The Beemer family was taking no chances floating the McKenzie River Sunday, especially when it came to the precious cargo 21-year-old Heather Sells carried in her swollen belly: an infant daughter, due to make her debut Aug. 13.
"She'll be tied to me (with a rope) the whole time," Sells' father, Dick Beemer, said, hoisting his personal pontoon boat down the ramp at the Hayden Bridge landing near Springfield. "She'll be the safest mama-to-be out there."
Joining him on the nearly four-hour journey to Armitage Park was Beemer's wife, 47-year-old Kim Beemer, and another daughter, 31-year-old Mandy Beemer.
All four either wore safety vests or had them close at hand - even though, under the law, Dick Beemer was the only one required to. The law applies to his pontoon boat, but not to the inner-tube floats the other three used.
To Beemer, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Boats - even small ones - afford more protection against drowning than what essentially amounts to a pool toy.
"With one of these things, if it punctures on a rock, what do you do?" said Beemer, 57, whose lifelong passion for playing in the water - whether it be swimming or skiing or boating or floating - is shared by his daughters.
They also share his caution and appreciation for the fickleness of cold, fast-moving rivers such as the McKenzie.
Read more at http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/25058610-41/inner-river-beemer-tubes-mckenzie.csp
