Boy, this is a subject that brings back some old memories. BAck in 1969, a friend of mine and I decided to drive down to Los Banos, Cal. and do some frog gigging. We lived just north of San Jose, California, so it was about an hour and fifteen minute drive. Bobby had a 12 foot aluminum boat that we tied into the back of my new Dodge Power Wagon. The truck was two days old at the time. He also had an airplane landing light and a 12 volt battery to run it with, and two frog gigs. We left the house at about 7:00 pm, and headed for the water. We found a good access spot, and put the boat and gear in the water. At about 1:00 am, the wind started to blow pretty good, and after fighting it for a while, we decided to head for home. Only problem, was that we couldn't find the truck. The wind had gotten us all turned around, and we had no idea where we were. Second problem was that the battery for the landing light was 12 volts, and the light was from a 24 volt system. The battery was just about dead. We could barely see from the front to the back of the boat with it. I had also brought with me a 5 cell flashlight that worked pretty well, and after getting up the banks of one of the canals we were in, I spotted an orange reflecter about three quarters of a mile away, and thinking that it might be on a mail box post, we made a bee line for it. We would row across what ever piece of water we were on, and if we got to land, we would carry the boat till we hit water again. Aboyt four in the morning, we got to the reflecter, and found that it was the front clearence light on my new truck. At least we would not have to wake up someone to find out where we were. We headed for home with a smile on our faces, and about fourty very large, mostly alive frogs in the back of the truck. The frogs were in a large gunny sack in the boat, that was now sticking out of the back of the truck. We were too tired to try to get it back up on the lumber rack, so we just stuck it in the bed with a red shop towel tied to the front of it. Because I had worked all the day befor, and had now been up for twenty five hours straight, I let Bob drive home. BIG MISTAKE. We hadn't gone thirty miles when I was awakened from a sound sleep by the sound of screeching tires and my head being bounced off the door window. Bob had fallen asleep and we were now sliding sideways between the office, and a pump island of an abandonded gas station. He had gone across the road, up a small curb, and into a strip mall that was being remodeled. The boat had come loose from the truck when he went up the curb, and was now sliding thru the lot, and there were frogs all over the place. Two old drunks were falling all over them selves trying to get away from the army of huge attack frogs, while we were trying to keep the truck from hitting them, the building, or anything else. Well, to make a long story short, the only damage was two bent rims, one with a flat tire, and a hole in the hull of the boat. We got most of the frogs back, and got the boat up on the rack where it belonged. We got home about eight in the morning, and had frog legs and warm beer for breakfast. God, I wish I was twenty again!
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