Reconnoiter

Every time I hear the word "reconnoiter" I immediately think of the word "recollect." This instantly causes me to recall the following stupid story.

Once I got pulled over for drunk driving and I hadn't been drinking at all. My first car was a 1970 VW Bug.  It was a patchy tomato red color and to this day I am sorry I sold it.  It had lots of character and funny quirks.  For instance, if you drove it over 20 miles you had to jump start the battery to get it to start again.  I can credit this car with my ability to drive stick and my ability to jump start a vehicle with my eyes closed.

The bug was trusty but also difficult to control on the highway. Sometimes late at night on the open road I would let her bounce and jolt all over the road. On one such occasion I was driving from Oklahoma City to west Texas when I noticed I was being closely tailed by a cop. Of course, I modified my driving but the state trooper flashed his lights and pulled me over. When he reached my window he started quizzing me. "Where was I going?" "Where had I been?" "What was I doing on the road so late?"

Finally he looked at me quizzically and said, "You're not drunk but three people called and reported you as drunk driver. Do you have any idea why?" I played dumb and he said with a deep south drawl, "Ma'am I want you to Rec-OL-lect what you did wrong and don't do it again." With this he sent me on my way.

I'm not sure why I think this story is so funny but hopefully my driving has improved a bit. Here's a random fact about the word reconnoiter. The British use the term "dicking" instead of reconnoiter and of course every American falls over laughing when they hear it.

This weekend Jess, JAC and I went out to recon a possible new kayak launch sight at Algonkian Regional Park. It turned out to be absolutely lovely. I can't wait to kayak at this location in the near future. In the meantime here are just a few pictures from our river recon trip.