The choice of riding in the canoe or my rubber boat was taken from me on Friday morning when we got to the river. I unpacked my rubber boat, started inflating it only to hear the air come out as fast as it went in.

Now that’s exactly how I planned to start my float trip

Hubby patched the hole while we were still at the boat ramp waiting for the others to arrive. By the time everyone got there and we were ready to leave, the patch had set-up enough for Hubby to pump it up and tie it to his canoe so it would have time to set-up completely before I climbed aboard. So I had no choice but to grab a paddle and hitch a ride with Hubby in the canoe.

By the time the patch on the boat had set-up, I was already in “canoe mode”, which takes me awhile to get over the initial fear of them, so we just continued to pull the rubber boat behind the canoe. Hubby even held it up at one point trying to make a sail out of it. I think he got a little nervous when he couldn’t see where we were going and he had to rely on MY eyesight to get us there so he put the boat back in the water.

Eventually a gust of wind caught the rubber boat and started slinging it around the canoe. I’m sure Hubby and I looked like complete idiots, sitting in the canoe trying not to tip over and catch the rubber boat that was blowing around the canoe at the same time. It didn’t take long for us to grab it and once we had it back down on the water, I pulled the plug and let the air out of it.


After that little adventure with the rubber boat blowing around, it was time to sit back and enjoy the river. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining with a nice breeze blowing (as evident by the rubber boat blowing around). The glare off the water from the sun was a little rough on the eyes first thing in the morning but that changed fairly quickly with the movement of the sun.

The first half of this trip goes through prison land. The land stretches for miles on both sides of the river. You can’t see the prison from the river but you can see a few of their outer buildings. This prison was once a huge farm. They, meaning the prisoners, still farm and raise cattle here. Which was very evident by the smell.

Funny because where we live, we smell cow patties all the time. There are two farms we bypass going to our house. I guess the only difference is that in a car, you blow by the smell and it's gone in a few minutes but when you're floating in a canoe down the river, the smell just stays right with you. The arms just don't paddle fast enough in this case

There’s a one-lane bridge that connects the prison land on each side of the river. I’ve been across the top of the bridge via vehicle and under the bridge via water. I’m not sure which one frightens me more. Being ON the bridge with only a 6” concrete barrier stopping a vehicle going over or being UNDER the bridge for the same reason. Neither prospect is too appealing to me.

Once you pass the bridge there’s a very small damn that we had to cross on our way downstream. We made this one of our stopping points to enjoy the water. The water at this point is only about 2 feet deep, if that. We pulled our canoes up to rocky damn and everyone got out to cool off and just relax for a while. We had been in the water for about 15-20 minutes when someone, not sure who, spotted a snake curled up in one of the crevices of the rock where we were standing . Now, I know there are snakes in the river, it IS their habitat after all so I’m not shocked that they are there but I've been lucky enough to have NOT seen any up until this point and I could’ve very well done without seeing this one. It was huge. We couldn’t see his head or tail. The only part we could see was a section of his body that was about 4-5 inches long and a good 3 inches in diameter. That may sound like a small snake to some but anything longer and fatter than an earthworm freaks me out!

Once seeing that, I was more than ready to hop my butt right back in that canoe and carry on down the river. The only thing stopping me was that I knew I had to take my time walking on the rocks to get in the canoe . Hubby was laughing at me saying that is was only a water snake, it wasn’t going to hurt me. My response to him about this snake, like with every snake, is that I don’t care what KIND of snake it is. I don’t take time to stop and ask the snake, “Hey man, you got any ID? I was wanting to check you out a little closer as long as you’re not poisonous.”

I don't think so!!

After visiting Slimy, the snake, we once again continued downstream. Eventually finding our camping spot for the night. It’s what we call Rock Island or Prison Island. Rock Island because…….well……it’s a rock. Prison Island because……..well…..yep you guessed it……….because it’s right by the prison.

Yeah, I know. The imagination department must’ve been out to lunch at the naming ceremony. As my son would say………”Ok, Captain Obvious!”