One of the perks of living in Arkansas is our outdoor activities. Within 30 minutes, you can be out of any city limit climbing a mountain, canoeing a stream, hiking a trail, or picnicking in mother nature.
This past weekend, my son-in-law, Alan, invited the McCoy clan to join in his family’s annual float trip down the Caddo River. Floating rivers in groups is nice because of all the stopping along the way; you can idlily visit in the lazy pools of water that seem to be at the top of every rapid.
My family of three-cars-full left LR around 7 AM and drove for about 1.5 hours to Lucky’s canoe rental and put-in. By 10 AM we were on the water for our 4-hour float trip. My daughter-in-law, after seeing the picture above, said we all had a strong hat game, but Son Gray had the best of all.
Once out in nature, the 13 and 17-year cicadas, we’ve all been reading about, were almost deafening. We had nice weather. The temperature and water level seemed perfect. And I was feeling confident – until I wasn’t. As we adventurers settled into our kayaks and canoes, my senses heightened, a feeling of euphoria and gratitude for family, friends, and nature enrapt me.
Tumped Over (yes, autocorrect, “tump” is a word in the South)
It has been six years since I’ve floated. As I paddled my kayak through the first rapid, it all started coming back to me … or so I thought. A couple of times, I got stuck on a rock and had to get out of my canoe and push (I guess the water could have been an inch or two higher). When it came time to maneuver around the rocks in the rapids, I found my forward paddling game to be weak, so I began relying on my back stroke to turn the canoe. This is not a good plan in rapids because you need momentum from the forward paddling to stay straight and the back stroke often brings the rear-end around. You know where this is going.
Halfway through the trip, I crashed into a big tree and tumped over. By the time I dragged my paddle and kayak to shore I was falling down, exhausted and crying. I stripped off my wet clothes, got down to my bathing suit to try and dry out, and ate a sandwich. My crying turned to being pissed-off at the river and I was spent.
Two hours later, we are loading off the river. As I sit in the truck waiting for all the menfolk to finish tying everything down, I pondered the day. How often does one get to test themselves like that? To run the gamut of emotions. If it hadn’t been for my now-grown children, I probably wouldn’t have put together a float trip and definitely wouldn’t have met Alan’s big family. That is when my gratitude resurfaced and I realized, “You’re old a long time and children of all ages aid in keeping you young.” Thanks kids, I’m game again next year.
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