Who: Leigh, Lois & John, Jocelyn, Jack, Marv & Marlene, Roseanne, Steve, Karen, Tracie
Boats: 5 solo canoes: everyone whose name begins with L or J, 6 kayaks: everyone else
Where: From Briarpatch to Lincoln
Why: To show our friend Leigh from Texas the prettiest stretch of the Pine….she drove 1200 miles just to paddle our rivers, so every day she is experiencing the “best of the best”
The trip itself: We opened up one extra slot so both M&M could come on the trip, but Marv had to sit on the roof of the shuttle vehicle in order to accommodate the group of drivers. Several people were in the middle of a marathon weekend of paddling, so there were a few yawns as we proceeded down the river. We had extra cookies at lunchtime, courtesy of Karen and the moonlight paddlers (especially Peg). The drivers left the put-in to run the shuttle about 7 minutes early….the epitome of “Lois time”. We all had at least one mosquito to swat in our cars.
Leigh got to practice her draw strokes. Roseanne twirled, as she tends to do. Everyone discussed their upcoming TAPC tee shirt orders. There were no planned or unplanned swim breaks, though Jocelyn did take a dip up to her shorts level. Marlene found a giant beach towel that Lois will be sending to a friend whose name is the monogram. Several of us picked up an assortment of bottles and cans. Nobody had a grabber stick, but we did have trash bags. We didn’t see any other paddlers or even fishermen on the river; five hours of gorgeous solitude. Jack was the total canoe-carrying stud, hauling almost every solo canoe to and from cars.
Verdict: Let’s go again soon, and bring grabbers next time.
Written by Lois