Ack!

I totally fell in a creek today. I was hiking across it while wearing a pair of hip waders. My left foot got stuck in the soup at the bottom, and my right foot got caught in some aquatic plants. It was slow motion at its finest. I knew I was toppling over. I knew it was 26 F. I knew the windchill was somewhat less than that, and I also knew that I had only packed 3 pair of jeans for the week because I was going to be wearing waders.

Sploosh! Or whatever sound effect you envision hearing when a 6 ft tall brunette hits the water. I land in the water and somehow find myself sitting on my rear in water that goes up to the waistband of my pants. My arms are miraculously still dry at this point. I am still in slow motion and it takes me another minute to realize my right leg is still caught in the weeds, and my left leg is caught underneath of me. Enter the co-worker. "Stand up." Not, are you ok, do you need help, oh my you fell over, or really any of the expected statements. My brilliant response "I'm Trying!" I really wanted to say hey dummy, I just thought I'd sit her in the water in subfreezing temperatures for fun. Needless to say, I'm somewhat stuck. I don't want to stick my arms into the water, because it's the only coat I brought. Common sense starts to return as the water continues rushing into my waders. So down go the arms and I manage to stand up. Standing up doesn't equal able to walk, as my one leg is still stuck in the mud at the bottom of the river. It took falling over again, this time onto my knees before I was able to climb out of the water.

The vehicle was probably half a mile away. I might be exaggerating on the distance there, but it was a bit of a hike to get back. Luckily the hotel with it's hot shower was close by and I had dry clothes. Yay for work travel...