Well the hits just keep coming. We had a visit from the Godfather. Terry, Joanna, and Lorna made the trek out east to discover some summer paddling in Tennessee. We hooked up with them last Friday and headed to the Ocoee on Saturday. Joanna and Lorna went to explore and we got to share with Terry his first run on the Ocoee. The water was a little high and the features different but we had fun.
Sunday morning we were shocked that the rain the night before actually brought the Tellico up enough to scrape down. Terry definetly brought some rain with him. We hit that then headed back to the Ocoee just in time for the surge. That was a hoot and now Julie is with them rafting the Nanty. And I am at work... Sort of...
Thanks for coming out Terry and we look forward to many more paddle days together.
rt
Monday, June 30, 2008
Family in town!
Well the race is over and we have a winner! Julie parent's have won the race for the first family members to come visit us in Knoxville. It was a close race and we appreciate everyone who participated. Now we can move back to Oklahoma. Yes ladies and gentlemen, this was only a test.
All kidding tempoarily put on hold, we were very happy to have them in town. They arrived on Friday the 20th and hung around until Wednesday. While in town we visited the Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge, visited downtown Knoxville, drove into the mountains, took what felt like hundreds of photos, drove over to Cherokee North Carolina, gambled, threw some darts, and ate like it was going out of style.
Had a great time as always and really appreciated them driving so far to see us. I hope they had half as much fun as we did.
Thank you and we love you guys!
rt & jc
All kidding tempoarily put on hold, we were very happy to have them in town. They arrived on Friday the 20th and hung around until Wednesday. While in town we visited the Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge, visited downtown Knoxville, drove into the mountains, took what felt like hundreds of photos, drove over to Cherokee North Carolina, gambled, threw some darts, and ate like it was going out of style.
Had a great time as always and really appreciated them driving so far to see us. I hope they had half as much fun as we did.
Thank you and we love you guys!
rt & jc
Monday, June 16, 2008
Asheville Anniversary
Five years ago this past week, we were married on the beautiful island of St. Lucia. Although much has changed in our lives since then (new home, new friends, new jobs, etc), the one thing that remains the same is our love for each other. Okay, cheesy, I know. But, hey, it’s true! All that we have been through over the past five years has done nothing but strengthen our relationship. So what better way is there to celebrate that love than to… GO KAYAKING! Just kidding… Believe it or not, with all the recent paddling activities, we both agreed that whatever we did for our anniversary, we would NOT take our boats! We envisioned an anniversary celebration that allowed just the two of us to get away from it all and just relax for a weekend. Well we found a place that made that possible. Just a couple hours down the road, there is a beautiful city tucked in the mountains that offers all the excitement visitors can enjoy or the perfect dose of relaxation and peacefulness if desired. This place is called Asheville and it’s located in West North Carolina.
We began our getaway on Friday morning and decided to check out a local BBQ festival upon arrival. The Blue Ridge BBQ Festival sounded like quite an event, so we figured some good BBQ never hurt anyone. After many winding roads south of Asheville, we finally found the festival site. It was a rather warm day, so sitting down in the shade while enjoying some prize-winning BBQ and cold drinks was just what the doctor ordered. We walked the festival for a bit, marveling at the fancy booths created by the ladies and gentlemen competing in the cookoff. Once we’d had all the sunshine we could endure for the day, we departed and were soon in route to our new abode for the weekend.
The Slow-Down Living Cottage was the PERFECT place to spend our anniversary! It was so cute, cozy, and remote. We began calling it our little IKEA place, as all the furniture, lighting, and dishes were IKEA products. The decoration was simple, yet classy and calming. We enjoyed evenings on the patio, soaking in the hot tub and reading in the window nook. This place allowed us to escape the rat race, commonly referred to as “daily life”.
After sleeping in and enjoying a wonderful home-cooked breakfast at the cottage, we decided to leave the country and be city folk for the day. We spent some time shopping in wonderful downtown Asheville. We were amazed by how alive the downtown area was! There were just blocks and blocks of shopping and food, with people everywhere! Even on a rainy day, the stores and restaurants seemed to be drawing the crowds. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at The Bier Garden, which by the way had an entire menu for BEER! After explorations of downtown, we headed over to the Biltmore Village, where we did some more shopping. Shopping had us pretty tuckered out, so grabbing some takeout on our way back to the cottage was the perfect plan! We enjoyed a great meal from the Stoney Knob Restaurant, while relaxing at the house.
Sunday was the only day we really had planned on our getaway. It would be our Biltmore Day. Opened to friends in 1895, the original home of George W. Vanderbilt and family, the Biltmore House is America’s largest home. It has 250 rooms and took us about an hour and a half just to walk through the house. It has beautiful original artwork by famous artists, 16th century tapestries, an indoor swimming pool, an indoor bowling alley, and 65 amazing fireplaces! The grounds were absolutely beautiful! I can’t imagine having lived in such a place! This was quite an experience!
Overall, our romantic Asheville getaway was the perfect way to celebrate our 5 years of marriage!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
East TN Whitewater School
Well we volunteered! This last week was the East Tennessee Whitewater Clubs whitewater school for beginners. Julie and I volunteered and ended up co-instructing two different classes. It started Monday night where they went through an intro to kayaking and then came out to outfit their boats. Tuesday we met at the lake for basic strokes and their first wet exists. Wednesday evening was the second lake day where we picked up and improved skills learned on Tuesday. Thursday we took them to a local run where they got to get on the river for two rapids. Here we reinforced paddle technique and threw in moving water. Friday was another, albeit more laid back, lake day. Then came the Saturday river trip. Saturday we took them to the Hiawasee River where everything came together. Rocks, rapids, waves, holes, and tons of eddies. The groups really got to use what they learned during the week and it was really a hoot. That night, we headed back home and to the party. Great way to end a week of instruction. Julie and I are taking today off to catch up on life! Crazy crazy last couple of weeks!!
rt
rt
New River Trip
Is the level worth the drive? Who’s riding in my car? Should we go? Is there rain in the forecast? I heard bad things about this campsite, are we sure we want to stay there? These questions flew through emails late last week and we tried to keep our New River trip hopes alive. The levels were dropping and doubt started to race through the group. We knew we would be looking at a lower level then what we had seen in the weeks leading up to our scheduled trip but was it going to be worth the effort and enjoyable for the entire group?
Turns out, everything was nice! Real nice Clark. Late Thursday night, a mysterious bump in the gauge sent us into commitment. The level had come up just over 2 feet and we knew there would be enough water. So the plan was solidified and the carpool plans inked. Friday everyone was at work with visions of New River dancing in their minds. When the bell finally rang we all sprinted home to gather gear and race to West Virginia and our camp ground. Carpooling, with the price of gas, has definitely changed the mentality of paddlers and was never more evident to me then this weekend. We had seven Knoxville paddlers in two cars heading north. An Acura and a Focus had seven paddlers, their boats, the gear, and all the camping supplies crammed in and we were on the way. Maybe the increase in price is better for the planet, who knows…
Once we arrived at camp we met Brian. Chestnut Creek campground was to be our staging ground for the weekend and forever etched into memory for the fearless and brazen leadership of Brian (aka the camp Nazi). Brian cares quite a bit about the rules at this well maintained and eerily quiet campsite just a stones throw from Fayetteville and the New River Gorge. Now don’t get us wrong we wanted and did follow every rule and a peaceful campsite is a true gem when you can find it. But Brian had a certain delivery method that could easily rub some people the wrong way. To say big brother is watching never felt more real than at this campsite. By the way, has anyone seen my copy of Mein Kampf?
Saturday morning we slowly rolled out of bed at our peaceful retreat only to be greeted by near perfect temps and the anticipation of a great day on the river. Everyone headed to Biscuit World for a little breakfast and the final touches on the perfect shuttle plan. On the way, we drove over the New River Bridge and learned a rather depressing statistic – this bridge ranks second in suicide destinations. No need to go into more detail, read the local papers for that. We settled into a nice breakfast while Mary Ann hatched the most brilliant shuttle plan that conserved the most fuel while maintaining a high level of functionality. The plan was set and executed perfectly.
Now the adventure was finally a reality. We were on the river. At this point we continue our survey of who had the best knowledge of the river. A few had been here before but it seemed easy to forget the lines. We figured, well it’ll work itself out and we headed down. The first couple of rapids were no real struggle and we were off to a good start. Once we came upon Upper Railroad I decided to follow a video boater on what seemed like a great line. This landed me wide eyed and dropping into a huge hole. To my utter delight, a hole that was not as sticky as it looked. We all bang our way through and kept heading down.
We hit a couple more decent lines and we really started to have some fun with the strong currents and huge wave trains. We then hit our first play spot for the day at Ender Waves. Everyone took turns trying to catch the wave and cheering as others had some great rides. Pictures were taken and smiles were spread around the large eddy.
We then saddled up again and headed for the Keenies. The Keenies had most everyone’s attention and we were excited to be upon them. This rapid is broken into three sections, Upper, Middle, and Lower. Each providing challenging lines and huge waves. We managed to squeak through the Upper and began to set up for the middle. We had one try to run it the hard way and the others headed down the left line. Great rapid and a nice sized recovery pool below. We then got out of the boats and scouted the Lower. The lower has some hazards on river left that we wanted to avoid and a monster wave trail at this level, 1.5-1.6 feet. We shot some video and heard a loud slap from all the air Jason caught on the crest of a wave.
This was a great set of rapids that really let you push on some large water without washing into the next section. Great fun and a hoot to watch others run.
At this point a clear leader of the group started to immerge. Larry became our fearless leader through many of the rapids and led some great lines. However, others took their turns as well and had some amazing lines to add to the mix. Larry really did help us down and we sure appreciate his knowledge of the run.
After the Keenies we picked our way down the run having some fun trying to play and running some great lines. Next significant rapid was Double Z. Double Z had, to me, the most moves to make and some real pushy water. Mary Ann smoked a great line on this one and the entire group made it through upright and grinning big.
After double Z, was the AC rapid, as Larry put it, which had an echoing effect off of a rock that was rather cool. Then we headed to Greyhound Bus Stopper (aka Bushole). Here we grabbed some lunch and talked the idiot in the group into jumping into the raft play spot. Turns out, not so bad after all. Just work your way to river left on the hole and when you go over hold on. This hole tries to remove your helmet, pfd, and paddle from your possession at times. We also found a great surf spot on river right that led to some great rides. Footage again was captured and stunts were tried to everyone’s delight. I must say the camera person here was indeed looking for some carnage, strongly encouraging Doug and I to enter the hole together, which didn’t pan out.
After a long soak at Bushole we headed down. Two more large rapids to go and one rodeo! We worked our way down through Miller’s Folly and found a nice and sticky hole that turned out to be harder to punch than a few thought it would be.
Since no one was injured and no feelings were hurt this mini rodeo became a highlight of the trip. So…at the bottom of another kickin’ rapid a line was followed that led one through the sticky spot and the second to not fair as well. This unintentional surfer was indeed in deep. Especially since a few seconds into their ride they were joined by a large creeker! Mind you this was a large hole but by no means large enough for two. So boater 1, let’s call her Mary Ann, get’s wacked by boat 2, let’s call him Damon. Mary Ann then says, not in my hole, and proceeds to flush Damon. Mary Ann then keeps up her ride and thrashes the hole. I think in all we saw one felix monkey, two air screws, two kick flips and about a dozen loops. Well maybe not that many tricks but the ride was impressive. Thankfully everyone was okay, smiling, and laughing.
From here down we just enjoyed the run and finished with another great rapid right at the takeout.
Everyone changed, loaded gear, and we headed into Fayetteville for dinner. At dinner we discussed the days carnage and shared some balls of cheese and crab. Great food and back to camp.
After a day like that it really was great to return to a quite campsite and we stayed up for a couple of hours being entranced by the fire. Off to bed and thoughts of another day on the New.
Sunday morning brought more perfect weather, a great breakfast in town, and an earlier start on the river. Sunday we had a quicker shuttle and we were on the water again. The temperatures were near perfect and the water just a shade lower.
Sunday’s run was quicker and cleaner but just as exhilarating. Play spots were a hoot and some wave trains seemed bigger. We again enjoyed lunch at Bushole and watched raft guides earn their keep. We made great time and pulled off the river sooner than the day before. We loaded gear and headed into town for a proper meal.
Pies and Pints provided the food and our weekend’s tales provided the entertainment. We discussed future trips and shared the excitement of the weekend.
Weather, the group, the run, and even the camp Nazi really made for an exciting adventure. One that I hope we get to repeat this fall! I want to thank everyone that came on this trip and made it so enjoyable for us all.
Until the next adventure…
Turns out, everything was nice! Real nice Clark. Late Thursday night, a mysterious bump in the gauge sent us into commitment. The level had come up just over 2 feet and we knew there would be enough water. So the plan was solidified and the carpool plans inked. Friday everyone was at work with visions of New River dancing in their minds. When the bell finally rang we all sprinted home to gather gear and race to West Virginia and our camp ground. Carpooling, with the price of gas, has definitely changed the mentality of paddlers and was never more evident to me then this weekend. We had seven Knoxville paddlers in two cars heading north. An Acura and a Focus had seven paddlers, their boats, the gear, and all the camping supplies crammed in and we were on the way. Maybe the increase in price is better for the planet, who knows…
Once we arrived at camp we met Brian. Chestnut Creek campground was to be our staging ground for the weekend and forever etched into memory for the fearless and brazen leadership of Brian (aka the camp Nazi). Brian cares quite a bit about the rules at this well maintained and eerily quiet campsite just a stones throw from Fayetteville and the New River Gorge. Now don’t get us wrong we wanted and did follow every rule and a peaceful campsite is a true gem when you can find it. But Brian had a certain delivery method that could easily rub some people the wrong way. To say big brother is watching never felt more real than at this campsite. By the way, has anyone seen my copy of Mein Kampf?
Saturday morning we slowly rolled out of bed at our peaceful retreat only to be greeted by near perfect temps and the anticipation of a great day on the river. Everyone headed to Biscuit World for a little breakfast and the final touches on the perfect shuttle plan. On the way, we drove over the New River Bridge and learned a rather depressing statistic – this bridge ranks second in suicide destinations. No need to go into more detail, read the local papers for that. We settled into a nice breakfast while Mary Ann hatched the most brilliant shuttle plan that conserved the most fuel while maintaining a high level of functionality. The plan was set and executed perfectly.
Now the adventure was finally a reality. We were on the river. At this point we continue our survey of who had the best knowledge of the river. A few had been here before but it seemed easy to forget the lines. We figured, well it’ll work itself out and we headed down. The first couple of rapids were no real struggle and we were off to a good start. Once we came upon Upper Railroad I decided to follow a video boater on what seemed like a great line. This landed me wide eyed and dropping into a huge hole. To my utter delight, a hole that was not as sticky as it looked. We all bang our way through and kept heading down.
We hit a couple more decent lines and we really started to have some fun with the strong currents and huge wave trains. We then hit our first play spot for the day at Ender Waves. Everyone took turns trying to catch the wave and cheering as others had some great rides. Pictures were taken and smiles were spread around the large eddy.
We then saddled up again and headed for the Keenies. The Keenies had most everyone’s attention and we were excited to be upon them. This rapid is broken into three sections, Upper, Middle, and Lower. Each providing challenging lines and huge waves. We managed to squeak through the Upper and began to set up for the middle. We had one try to run it the hard way and the others headed down the left line. Great rapid and a nice sized recovery pool below. We then got out of the boats and scouted the Lower. The lower has some hazards on river left that we wanted to avoid and a monster wave trail at this level, 1.5-1.6 feet. We shot some video and heard a loud slap from all the air Jason caught on the crest of a wave.
This was a great set of rapids that really let you push on some large water without washing into the next section. Great fun and a hoot to watch others run.
At this point a clear leader of the group started to immerge. Larry became our fearless leader through many of the rapids and led some great lines. However, others took their turns as well and had some amazing lines to add to the mix. Larry really did help us down and we sure appreciate his knowledge of the run.
After the Keenies we picked our way down the run having some fun trying to play and running some great lines. Next significant rapid was Double Z. Double Z had, to me, the most moves to make and some real pushy water. Mary Ann smoked a great line on this one and the entire group made it through upright and grinning big.
After double Z, was the AC rapid, as Larry put it, which had an echoing effect off of a rock that was rather cool. Then we headed to Greyhound Bus Stopper (aka Bushole). Here we grabbed some lunch and talked the idiot in the group into jumping into the raft play spot. Turns out, not so bad after all. Just work your way to river left on the hole and when you go over hold on. This hole tries to remove your helmet, pfd, and paddle from your possession at times. We also found a great surf spot on river right that led to some great rides. Footage again was captured and stunts were tried to everyone’s delight. I must say the camera person here was indeed looking for some carnage, strongly encouraging Doug and I to enter the hole together, which didn’t pan out.
After a long soak at Bushole we headed down. Two more large rapids to go and one rodeo! We worked our way down through Miller’s Folly and found a nice and sticky hole that turned out to be harder to punch than a few thought it would be.
Since no one was injured and no feelings were hurt this mini rodeo became a highlight of the trip. So…at the bottom of another kickin’ rapid a line was followed that led one through the sticky spot and the second to not fair as well. This unintentional surfer was indeed in deep. Especially since a few seconds into their ride they were joined by a large creeker! Mind you this was a large hole but by no means large enough for two. So boater 1, let’s call her Mary Ann, get’s wacked by boat 2, let’s call him Damon. Mary Ann then says, not in my hole, and proceeds to flush Damon. Mary Ann then keeps up her ride and thrashes the hole. I think in all we saw one felix monkey, two air screws, two kick flips and about a dozen loops. Well maybe not that many tricks but the ride was impressive. Thankfully everyone was okay, smiling, and laughing.
From here down we just enjoyed the run and finished with another great rapid right at the takeout.
Everyone changed, loaded gear, and we headed into Fayetteville for dinner. At dinner we discussed the days carnage and shared some balls of cheese and crab. Great food and back to camp.
After a day like that it really was great to return to a quite campsite and we stayed up for a couple of hours being entranced by the fire. Off to bed and thoughts of another day on the New.
Sunday morning brought more perfect weather, a great breakfast in town, and an earlier start on the river. Sunday we had a quicker shuttle and we were on the water again. The temperatures were near perfect and the water just a shade lower.
Sunday’s run was quicker and cleaner but just as exhilarating. Play spots were a hoot and some wave trains seemed bigger. We again enjoyed lunch at Bushole and watched raft guides earn their keep. We made great time and pulled off the river sooner than the day before. We loaded gear and headed into town for a proper meal.
Pies and Pints provided the food and our weekend’s tales provided the entertainment. We discussed future trips and shared the excitement of the weekend.
Weather, the group, the run, and even the camp Nazi really made for an exciting adventure. One that I hope we get to repeat this fall! I want to thank everyone that came on this trip and made it so enjoyable for us all.
Until the next adventure…
Memorial Day with Arkies!
Out here on the holidays we seem to always hook up with friends from Arkansas. This last Memorial Day was no different.Saturday we met up with Andy, Diane, Scott R., AK, Dru, and Kaylan at the Pigeon River. This was truly a hoot. Julie ended up Demoing a Bliss Stick Mini Mystic, that she realluy wanted to like but didn't. We also brought three friends out from Knoxville who really added to the sure bliss of the day. Andy, David, and Tish really had fun cutting up with the Arkansas crowd and we all took forever to get down the run. We stopped at every little place to play and worked it hard.
That eveing we went to downtown Knoxville for dinner at the Brewery and really had a ball. Then back to our place to crash.
Sunday was a short trip down to the Ocoee. We only lost one Knoxville guy for the day but still had a large group and a ball getting down the run. Everyone had great smiles on and we played real hard, yet again.
That evening we headed over to Dru and Kaylan's in Georgia for a cook out. Great food, a fire, and tons of stories and tears from laughing so hard. We really enjoyed getting to know Scott and AK better and really hope to paddle with them again soon.
Monday we had a great breakfast and headed back to the Ocoee. The river traffic was down and we had a ball once again.
Great times, and thank you to those that came out for their vacation in Tennessee! Hope to see you again soon!
rt
Boater Chick Weekend!
Time to catch up on some action! We've been playing hard and finally have a day off.
Well a few weeks back Julie, some friends, and I headed over to the NOC Boater Chick Festival. This was the first year and really quite a hoot. Julie ended up taking a playboating clinic at the Nantahala and I ended up running the Cheoah with some friends.
Julie had a great time and put in a solid day on the river learning to surf and handle the boat on the play spots. I ended up watching the Boater Chick race on the Cheoah.
.jpg)
That Saturday eveing we gathered with all our friends at the awards ceremony. We ended up winning a helmet and another Knoxville chick won a boat! It was a great time and I think the ladies are excited for next years Boater Chick Fest.
.jpg)
Well a few weeks back Julie, some friends, and I headed over to the NOC Boater Chick Festival. This was the first year and really quite a hoot. Julie ended up taking a playboating clinic at the Nantahala and I ended up running the Cheoah with some friends.
Julie had a great time and put in a solid day on the river learning to surf and handle the boat on the play spots. I ended up watching the Boater Chick race on the Cheoah.
.jpg)
That Saturday eveing we gathered with all our friends at the awards ceremony. We ended up winning a helmet and another Knoxville chick won a boat! It was a great time and I think the ladies are excited for next years Boater Chick Fest.
.jpg)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
