Reedy Creek to 64- "Lots of Fun"

Yesterday's excursion was a blast. The 6.4 mile paddle went by fast. Even though it took 4 hours, we spent a lot of time playing and wading in some of the 8 rapids we encountered. We will post our photo albums and videos of our excursion starting tomorrow.

We had numerous highlights of the day. The picture you see on the left (right to left) is of Harry, Terry, me and Eli(new member, from the Woodleaf Scout Troop). This was of the poses for our upcoming 2009 HRLPaddlers Calendar. Harry wanted to do the full Monty, but we thought it might prove to be more even embarassing, but then again maybe not.

One of the highlights of the day had to be Linda's run through the rapids. I was only able to catch the last half of her run on video. In way it's good that I was only able to film the last half. The first part would definitely had to have been bleeped. When Linda saw the tree coming toward her face, the words Oh S*** were, repeated many times.

Another highlight had to be when Terry actually stepped in the water a little to far while taking photos of the group coming down the rapids. I think Dana was concerned more about safety of the camera than that of her husbands. I was near him, so naturally I laughed when I saw almost completely disappear under the water with his camera held high.

Our most daring highlight of the day had to be Fran's impromptu run down a seemingly
impassable section of a class 2. She made it through with ease, however the pressure she exhorted on one of her foot struts caused it to break. We all laughed when she told us she was trying to apply brakes. In order to save the men's dignity and not be out done, I followed the same run without breaking any parts of the boat. Men's dignity now saved, we all proceeded on.

Below is a video of Linda's encounter with a tree in the water. These trees are referred to as "Sweepers" in the canoe/kayak world. This is because when combined with swift water, they can actually take you right off your boat. Having dodged the earlier "big round bare tree branch that was about 15 inches in diameter"only moments before by using the "oh s*** maneuvers, Linda actually found some relief in the leafy sweeper tree. She proceeded to do some pruning, before emerging safely with some of her dignity still in tact. Linda's boat was now sporting a new floral arrangement and got rave reviews from everyone in our group. This all made for a great day on the water for the group.

If the video doesn't show please click here to play