Current mood:  peaceful 

Category: Travel and Places

Well, I survived Labor Day Weekend 2006. A few weeks ago, Michele invited me to go along with a group from church to Ducktown, TN for a white water rafting trip. I knew a couple of the people going, but wasn’t sure if:
A. I wanted to ride seven hours with total strangers,
B. Share a house with said strangers, or
C. Travel on one of the busiest holidays of the year.

None of this sounded appealing. I had taken a week off work this month, but didn’t do anything that resembled vacation. I stayed in town, ran errands, slept in a lot, but nothing too fun or exciting. Maybe this trip could give me the excitment that my vacation lacked? Michele mentioned the cabin has a pool table and hot tub, and seven single women were going. Okay, I’m in!

Our four car caravan got off to a rough start. We had the usual mix of bad attitude, lack of sleep, extra stress, bad directions and women who need frequent bathroom breaks. But it all started to fade once we crossed the border into Tennessee. The cabin was beautiful, nestled onto a hillside with a great view of the mountains. Everyone unpacked and settled in, and soon we smelled the scent of chicken wings and burgers on the grill. By 10pm I was in the hot tub and Florida was a fading memory. I’m very thankful that I allowed myself to be fully there and not constantly thinking about the things I left. I didn’t have good cell phone coverage, so I wasn’t tied to my email, voicemail and myspace. Car repair fiasco where they didn’t get me my truck back on time? Gone. A good friend gossipping about me to somene else? Long ago and far away… I know I’m going to have to deal with these things now that I’m back, but in the short term, it was a good healthy break from reality that didn’t involve drugs or alcohol!

The rafting trip was a blast! The first few minutes were a bit unnerving. I’ve been canoeing a lot, but wasn’t used to getting wet. Once that initial shock was over and I learned that the raft won’t sink, I felt a lot better. Our guide, Rick, from Ocoee Rafting was a nut, and as we learned on the trip, that was a good thing. There were a lot of different companies running rafting trips on the river, but most of the other people were not smiling at all! Our guides jumped out of the raft onto rocks and back into the raft. We rammed other rafts, and I was encouraged to jump onto one of the other rafts to try to pull the other guide into the water. We had a great time, and here is a pic to prove it.

Click the picture to open it in a new window.

If you get the chance to go rafting, I’d suggest you try it. We had a great time.

While it was comforting to get home and sleep in a bed, not have to fight for a shower or get woken up early by the coffee addicts, it was nice to have a large surrogate family for the weekend. Did I survive riding seven hours with total strangers? I thrived and met some great people. Did I share a house with said strangers? No, they were all friends by the time we had dinner the first night. The biggest blessing? Our four cars made it there and back safely (even though one got a flat tire). I know this won’t be the last outing, and can’t wait for the next one. I’ll post a link to more pics soon. I have a waterproof camera that needs to get developed…