Paddle Georgia Day Two.........

Remember those little bitty "rapids" I wrote about yesterday? The ones that scared me to death? Yeah, I would have KILLED for some of those today. The trip today was nothing but paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, ad nauseum. Look at the brown water and lots of trees, go around a curve, look at more brown water and some more trees. Paddle, paddle, paddle. For 15 miles. For approximately 7 hours.

We had to portage around a huge dam this morning. (Pictures forthcoming.) The cue sheet mentioned that if you failed to follow directions and head to river left, you might go over the dam, which would result in almost certain death. Lovely. I had an irrational (maybe?) fear that I wouldn't have time to make my way to river left and the current would suck me over the dam. It wasn't that close a call. There was plenty of time to get over, and there were a gazillion warnings about approaching the dam.

The portage process was a tedious one. The spot to get out of our boats was very small, so we had to enter it one at a time. Did I mention there are 300 people on this trip? Then we had to drag our boats to a trailer, where they were loaded to be hauled around the dam. We had to take anything off the boat we didn't want hauled on the trailer (phone, camera, GPS, water), and then we had to hike about half a mile through mucky wilderness and wait for our boats to arrive. This process will be repeated later in the week, when the organizers will portage us around two lakes, eliminating about 45 miles of flat water paddling. Thanks, guys.

I said yesterday that it was too early to make any sweeping statements, but after day two I think I can safely say that this is not for me. It's too much sameness, too little activity. Too much sitting on the bum, especially with the way my hips have been hurting. Although tomorrow is a shorter day, and Tuesday is ONLY 8 miles, the last two days are 20 and 22 miles. And after two days, I've had enough. Hubby is picking me up in the morning. And I'm not even going to apologize for quitting.

Paddle Georgia Day One............

Buses took us from the school this morning to our launch site. Much like BRAG, there was little fanfare or ceremony at the beginning. Just get in your boats and go. It wasn't even difficult to figure out which way to go, because we just went with the current. We were kind of bunched up at the beginning, but just like the bike ride, pretty soon the masses thinned out.

Keep in mind this is NOT white-water rafting. We went over some very mild, Class 1, rapids, and I was scared to death. I became acutely aware of my very limited paddling skills. I remained upright, usually going forward, but that is probably more due to blind luck than any level of skill. We stopped at the Botanical Gardens to have our sack lunches. (Part of the meal plan we wish we hadn't purchased.)

One thing these folks do that BRAG doesn't is check names off as we enter the river and again at the end of the day. I guess it makes sense, since it's not likely that someone is going to venture off down a different river. If he or she doesn't show up at the end of the day, it's likely bad news.

Another big diffence between this event and BRAG is the distance. When I first saw that we would be paddling 12 miles today, I wondered "What are we going to do the REST of the day?" Ha!! We didn't get back here until around 3:00. The last two days are 20 and 22 miles. Yikes! Check with me in November when I finish those.

I heard a story about a kid who had never kayaked or canoed before, and at mile 4 today, a snake fell in his kayak. We've been told to check our boats for snakes before we get in them tomorrow.

It's only been one day, so I'm not going to make any sweeping statements yet. Suffice it to say, though, that if there's a snake in my boat tomorrow morning, he can have it.

Paddle (Yawn) Workshop......

Today I attended a paddle workshop offered in conjunction with Paddle Georgia, which starts tomorrow. I felt obligated to attend the workshop, since I am AT BEST a novice paddler, and I've had my kayak in the water a grand total of ...... ONE ..... time this whole year.

Thirty-three people signed up for today's workshop, and twenty-four of them were smarter than I was. They didn't show up. There were only nine of us there for the workshop (which was free), and five of those were from a single family.

I wouldn't call it a COMPLETE waste of time. I did learn two new things: a better way to get in the kayak than depending on a wing and a prayer, which is how I've operated up to now; and using my torso to get more power from each stroke. Oh good.... a NEW body part to hurt.

I think the trip will be fun, but as I told Rozmo this afternoon, I don't think I've ever lost so much sleep over an adventure that's supposed to be FUN. I have thought of something new to worry about every single night. Rozmo and I are going to keep a list of things we would have done differently if we had known better. We already know we shouldn't have bought the meal tickets, and we should have left a car at the ending location. The paddling trip actually ends next Friday, but we have to spend another night and come home Saturday morning.

I won't be able to upload pictures every night (because I did such an EXCELLENT job of that on BRAG, didn't I?), because I'm only taking my iPad and not my laptop. I hope I will get some good photos, though, and I promise to post them when I get home. If they're good. Which my BRAG pictures were not (much).

Happy weekend!

Let the Summer Begin.......

The last day of school has mercifully come and gone. Both graduation ceremonies are tonight (I'm not attending either), and my summer will officially begin next Wednesday afternoon, when we complete our post-planning days.

After all these years of teaching, it has just occurred to me: Isn't "post planning" an oxymoron? Can you plan after something has occurred?

I've tried not to pack my summer so full this year that I get back to school in August feeling like I haven't had a summer at all. I would love to do a long cross-country trip in the RV, but I'm afraid that is going to have to wait until retirement. I don't want to have to worry about a deadline for getting back home. That being said, I can't help but plan a few things for the summer.

Thanks, Maggie, for giving me the idea for this blog post.

I am riding in BRAG the week of June 5-11, of course, and Rozmo and I are participating in Paddle Georgia for the first time. That happens the week of June 18-25, a paddling adventure of 106 miles. It's downriver, so I hope it's more floating than paddling. I have never put my kayak into any body of water other than the lake at the park across the road from our house and the lake at Stone Mountain Park, and I'm going to launch it into the Oconee River and travel 106 miles downriver. I hope Rozmo won't let me go astray. 

Hubby has apparently forgiven me for our RV trip to the beach last year, and he's suggesting we go back to Florida again, this time on the Gulf of Mexico side. That's where we planned to go last year, but the oil spill scared me away. There is a (reportedly) beautiful state park there, right on the beach, so we are toying with the idea of taking the RV there. I would like to stay three or four nights. Since Hubby ALWAYS wants to come home earlier than we plan, I need to plan ahead and suggest five or six nights. Fourteen years, and I'm still learning.

I have come up with an idea for our anniversary (on the 30th of this month), and Hubby is amenable to it. I won't tell what it is yet, but it's on my 50 Things to Do list.

I hope to have many days of floating in the pool. I will also work hard to complete #38 on my 50 Things to Do list. I plan to continue going to Zumba class even in the summer.

I have a list of home-related projects to accomplish as well, so the summer won't be ALL play. I need to execute the Great Shoe Purge, and my bathroom closet is a disaster. We have sheet sets in there for a futon/bunk bed combo that Sweet Girl used to have. I think we gave it away in 2000 or 2001. I would also like to tackle our basement and organize it somehow.

First, though, there is a bike ride tomorrow and a low country boil at a friend's house tomorrow night.

Let the summer begin!

Got My Butt Kicked but I Didn't Lose.....

I returned today to the scene of my mountain biking humiliation from last week, determined that a measly little 12-mile biking trail would NOT get me down. Besides, Rozmo came over to mountain bike and kayak, so there was no getting out of it.

We did the whole trail, except for a couple of sections labeled "Monster Mile (Advanced)." I already KNEW I wasn't advanced; I didn't need a section of trail to make it transparent.

I was completely demoralized toward the end, when I kept thinking we were back to the starting point and we weren't. And when we DID reach the end, we still had to ride back to my house. It was only another half mile or so, and it was PAVED!

Mountain biking is for the young, not the young at heart. I hurt in places I didn't know I had places. Today's ride was harder than any day on BRAG, and it ranked right up there with a century in 100-degree heat. It's odd how DIFFERENT the hurting places are after mountain biking compared to road biking. For example, my lower back is killing me, and my neck may never be the same. My HANDS hurt, fercryingoutloud, most likely from the DEATH GRIP I had on the handlebars.

When we first started talking about doing this trail ride, I remember thinking, "Twelve miles is such a short ride. Maybe we'll do it twice."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I had another "I'm-afraid-I'm-going-to-faint-right-here-on-this-trail" episode today, at the top of the same hill. I think I'm allergic to climbing that particular hill. Because today I clearly had enough water, and I still got all woozy and dizzy.

After mountain biking we took our kayaks back over to the park. I wasn't really up to it at that point, but it was okay because all we did was paddle to a little cove, tie our kayaks to tree branches, drink a beer, and talk. Not much work involved at all.

I won't say I WON'T ride the mountain bike trail again, but I can assure you it won't be this week. Next time, however, I'm finding a bail-out path.

It can't compare at all with what I was doing all day on this date 26 years ago. Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Polluters Make Me Sick....

It amazes me that people will go to a state park and throw trash either in the woods or in the lake.

Actually, it does more than amaze me.

It sickens, annoys, saddens, depresses, irritates, angers, and bothers me.

Why can't people take care of their trash?

Every time I go kayaking in the park, I take along a plastic grocery bag and, following the example of my friend Rozmo, I pick up trash at the water's edge.

Some of it is very old, like the Miller Lite can I found today that had the old-fashioned pop top on it. You know, the ring with the tab that came completely off? Either somebody was hoarding some very old beer, or that can has been floating in the lake at Fort Yargo for a very long time.

I didn't get pictures of everything today. But I figure if you've seen one plastic bottle or beer can, you've pretty much seen them all.

Bait containers are also frequent finds.

Sometimes I find floats, lures, and hooks, and I really can't hold that against anyone. There are lots of trees around the edge of the lake, and it's understandable that one's fishing line may occasionally get tangled. I can also understand why they didn't want to wade out there and retrieve the floats. Today I found a fake worm wrapped around a tree branch, and I didn't want to touch it even though I KNEW it was fake. But I did. Yuck.

This is the bag full of trash I collected just from one small portion of the lake today. I finally cut short my kayaking, because the trash was beginning to take up too much room in the kayak.

I don't mind, though, because if I weren't cruising around the edge of the lake picking up trash, I wouldn't be able to get shots like these.

I started shooting from a good ways away, because turtles are shy and generally jump in the water before I can get a good shot.

I was drifting, and the angle was perfect as I got closer to the tree.

He's trying to determine how much of a threat I am.

Wary but not afraid.

That's close enough, lady. Sheesh, I'm just trying to get some sun here.

And this one was right before my kayak bumped his tree. That was pretty much the end of that. I did, however, tell him thanks.

Click on the link below if you're curious to see the "route" I took in my kayaking adventure. If you click on the "Player" tab, you can see it in action. I think it's hilarious that it looks in some places like I was kayaking on dry land. Not!

Kayaking at Fort Yargo

Kayaking.....

Being on the water brings me peace.....


Paddling around the lake......


Nosing into nooks and crannies not accessible by the shore......


For some reason, I enjoy the swampy, scary-looking places......