A post in which we are rollin' on the river

I had been looking forward to today all week, but was sorry I had stayed out so late last night when I got up this morning. But once I made some coffee and started moving around I felt OK. I was really too tired to get up, but was afraid if I got back in the bed I would oversleep, so I got up and made coffee.

I rounded up my stuff and was on the road in time for a quick run through the Barnyard flea market in Duncan, but didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without. I did see what I think was a Diamond Quilted plate, but I couldn’t find it again to verify. I didn’t want to be late and hold up the group, so I just went on to Jeff and James’s house. Where I was the first arrival - again. But they were up, and we were all excited about the trip. I was glad to be there and not feel rushed.

We headed off for the river in a great mood. The ride up to the Green River is beautiful, and in the company of good friends and pretty weather it’s a real pleasure. We got to the water in pretty good time. We all checked in, and then I got in and listened to everyone gasp and carry on when they got in the water. The river comes down from the NC mountains so the water is pretty brisk, but as warm as the day was the water temperature wasn’t a real problem for me. One of the friends that James invited, though, is apparently quite the dilettante. She was having a bit of a rough time with things like bugs. And water temperature. And being outside, from what I could tell. But aside from being perhaps a bit girly for the trip, she was a pretty good sport.

When I have done this with the bears before, it was a fairly relaxing trip down. You just kind of float down at the river’s pace. But James was too excited to wait to float down. He was always padding towards the rapid places, eager to get to the next part of the trip. And Amanda of course weighs about as much as a piece of thistledown. The river just took her down like a leaf. So if I just floated along, I was soon way behind everyone else. Well half of the fun is going down with your group and talking and stuff on the way. As a consequence, I spent a lot of time during the first half of the trip paddling to catch up to everyone. They also wanted to take a big cooler, which of course Justin and I knew wasn’t a great idea, having made the trip before. So I got a rest period for a while after the cooler turned over and had to be re-filled and re-tied. Still, paddling or not, there are much worse places to be than on the river with your friends on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It did sprinkle rain a bit on us in patches, but we were already wet; and since there was no lighting they didn't pull us off the water. That was the important part.

At the half-way point we got out for lunch. I hadn’t brought a whole big meal or anything, because I hadn’t realized that we would be getting out at the car mid-way. I had resigned myself to potato chips for lunch, but the tiny lunch counter actually a “veggie” plate – grilled cheese, fries, slaw, and dill pickles. I’ve had better meals (the bread for the sandwich was notably stale, dry, and I think the cheese was some kind of ‘cheese-food’), but it was better than just chips. It didn’t hurt that I was ravenous. By this point, our girly girl was ready to get indoors, I think. She and her friend decided to head for home. The rest of us decided to go the distance.

The second half of the trip was actually more fun. The river was moving faster, and there were more rapids places. They were supposed to be running the dam at 100%, today, but by the time we got close to the end of the trip, the water was noticeably lower. But we had gotten the hang of it by then, and we didn’t have too many problems. We had jettisoned the cooler at the half-way point. I had developed a strategy of getting ahead and then letting the others catch up, so I wasn’t behind as much.

By the time we got out of the water though, we were ready to get out, I think. We were tired, and tired of being wet and muddy. And tired of smoking wet cigarettes, although James is a marvel in that regard. He can be soaking, and actually playing in the water while he smokes; but his cigarette seems to miraculously remain bone dry. A-mazing. I can look at a cigarette in the water, and it is soaked through.

On the way back, we were pretty quiet. I was thinking about how sweet it is to see James and Jeff together. James is such a beautiful man, and Jeff has been so good for him. It does me good to see them together. I’m really happy for them. But at the same time, it hurts my heart a bit. I would really like to have that for myself again, and it just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I guess fueling part of that was the last time I went tubing on the Green River, it was with Michael. We used to go with the bear group every year when they used to go.

I was also kind of thinking about what would happen if James had a seizure right in the middle of driving us all down the highway at 70+mph. Staying vigilant and planning a strategy was fairly distracting for a while.

Fortunately, Justin roused us all out of our fugue state by asking about dinner. They decided that we would have fish since I was there, and James volunteered me to cook. I wasn’t wild about the idea at first, but it was actually fun. I love to cook for people, and cooking on the fly, out of just what’s on hand, is always an adventure. Justin had some okra in his fridge, so we fried that up, and I put some tilapia fillets in the oven to poach. James put some rolls in, and steamed some broccoli. Justin had made his famous wee lemons for dessert. We actually ended up having quite a nice meal. Best of all, I get the fun of cooking for other people without having to clean up afterwards. Plus I didn’t have to spend any more money, which was good. I’ve been spending money I hadn’t budgeted to have my back worked on, and I have another appointment next week.

Of course, since it was Sunday night, the television had to be on. We watched last week’s episode of True Blood, and then it was time for this week’s show. I watched about half of it, and decided to head on home. I was tired, and it’s a school day tomorrow.

When I got home and go to bed though, I couldn’t sleep. I was so tired I had just crawled in the bed with river gook, sunscreen, and all still on me. But that wasn’t it. My brain was just too full of all the images and thoughts of the day. I finally put in some Sir David Attenborough and was able to go to sleep.