Another one bites the dust. Another 'must do' from my 30 by 30 list, that is :) Saturday I took the leap, sucked up my pride put on a swimsuit and headed out:
The hubs and I took my little sister and her boyfriend, a family friend, brother and sister in law, and a couple of their friends and took the plunge at RiverFest/Phest (I've honestly seen it spelled both ways in print?!) Apparently this was a smaller 'float trip' only a few miles. We battled cars, trucks, and walkers down a single lane gravel road to the river. (Did I mention that I saw said cars, trucks, and walkers loaded down with items such as kayaks, giant 2x4 and foam structures, fishing boats, coolers-and bodies- of all shapes and sizes?) We lubed up with plenty of sunblock, and carried/pulled our loot to the river, where we then stood around for about 30 minutes tying everyone together, and to the coolers and Trevor's (Brother In Law, BIL) amazing radio. Nate and I looked around a bit wearily...most of these people looked to be about 17 (okay so anyone under 30 now looks 17 to us) and like they were on a weekend vacation from their current modeling jobs...seriously! After the shock of the Greek God look alikes wore off, we noticed a wider variety of people...all sorts of people. Young, old, black white, short, tall, big and small. Some wearing skimpy suits and looking amazing in them, others... not so much. Some wearing shorts, tanks, t shirts, hats, no hats, bandanas, tatoos or not. Let's just say it was a pretty big variety of people to watch (oh yeah, I like to people watch)
So finally, Sarah, the SIL and I take the lead into the water. I should mention here that Sarah is one of the fore mention Greek God look alikes. Also, she told us on the way, that even though she is an avid 'tuber' she's not a very good swimmer so she's a bit nervous, I believe the words "having an anxiety attack" could have been mentioned. Now I'm scared! I was hoping to just follow her lead as I have no idea how to get into the water dragging my tube and a cooler stuffed into a tube and managing to get my uncoordinated butt into the tube without being drug down river. But after a few scary seconds and some help from the hubs and BIL's friends I was OFF! Well, for about 68 seconds...then we almost hit a tree, got seperated and I had to drag my tube + tube cooler over to a sand bar where we waited for another 30 minutes while the guys decided to re-tie us (ended up being a much better idea than the first time)
Okay, so now we're REALLY off! Nick, the family friend, is in his kayak and turns out that was a HUGE help! So Trevor get's his amazing radio going. Trevor built his amazing radio by himself (he's a welder) it's huge, water safe and runs off of a car battery, and can draw a crowd bigger and faster than Justin Beiber at an all girl middle school...crazy cool! Sarah is the master mind behind the music selection, we heard everything from TuPac (ahhhh, I love TuPac) to Michael Jackson! (Maybe I should get her to load my I-Pod???) We are all getting comfy and relaxed, enjoying the hot sun and cool water, conversations and jokes are flying fluidly....perfection.
We skipped the first sand bar gathering. For those of you like me, who've never done this tubing this before, you don't just float directly from point A to point B, no. You stop at the multiple sand bars in between, drag you and your tubes, coolers, boats, and gear out of the river. You catch up with friends and meet new ones. Some guys were throwing frisbees (this is where the hubs started drooling, and made a point of telling me that we HAVE to bring a frisbee next time...he's a little addicted to this 'game') Pretty much everyone who is on the sand bar laughing, talking, dancing etc. Boys are trying to pick up girls, girls are avoiding boys...you know, typical 20 something stuff. If you turn around to face the water you see people walking out a little ways then sitting down, by themselves....they are peeing, yup I had to take a pee break in the water. It's a little disconcerting watching people do something you know you wouldn't normally see. And if you are pee shy, you're out of luck! So it was sometime during this first sand bar break that I made good on an earlier promise to my little sister, "I'm going to take you 'out' today".... I handed my drink to a friend, motioned for Nick and sister's boyfriend to move then took off running at my target. Luckily she never saw it coming, the hubs said that I put my shoulder down like a pro, and we both went down, hard, into the water. I don't think I've heard the hubs laugh that hard in a long time. I may not have mentioned before, but before I had kids, and sometimes even now (when the kids aren't around) my daredevilish self apppears, hehe. After about an hour of sand bar #1 we decide to head back out.
The second leg is where Nick and his kayak became heroes to us. There were LOTS of trees in the water. Manuvering 8 people, 2 coolers, and the amazing radio away from the trees could get tricky, and sometimes impossible. ie: we were going to crash into the 'lots of trees in the water' had it not been for Nick. He would paddle up ahead of us, 'park' in front of the tree and we would bounce off the kayak to safety...ahh, our hero! Nick had his work cut out for him, but seemed not to mind too much, thank goodness! I was a little worried about snakes, I had heard stories and was very watchful. I don't know exactly what I would've done had I actually seen one, but I was still paying attention. In my head I could see a giant snake 'swimming' towards me, me: eyes bulge, mouth opens, scream errupts, pop up out of tube and finding out if it's possible to run on water out of fear. Luckily, I didn't have to find out.
On the next sand bar, we really had to work to get over to it! But once there, the 'party' really started. I don't think I've ever seen a, well let's call them a 'hippie family' before. That was new. I also saw a woman wearing a pair of plastic hands over her breast (she was wearing a tank top!! geesh, mind out of the gutter!) One girl lost her pants fighting with my cousin who was trying to help her INTO her boat! Nick had enjoyed a few cocktails by this point and was hitting on my friend, while her 16 year old son and his girlfriend watched in horror, thank God he's a nice guy and she's an understanding friend. My sister in law and cousin got into a wrestling match in the water, don't worry, it was all in fun. Trevor's amazing radio was a hit, he may need to advertise...it could be big. We stayed there for a couple of hours. Sarah made friends with everyone, as usual. Sarah is typically the life of any party, she's cute, funny and not afraid to talk to anyone! There was much more water peeing by all. Eventually it was time for the last leg.
We really chilled on this one. Relaxed and listed to the radio, missed a few more trees, lost Trevor's sunglasses and finally debated where in the world we were supposed to get out of this river. Well, when we finally found out and reached the 'end' I was more than a little apprehensive. It looked like a 15 foot cliff, one side pure, slick mud; the other big, irregular boulders...hmmm? So we managed to pass some things up to one another, climb up the rocks and make it to the top. This is where we realize Sarah is not there. She emerges from the weeds, covered in mud (only she could make this look work). We walk back to our cars and load up and head for the nearest SHOWER and FOOD!
It was a great time, with amazing friends and family. I will definitely be up for this again. I was a bit weary having heard stories of drunken fights, nudity, etc. Either I was blind, got lucky, or the stories had been a bit exaggerated. Either way, I didn't have to deal wiht it. (well except for the one girl who accidently lost her bottoms getting into the boat, but it wasn't intentional) Can't wait to plan another one. AND, Nick is going to teach me how to kayak next time, so I can cross another one of my list! YEAH!!!
