Our Canoe Trip

I'm so excited this is my first blog! Thanks Hollie and Audrea for showing it to me.

On July 3rd, Ryan and I went on 9 mile canoe trip down the Duck River. It's a little place called River Rat's that we found one day on a backroad near our house. The guy just walked us to this gravel road and said, "The ramp is down there, and there are some boats for you to use. Call us when you get to the outpost and want us to come pick you up." He tossed us some paddles and some lifevests, and that was it. So, we walked down there. And the adventure began.

First, the canoe was heavier than we thought. So the lovely Ryan had to push it down the gravel road to the river. It was too heavy for me. We loaded our backpack and cooler and with direct orders from the hubby, I hopped on in. Ready for the peaceful day!! He put one foot in the canoe and we leaned. Me being the serving wife tried to correct it by leaning the other way. Over We Went. It took a couple of times of flipping the canoe before we figured it out. Us and everything that belonged to us (books, food, etc) - DRENCHED...and we haven't even left the ramp. We figured it out eventually, and off down the river like Huck Finn we went. At that point, I was glad the guy just dropped us off. He would of had a good laugh at our expense. We did enough of that for everyone.

The ride was peaceful. Ryan was teaching me to steer after a while. There were cliffs all around us, and we saw so many turtles and fish. All of a sudden, I hear rapids. Yes, a waterfall. I knew it. The worse part about it was that I had to anticipate it for hours. Because you know you start hearing it way before you actually get to it. Well, we made it. I paddled so hard, and then held on for dear life. It turned out the rapid was actually more like a Class .4 for those rafters out there. Yes...not Class 4, but a Class .4. We hit a few of those that day, and each time I took it so seriously. We just laughed.

The whole day was pretty amazing. We didn't see a single person on the river. The water was so still. We hardly saw any civilization...except for a couple of trailers, rebel flags, some nice cabins, and a lot of homemade rope swings. We pulled over and ate some lunch. And successfully, we reentered the water without a flip. We did see a deer running up the cliffs. Oh, there was this one time where a mule deer starting barking. Ryan said he thought it was a mating call. I told the deer that I wasn't interested and paddled harder. We also saw some cows and bulls that made it down to the river. Don't worry I paddled harder then too.

When we made it to the pull out spot, there was this ropeswing hanging from the bridge. We couldn't resist. We had a time or two on the ropeswing before some young kids made it down the river. Then, we pulled out the "maturity card" and let them enjoy it. That day was an amazingly fun adventure for us. With all of our mad canoeing skills, does anyone want to join us some time?!
--Kari

Remember..."Life is not a problem to be solved; it is an adventure to be lived."