Little Hands Making Big Memories: Floating the Illinois River

Sunday we drove to Tahlequah and rented canoes to float the Illinois River. On the way there, the ice chest, which Chris & Brad had strapped to the roof of the car, fell over and everything spilled all over the highway. We stopped at a store and restocked the ice chest. We got there, got checked in and got all situated in our canoes and we were having a great time. The Lackey's and Lexi were in one canoe and The Lankford's were in the other canoe. The Lackey's canoe hit a log and..... the canoe sunk!! Everything in the canoe was floating down the river. The ice chest, clothes, towels, life jackets, paddles, Lori's bag.... everything was floating!! Lori''s camera and cell phone were in her bag are ruined. After they got the water out of the canoe and gathered up what they could of the floating debris... Lori realized that her car keys were no longer in her bag!! The car keys were on the bottom of the river somewhere!! We had to float 3 more miles before we could call for help. She drives a Ford Explorer and it requires a "Smart Key." It was Labor Day weekend and the dealerships were closed. We finally found a locksmith that could make a "Smart Key" and we waited 3 hours on a him to get there. It wasn't very funny at the time, but we are able to laugh about it now and this will definitely be a trip we will NEVER forget!!