Dave's Dilemma
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", March 2006, page 20

Dave Kurns reports getting himself in quite a fix near The Dalles, Oregon a couple years ago. He spotted a purple California hoop skirt (CD 152) on a pole in the middle of a pond. Well, Dave likes a good challenge. As a tree climber used to using ropes and rappelling techniques, Dave calculated he could rope the cross arm and swing from the embankment out to the pole. His plan worked. Soon he had the insulator in hand. Now it's time to go back to shore. There's just one problem. He forgot to anchor one end of the rope to the embankment. As a result, he had no means of getting back to dry land short of a good baptism.

Dave rappelled down the pole, landing in water hip deep. "Good thing it was warm", he says for he was completely soaked by the time he waded to shore. Dave's a modest guy. He claims the worst part of the experience was having to change clothes in his vehicle, fearing someone would see him and get the wrong idea.