We are so lucky to have opporutnities such as these in Maddox's first year. Randy's mom "Tee" watched Maddox overnight on the 25th of May so we could drive up to the Nolichucky River in Tennessee and go White Water Rafting....that was the plan at least. We are driving all through these winding back roads of the mountains....our stomachs growling which seemed to progressively grow louder with each turn of the road that reveled no restaurant in sight for the next hour or so. We left after work and were still on the road by 9pm....but then luck was on our side....a small town....one Hardies....with eyes bigger than our stomachs we ordered meals big enough for a family of four. Two burgers for the each of us, 3 french fries, we were almost at our hotel and our stomachs were ready to dig in. Unfortunatly for us that grease didn't seem to agree with out stomachs too much and we ended up spending some time in the bathroom that night but as the morning light started to come in to our rooms we were ready to go. Our anticipation had gotten the best of us and although we had to meet the bus at 9am we were up getting our coffee at 7am....taking turns getting coffee, talking about how excited we were, and just watching the clock until it was time to go.
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting we got in our car and drove over to the bus pick up site. There were a group of what seemed like young college kids all huddled around and some women that were in their late thirties. It looked like a good group, we tried to blend in and not seem like we were these excited newcommers to rafting so we lathered our lotion on and like experienced rafters we climed on the bus. About 20 minutes our guide was giving us a whole book of what to do in case you end up in the water, saftey tips, etc. Not a big deal to us...we listened and enjoyed the beautiful scenery around the mountains. We arrived to a dirt lot right next to the river with a comotion of many other river rafting company buses and people scattering all around. We decided to take a funyak which is a one person raft sort of like a kyack. It was strange...many people decided not to take that choice and stayed on the raft...but we were told it was going to be the best way to see the river and really fun too!
In the water we started out really well...following our guide and trying to make it over the rocks and rapids by ourselves. I don't know who was the first person to go in the water, Randy or I...but out of our group of 6 funyaks we were the ones most in the water! By the halfway point where we stopped and got our lunches Randy and I were exausted but felt so refreshed. We were in the middle of a canyon with trees all around us...beautiful fresh air....and a feeling of accomplishment. We felt this feeling for a while before the realization of the fact we had to finish our rafting trip. We got our gear back on...and went back in the water. After a big battle with the river Randy decided to switch with one person in a raft who really was wanting to jump in a funyak and he finished the river out on there. The weather started to change and the last stretch of the river ended with a light rain that was progressively getting wetter. By the time we arrived at the buses the sky decided to downpour and we were running to take cover and change our clothes in to some dry ones along with the rest of our group who were all scattering every which way to get some kind of cover. The group back in the bus were all talking about the great time we had, it was like we shared some kind of bond together. We had made it through the river as a group and shared this wonderful adventure together.
We got back in our car...It was a challenge, we had done something we had never done before and made it through. I was so proud of the both of us and know that over the summer we will be planning more trips like this. It makes me want to challenge myself and my family to new adventures, see the world, and live life to the fullest.
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