A memorable experience

 As I was growing up, my closest friends were Andy Maine and Reg Larsen. 

On one occasion, I remember us building a raft out of discarded railroad ties and floating it down Poplar Creek (now called Modeste Creek). As I remember it, there was a railroad line that intersected with the creek and the former townsite of Antross. 

We had built the raft and planned on sleeping under the stars, then making the journey downstream to a popular swimming hole just past where the Buck Creek road crossed the creek. 

We found a comfortable spot and spread our blankets on the ground in the warm summer evening. We were woken up by a thunderstorm and a driving rain. We grabbed our blankets and ran towards the shelter of an old barn, visible whenever the lightning flashed. It was perhaps the only building left where the sawmill town of Antross had stood only 10 years or so previously. Unfortunately our bare feet encountered thistles as we rushed up the hill towards the barn. Ouch, ouch! 

Some cattle had also sought shelter in the barn, but the hay loft was all ours. We made ourselves as comfortable as possible, but with sore feet and damp blankets we probably did not get much sleep. 

The next morning we gathered our supplies and floated down the creek. Occasionally we had to lift the raft over shallow spots, but we made it to our destination. 

We may not have had the adventures experienced by Huckleberry Finn and Jim rafting down the mighty Mississippi, but we did the best we could in our humbler circumstances. 

And somehow I still remember this little incident 70 years later. (Maybe it was the thistles that made it so memorable.)