This morning Spencer and I had the privilege of going kayaking with friends, Jami and Dallas, and Cambi and Joey. The kids stayed with Grandma Lilly (who we appreciate so much). We headed out to the Salt River around 5:30AM, stopping for some good old fashioned gas station breakfast on the way. We dropped of our car at a parking lot and piled in the truck and went to the top of the river. Life was good. We got in the river and began paddling around. I was lucky enough to be using an inflatable kayak which (I am told) is virtually impossible to tip over. Dallas was in some fancy sports kayak, and all the others were in pretty typical kayak kayaks. After we had been on the river for about 15-20 minutes, Dallas had a funny sensation that he was lower in the water than he had been before. Yes, he was, in fact sinking... and not that slowly either. The plug from the back of his kayak was missing and the whole things was filling with water. So, we all parked it off to the side for a time while we tried to figure out a solution. In the end, Spencer found a shotgun shell and stuffed it into the hole. That lasted for awhile, but later Dallas replaced it with a portion of the foam lining from his kayaks interior. We were on the way again. Then we came to the first "rapids". Up until this point, the water had been pretty flat, basically like kayaking on a lake. We were making it through the rapids which included two very large rocks when the unfortunate happened. Cambi, who was trying to avoid the first rock, ended up hitting the second rock sideways. I felt like I was watching a slow motion video, her kayak tipped up, she started trying to compensate by throwing her weight, but in the end, the river won. She abandoned her kayak before it tipped all the way over, and made sure she grabbed her paddle. You could see how cold the water was with one look at her face. The men pulled the boat ashore to tip it over, and Jami and I made sure Cambi made it to the shore too. She got back in, not too much worse for the wear, and we moved along. The rest of the trip down the river was pretty peaceful. The only other tipping we had was by the boys who were making it a goal to tip each other over. In between those times we found other things to amuse. The surrounding were beautiful and green. We saw several beavers, although not from a close distance. We also saw myriad of beautiful and interesting birds and lots of fish. We talked and did things like paddle around the bridge pillars or try to paddle through the reeds. It wasn't too hot, and it was just awesome. There was a time when an investigation was made when Cambi spotted a "dead body" down in the water. Luckily, it ended up being a sweatshirt caught on a rock. All in all, the kayaking was very chill and enjoyable. When we got to the end, we were all pretty tired. We pulled the kayaks out and up to the parking lot. When we got there, the car wasn't there. Turns out, we were at the wrong parking lot, but it wasn't a big deal. The car was just a short walk away. Spencer and Dallas went up to it, and found that we had a flat tire. Not a low tire, mind you, it was completely flat. Well, luck favors the prepared, and so the guys were able to put the spare on in no time. We finally got out of there around 11:15 and went promptly to a Taco Bell where we changed clothes, scarfed food and drank as much water as humanly possible. It was such a fun adventure, and I hope to have another fun morning like today.
6.07.2008
Morning Like Today
This morning Spencer and I had the privilege of going kayaking with friends, Jami and Dallas, and Cambi and Joey. The kids stayed with Grandma Lilly (who we appreciate so much). We headed out to the Salt River around 5:30AM, stopping for some good old fashioned gas station breakfast on the way. We dropped of our car at a parking lot and piled in the truck and went to the top of the river. Life was good. We got in the river and began paddling around. I was lucky enough to be using an inflatable kayak which (I am told) is virtually impossible to tip over. Dallas was in some fancy sports kayak, and all the others were in pretty typical kayak kayaks. After we had been on the river for about 15-20 minutes, Dallas had a funny sensation that he was lower in the water than he had been before. Yes, he was, in fact sinking... and not that slowly either. The plug from the back of his kayak was missing and the whole things was filling with water. So, we all parked it off to the side for a time while we tried to figure out a solution. In the end, Spencer found a shotgun shell and stuffed it into the hole. That lasted for awhile, but later Dallas replaced it with a portion of the foam lining from his kayaks interior. We were on the way again. Then we came to the first "rapids". Up until this point, the water had been pretty flat, basically like kayaking on a lake. We were making it through the rapids which included two very large rocks when the unfortunate happened. Cambi, who was trying to avoid the first rock, ended up hitting the second rock sideways. I felt like I was watching a slow motion video, her kayak tipped up, she started trying to compensate by throwing her weight, but in the end, the river won. She abandoned her kayak before it tipped all the way over, and made sure she grabbed her paddle. You could see how cold the water was with one look at her face. The men pulled the boat ashore to tip it over, and Jami and I made sure Cambi made it to the shore too. She got back in, not too much worse for the wear, and we moved along. The rest of the trip down the river was pretty peaceful. The only other tipping we had was by the boys who were making it a goal to tip each other over. In between those times we found other things to amuse. The surrounding were beautiful and green. We saw several beavers, although not from a close distance. We also saw myriad of beautiful and interesting birds and lots of fish. We talked and did things like paddle around the bridge pillars or try to paddle through the reeds. It wasn't too hot, and it was just awesome. There was a time when an investigation was made when Cambi spotted a "dead body" down in the water. Luckily, it ended up being a sweatshirt caught on a rock. All in all, the kayaking was very chill and enjoyable. When we got to the end, we were all pretty tired. We pulled the kayaks out and up to the parking lot. When we got there, the car wasn't there. Turns out, we were at the wrong parking lot, but it wasn't a big deal. The car was just a short walk away. Spencer and Dallas went up to it, and found that we had a flat tire. Not a low tire, mind you, it was completely flat. Well, luck favors the prepared, and so the guys were able to put the spare on in no time. We finally got out of there around 11:15 and went promptly to a Taco Bell where we changed clothes, scarfed food and drank as much water as humanly possible. It was such a fun adventure, and I hope to have another fun morning like today.
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6 comments:
That sounds like fun! Although I know kayaking can be hard work too so props to you on that one.
That does sound like a fun adventure. I've never been kayaking, but it's a pretty popular hobby around these parts, so we'll have to try it before leaving TN.
That must have been a blast! I wanna go down the Salt River before I leave. Was the water freezing?
Glad you guys made it safely! Kayaking sounds interesting, though I feel more in favor of the canoe. The picture you took looks absolutely beautiful! P.s. where did you get your kayak?
I just got that picture off the internet, Lynette. I didn't dare take our camera out on the water. They were the Lovell's kayaks.
is that Cambi -used to be McArthur???
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