moon landing, all have in common...how did they relate?