J. David Cox - Our Life Off the Grid: An Urban Couple Goes Feral

An Urban Couple Goes Feral

By J. DAVID COX

Copyright J. David Cox, 2015

All rights reserved. No part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passagesfor purposes of review) without the prior permission of OTGPublishing.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing inPublication

Cox, J. David, author

Our life off the grid: an urban couple goesferal / J. David Cox.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-9940145-0-4 (pbk.).--ISBN978-0-9940145-1-1 (mobi). ISBN 978-0-9940145-2-8 (epub)

1. Cox, J. David--Homes and haunts. 2.Davies, Sally J., 1952- --Homes and haunts. 3. Sustainableliving--British Columbia. 4. Self-reliant living--British Columbia.I. Title.

GF78.C685 2015 640.28'6 C2015-902902-3

C2015-902903-1

OTG Publishing

Box 53

Surge Narrows, British Columbia

CANADA V0P 1W0

Editor and Book Design: Sally J. Davies

Cover: Simon Davies/Emily Robertson

I was underwater. I was freezing. And I washurt. One second I was sitting in the boat in the sun, the next Iwas in the water with the propeller hitting my head as it droveover me at full speed. It struck me like a sledgehammer. Some kindof goo was coming out of my skull as I flailed about, trying to getto the surface. I was starting to think that our move to thewilderness might not be such a good idea after all.

My wife Sally and I were building a smallcabin on a sparsely populated and un-serviced island on the BritishColumbia coast. Around noon on a hot summer day we craved some icecream so we left our building site for a two mile trip by boat tothe local store.

We were scooting along in our smallinflatable boat at high speed. Sally was steering the outboardmotor and I was sitting up front on the edge of the bow, leaningforward with my arms on my knees, my center of gravity wellinboard. I thought I was safe.

However, at the exact moment I straightenedup to look at a sun-bathing seal we hit an inexplicably large wave.The momentum of straightening my posture, together with thedeceleration of the boat, flung me backwards off the front of theboat. I was upside down in the water under the boat. It wasinstant. I remember thinking, Damn, the propeller! Then there wasa huge BANG as it hit me. I remember thinking again, Damn, thepropeller!

A few seconds later I bobbed to the surfacewith a view of the boat still moving away from me. I could seeSallys back. That was not a good moment. She seemed so distant.Worse, she was headed the wrong way. I could already feel hotliquid pouring from the top of my head and I wasnt sure that itwas only blood. I briefly contemplated the consistency of brainmatter. The pain was extreme but not incapacitating. I wasconscious but not overly coherent. I remember instinctively callingout, Oh, my God!

It occurred to me that Oh, my God! was notgoing to convey the appropriate message to Sally. So I took a deepbreath, collected my thoughts, tried to be calm and prepared myselfto yell again. This time I had purposefully formed the right wordsin my head to give her proper directions. And so, at the top of mylungs, I again shouted Oh, my God!

This involuntary and repetitive exclamationstruck me as mildly amusing at the time. It seemed I was destinedto yell prayers instead of instructions. Just as well, I thought,considering the situation. So, I kept quiet and began to swimslowly towards the boat which had finally stopped. It was only ashort distance away. It seemed like a mile.

Sally had watched the whole accident unfoldin less than a few seconds. I hit the water and the boat wastraveling so fast I was behind it in an instant. She didnt have achance to avoid hitting me. For a brief moment, she was in shock.She quickly stopped the boat in order to get a grasp on thesituation. It was the right move. It allowed her to regain hercomposure and get back to me safely.

As I swam I became more and more aware of mycircumstance. I was fully clothed. My glasses were gone. I wasinjured and bleeding. My immediate rescue was likely, but medicalassistance was not readily available. And I was acutely aware ofthe temperature I was experiencing. I was in very cold water and mybody was rapidly cooling.

In the meantime that hot gooey something waspouring from my head and down my face. Sticky warmth covered myhead but my body was getting colder. It was very strange and notjust a little disconcerting. I started to worry.

Sally restarted the boat and covered thedistance back to me within moments. She drifted up neatly with theengine in neutral. After a few futile attempts to get me into theboat, I suggested that I hold on to the rope looped along the sideof the boat and that she simply drag me in to the nearest shore asquickly as she could.

Sally took the extra precaution of lashingme to the boat. She looped a rope under my arms and fastened theends securely. It was a good idea as being dragged through thewater increased my heat loss exponentially. It was scary cold. Iquickly became so numb I couldnt hold on. I almost passed out.

After what seemed like an hour, but wasactually only a few minutes, we ran up on a beach. With Sallyshelp I was able to roll into the boat. She gave me her shirt to useas a bandage and I held it on the wound to staunch the flow ofblood. For the next few hours I could feel what I assumed was askull fragment as I held it in place. That too, was somewhatdisconcerting.

We left the beach and motored another tenminutes to the nearest neighbour who called the Coast Guard.Forty-five minutes later two Coast Guard boats were on the sceneand shortly after that a helicopter arrived to take me to thehospital. As the chopper carried me aloft, the Coast Guard staffturned to assist my traumatized and worried wife. They brought herby boat and then by car to join me at the emergency room.

I was very lucky. Not to mentionhard-headed. The propeller had sliced through my scalp in twoseparate places but had not cut into my skull. One blade slicedalong the part line of my hair and the second cut almost at rightangles near the crown of my head. There was no skull fragmentonlya bloodied shirt button and an overly vivid imagination. Inretrospect, expecting brain matter to ooze out whenever I moved themakeshift bandage was the worst part of the whole experience.

By dinner time I was stitched up anddischarged and Sally and I were catching the ferry back to a nearbyisland and from there a water taxi to our cabin. A little later,sipping a badly needed medicinal Scotch, I realized I had lost allsense of taste, at least temporarily. I certainly still felt a bitwhacked but, all in all, I was pretty much intact and doingfine.

The sun was setting as we sat on theboathouse deck. I held Sally close for a long time and reflected onthe day. I was very thankful to be there and grateful for theassistance we had received from the Coast Guard and the Emergencyroom staff.

You know, Sal, this wilderness living thingis turning out to be quite an adventure. I am still quite keen but,I must admit, todays little incident with the propeller made methink.

What do you mean?

Maybe Ill get a few extra pairs ofglasses. Just in case. Perhaps they make some that float. And howabout a freezer? Then we could keep our own ice cream.

She looked at my bandaged head, shook herhead and burst out laughing.

Phew! I thought. Looks like shes stillonside.

I was fifty and I was bored. I didnt have ared Corvette, I was not sneaking around with secretaries and I hadno major hobbies or vices to diligently pursue. Well, there hadbeen a long relationship with golf but it was fraught with tensionand frustration. Words were yelled. Clubs were thrown. That loveaffair was over. And retirement had nothing to attract me. I wasthinking of just giving up on dreaming and simply pushing hard forthe last few years of work to get a huge bankroll so that Iwouldnt have to worry about the cost of old age. It wasnt much ofa plan but it was all I could think of.